Year 2, Study Block 2
Module
GAM271
DESCRIPTION
A level design project based around giving us free reign to pick whatever engine and game we make it for and to showcase gameplay for.
Months
January - May
GENRE
Level Design
PLATFORM
Hammer
In GAM271, I decided on learning the map creator and editor for Source called Hammer, used by Valve and other companies when making levels for games such as Half-Life 2, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Team Fortress 2 and the game I made my project in, Garry’s Mod. Garry’s Mod being a sandbox game made by Garry Newman back in 2006 and since been a popular game thanks in large by its community making add-ons and maps for it that are available through the Steam Workshop.
After deciding to do this in Hammer and got to work coming up with a theme and idea of what the map would be, deciding on making a vaguely British supermarket map for the community made social deduction gamemode, Trouble in Terrorist Town or TTT. Throughout the maps creation I was learning as I went considering this was a new engine for me, and despite the editor being simplistic looking, given the aged layout and look, it gets complex as you start to use more tools, such as fog creation or hand making rounded blocks, it’s main problem was the lack of in-built model variety as Garry’s Mod uses assets and models from Half-Life 2 and its two additional episodes, there is the ability to import additional assets and models from other source games, however that comes with issues as it requires all players to have the game it’s from installed or end up with the props being error signs and textures missing, so I chose to not import new assets and textures.
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Feedback from play testing was that the main area did feel too open but was still an enjoyable experience given the extra freezer room on the left, manager’s office on the right and warehouse section in the back adds some variety and new locations to move around in and have interesting shootouts.
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I do plan to soon upload this map to the Steam Workshop and have it be available to play publicly.
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Year 2, Study Block 2
Module
GAM203
DESCRIPTION
A continuation of GAM202, Production of the a game in a group based environment, This included the development cycle of the game and showcasing the whole game at the University’s Expo.
Months
January - May
GENRE
Group Project Production
PLATFORM
Unity
In GAM203, after being given a green-light by lecturers, we got to work on creating the game, moving onto the asset creation and further conception of the games story and ideas, with failed ideas such as skill trees and later removing the idea of the only lighting being the player and the character and other fungus beings around the level.
Instead we gave off the feel of little to no lighting with the barren textures, with the artists being able to have the level give off the look of little to no life whilst still being detailed with the player first traversing through the game using only left click to move the swarm and the top left keys on the keyboard (Q,W,E,1,2,3) to use the abilities for each of the creatures in the swarm respectively.
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To also allow for more variety in replayability, we made the game’s levels randomly generated with the exceptions being the start and end of the levels, creating small level segments that would then be randomly selected to make sure no two runs were the same in level design.
On top of that, we also made the enemy spawns be random as well, with the amount variability scaling with the level progression, meaning the player could come up against a maximum of 8 enemies at the start but in later levels facing 20 if the variables selected were on the higher end, with the game ended after defeating a large final boss in the form of a tank.
Overall the project was received well by lecturers and the general public when showcased at The Uni’s own expo and with few bugs, it’s seen as a large success for us.
Hive Mind is also available on Itch.io if you are interested in playing.