Introduction to Games Design.
Grade for module: First
(Link will direct you to a file stored on Google Drive)
Game Description
Rogue Runner is a 2.5D side scrolling platformer, made in UE4 by a team of 4 university students for a first year project.
In the game your aim is to try to get the furthest distance you can without dying, your characters strength is based of momentum, the faster you are going your slide attach will do more damage and your jump will carry you further, meaing a higher momentum equals a greater distance.
The Assignment
The assignment for this game was to create a fully finished "Gold Disk" game within 24 weeks, whilst also writing up what we have individualy done to help create the game. There were 3 milestones (Alpha, Beta, Gold) At each milestone we had to make a youtube video show what we had at each stage. Then at the final milestone we had to submit our finished game.
Design Process
We started designing this game back in September, throwing ideas around until we finally decided on our general outline of a 2.5D side scrolling platformer. After a few team meetings we came up with the idea of having it set within a spooky, mystical, magical, almost halloween theme. Our team were then designated roles and we got to work, changing and adding things as we went along to keep with the theme or to make the game more enjoyable. All decisions were discussed with the group during weekly meetups just to make sure everyone was happy with the choices.
Development Process
The development process for this game was tough as it was my first time using UE4 and considering I was designated the role Lead Programmer I had to do a lot of research. Neither less I managed to get the base mechanics done by our first deadline allowing us to show an alpha video. After showing the Alpha video Phil and I managed to get a lot more done than anticipated, leading to us adding more mechanics, a level generator and base models & textures. For Beta we managed to show a lot of progress and the game had fully working mechanics, models and animations. Unfortunately, during this time Phil and I had to pick up other tasks such as texturing, UI design, sound implementation and licencing. This slowed us down towards gold release but a week before the final deadline we had the game completely finished and out for testing. Overall I was surprisingly proud of the final build and really enjoyed working on it.
The Team:
Connor Taylor
Philip Hoyes
Ben Ashcroft
Naomi Ellet
Roles - Connor:
Game Designer
Game Programmer
Texture Artist
UI Designer & Developer
Assistant Producer
Sound Designer
Roles - Phil:
Games Designer
Games Programmer
3D Artist
Texture Artist
Producer
Animator
Roles - Naomi:
Sound Researcher
Roles - Ben:
Texture Artist(Spike Trap)