Evaluation

I think I did well on my project considering the alterations that had to be made throughout, whether that be problems or just changes I wanted to make. So for example I initially wanted to created a 3D game to advance my skills but it ended up being to challenging and I left it as experimentation and did learn from it but not enough. Meaning I opted for the 2D game I created in Construct 3 which I also had to learn.

With the basis of my project being to learn new skills to develop greater games and just overall improve my capabilities for future projects, such like university. With my research I did learn new skills with experimentation and I was also inspired by the art styles and game mechanics I looked into. Leaving me to create the game with my own twist such as like your normal side scrolling 2D tower defence game I wanted to create the 3D like feel by having it top down so you could move your chatcter and turrets. Also looking into coding with spawning objects and making score and buttins work etc.

So throughout this project I learnt new skills that I set out to learn and experimented and pushed myself to try different skills and techniques. In addition making my main focus about what I wanted to learn as it was a self directed brief, I learnt personal skills like character development with the independent part and making sure I sorted everything and set tasks myself and had to overcome any challenges. With there being issues with programs not working, weather situations so we couldn’t use facilities or internet problems I made sure to work round them into getting my final outcome. However my game wasn’t finished to the high standard it wasn’t so much finished due to the fact it was experimentation as a whole and as I was developing the game I game up with more features I wanted to rest and implement, so having to teachteachers and test to make sure it worked.

I’m conclusion I made the 2D tower defence game I set out to make with the features and programming I wanted to try out. Furthermore learning skills and overcoming problems on the way whilst getting feedback and helping others with projects of needed.

Bibliography

Unrealengine.com. (2018). Unreal Studio | 100% royalty-free license. [online] Available at: https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/studio

Docs.unrealengine.com. (2018). Unreal Engine 4 Documentation. [online] Available at: https://docs.unrealengine.com/en-us

Unreal Engine Forums. (2018). Community Content, Tools and Tutorials – Unreal Engine Forums. [online] Available at: https://forums.unrealengine.com/community/community-content-tools-and-tutorials

Storm. (2018). Low-Poly Universe – Storm. [online] Available at: http://stormgs.com/low-poly-universe/

Free3d.com. (2018). Characters Free 3D Models download – Page 2 – Free3D. [online] Available at: https://free3d.com/3d-models/characters?page=2

BlueprintUE. (2018). Aim Assist. [online] Available at: https://blueprintue.com/blueprint/zu0p8wf6/

Unrealengine.com. (2018). Marketplace – UE4 Marketplace. [online] Available at: https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/store

Conrad, D. (2018). Why We Get Hooked on Video Games & Keep Coming Back – TechAddiction. [online] Techaddiction.ca. Available at: http://www.techaddiction.ca/hooked-on-video-games.html

Fanelli, J. (2018). Just one more level! The 25 most addictive games of all time. [online] gamesradar. Available at: https://www.gamesradar.com/most-addicting-games/

Anhut, A. (2018). Stylized Realism – Howtonotsuckatgamedesign. [online] Howtonotsuckatgamedesign. Available at: http://howtonotsuckatgamedesign.com/2016/01/stylized-realism/

Editor.construct.net. (2018). Construct 3 r104 ★★★★★. [online] Available at: https://editor.construct.net/

Development of the game

I had some problems as well as success throughout the project and had to work on them, for example my initial idea was to create a 3D game in Unreal Engine 4 with the art style being Stylised Realism taking a big influence off of Fortnite’s Save the World mode. However as I wanted to create a game in Unreal Engine 4 I also had to teach myself the game engine and in doing so I knew it would be challenging but it ended up being too challenging and I left Unreal Engine to be experimentation which is basically what my project is. My project being based on self development with me experimenting and learning new skills in game design. So I ended up making a 2D game in Construct 3 which was also new to me and i had to learn it. But having previous skills in game design for 2D games from previous projects it wasn’t so hard to learn Construct 3.

This is showing some of the coding for the game using Construct 3 and the game features I learnt and implemented. Shown in screenshots below.

Showing below the coding for the movement of the player and how it is activated by arrow keys and what that actually does.

The below screenshot is the coding for buttons, score and turrets and there function i had to learnt and test to make them work perfectly. Also the game in action showing turret shooting enemy and player being the green with the button for turrets and score at the top left adding up after time and from killing enemies. I made sure button only works when you have enough points/score and turrets can be dragged and dropped vertical anywhere along making a wall of turrets and the player can move anywhere, with the tower also having health bar that changes if damaged.

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This is my experimentation in Unreal Engine. I had first person shooter and made platforms and tried some texturing. Shown in screenshots below.

Researching Tower Defence Games

Fortnite: Save the World

The single player of Fornite is a different type of tower defence as it takes place in a 3D world from a third person perspective. The player actually moves around in the world and protects an objective by building and fortifying towers and structures, placing traps and fighting off hordes of enemies. The player can move freely around the area to fight off enemies, but their main objective is to defend the point. This is different to regular tower defence games where you have a physical character to control rather than just clicking buttons from above. In a way, you’re a human turret who can aim and shoot enemies yourself.

There’s also a crafting element of the game that lets you make your own weapons rather than just finding them and picking them up. Aswell as weapons, you can craft traps, ammo and other things to help you defend yourself. I probably won’t be including a crafting element in my game because it makes the whole experience more complicated and I want to keep my game simple to pick up and enjoy.

As you’re defending against computer controlled AI (Artificial Intelligence) rather than different players, this is a Player versus Enemies (PvE) mode, which is another way of saying single player.

There’s different types of Mobs (Mobile-Elements, so things like enemies that move around) that the player fights that give you a more challenging experience as the game progresses. These include the regular Husks which are the average close-range zombie enemies, long range enemies which launch attacks from afar and then boss-mobs which have a lot of health and strength and can change the game as they are your main challenge. In my game I would like to include different types of enemies, such as close range, long range and bosses to keep the varied, challenging and fun. This way, the game won’t become repetitive it will keep the player engaged and coming back to replay.

To fight these mobs, the player can use a number of different weapons. These include long range guns, short range guns, explosives and melee weapons. An example of a weapon is the SCAR which is an assault rifle. The SCAR is powerful at long range but it runs through ammo quickly as it fires fast.