Back in the Saddle: Senior Year Begins!
After a long and productive summer spent working on both a personal project to learn Unreal Engine 4 as well as a VR project in a team, my final year at Champlain College has begun (time flies fast apparently)! Senior year is a really exciting time for Champlain Game Studio students: for the next (and final) two semesters, students from all four disciplines (Design, Programming, Production, and Art) form teams for the College Capstone in the fall and Senior Game Production in the spring with the goal of creating a polished, solid, viable, and feasible video game using all of the skills we’ve mastered these past few years.
While this is the overall goal, the goal of the Capstone part of the year is a bit different: instead of making one game from the get-go, we first have to concept and prototype 3 different potential games before selecting one to move on with. At the end of the capstone semester, we present the games to faculty who later plays them to decide which teams will go through to production with their game and which teams will get cut and join the continuing teams. I’ll be covering the first three weeks of Capstone so far in this post, but I will (hopefully) continue to make a weekly update starting from here on out! Since this is primarily a team focused class, it would be weird to not first introduce my hardworking teammates in our team, Holo Hexagon, before getting into what we’ve accomplished so far!
Meet the Team
The wonderfully talented members of Holo Hexagon include:
- Emmett Friedrichs – Systems & Level Design
- Josh Grazda – Gameplay & AI Programming
- Adam Streeter – Art
- Austin Roorda – Production & Management
I’ve worked with all four of these lads in the past on multiple projects, mainly our production 2 game Simple Sandwich. They’re all an absolute pleasure to work with, are incredibly skilled in their fields, and get along super well with each other. We also have a lot of fun and learn so much making games together, which is really what this whole process is about in my eyes!
As for my roles, I’ve be doing mostly systems and technical design and will also develop the sound and music assets when needed. Since I’m working towards a programming minor as well, I’ve been doing a lot of systems and gameplay programming for the prototypes and will most likely continue helping with that as the semester progresses, especially since I’m rather familiar with our target engine (more on that in just a bit).
Now without further ado, lets jump into what Holo Hexagon has been up to these first three weeks of capstone!
Week 1: First There Were 50 Concepts, and Then There Were 10
During the summer before the semester began, before we had a team name and everything, we didn’t really have anything; no game ideas, no concepts, nuthin’. What we did have, however, were some key potential focus areas that we were all interested in working on. All of us are fans of first person action/shooter games as well as games that require a level of strategic depth. We talked alot about incorporating forms of destructable meshes combined with satisfying and kinetic game feel for potential action/shooter focused ideas as well as unique unit interactions/management for more strategy driven games. Additionally, we were all really interested in taking a deep dive into the emerging world of Virtual Reality game experiences, especially myself after having worked with it all summer and being the super detail/immersion oriented player that I am.
When we had our first class meeting, we were tasked by our professor with coming up with 50 one to two sentence game concepts per team, (meaning 10 concepts for each team member) then narrow them down to 10 ideas to present in the next class. This gave us a lot of potential to take the key focus areas we all were interested in and get some rough concepts out of them which would be expanded upon later. A few days later, we all had our 10 concepts and had a really fun meeting to go through all 50 of them. We had a really clever process for doing this quickly: you’d have a minute and a half max to pitch each of your ten ideas, focusing on the core experience, theme, and gameplay. When the time was up, the non presenting team members would hold up their hands with sticky notes on them: on one side was a note that read “No!” and on the other was a note that read “Yes!”.
We’d tally the votes next to each concept with a check box, then cut it or add it to the potential idea list. Decisions were based upon the viability and feasibility of the concept: is there enough potential for not one but two semesters of development? Is there a clear, articulate vision for what the game looks, plays, and feels like? Could a sufficient vertical slice be developed in one semester? And most importantly, are there distinct and unique gameplay pillars that not only make the game stand out but also ensure it has a concrete identity from which to build upon as a 5 person team in capstone and with a larger team in senior production?
Once we did this for all 50 ideas, we had a new list of around 20 or so to cut from in the same fashion with the same criteria. This was a really efficient process that enabled this rather large undertaking get done in about an hour or so, and it was really fun! We quickly nailed the 20 concepts down to 10 solid ideas, each of which we all really enjoyed and met our decision criteria.
Here’s the 10 ideas we picked and presented to the class the following class session for feedback:
- Plugging in a USB drive to a PC in VR…except it won’t let you!
- The BEST Deal in Town: quest based adventure game where you’re a bargain hunter looking for the best prices on wood.
- PvP VR Arena Combat: Play as robots in a fast paced VR arena, using guns and melee weapons to destroy foes and use their severed robot limbs to restore your own health
- Nuclear Power Plant Manager: Build a nuclear power plant, manage its workers individually, and prevent nuclear meltdown in a 3D real time strategy format.
- VR “Dimension Shift”: Rip open gateways to other dimensions with hand gestures, grab items from them, and use them as a weapon.
- VR Telekinesis: Use hand gestures to pick up and throw objects at enemies in a game where you play as the monster in a horror movie.
- Robo Charge: 3D PVP 3rd person robot arena brawler with customizable robot parts and destructable robots and environments.
- Cash Force: VR FPS getaway van defense. Shoot pursurers with a variety of fully interactable guns, earn cash, and buy upgrades for the van and your weapons.
- VR Tower Defense: Set in a child’s room, pick up various action figures and place them on a table to make them come to life and do battle with other units. Tower defense like strategy game.
- Sniper Duel: VR PvPvE sniper battle where players track, locate, and eliminate targets/each other.
After receiving feedback on all of these ideas, which all got generally positive reception, we decided to spend the first week of the prototyping phase testing out the various Virtual Reality mechanics we had come up with (gunplay and manual gun interactions, mesh cutting, melee weapons, and telekinesis) before deciding on our three main concepts to go with. This decision was made to first check if we even wanted to pursue VR any further before picking them for a concept and being stuck with something we didn’t want or weren’t able to work on efficiently. This decision ultimately paid off in the long run… which leads me into what happened in week 2!
Week 2: ...And Then There Were 3...
Our goals coming into week 2 after getting feedback on our 10 concepts as well as deciding to spend the first week testing VR feasibility were to create rough implementations of most of our core VR mechanics for the 6 proposed VR games and to decide on our three concepts based on the results of the VR prototyping. We quickly decided to merge some of the VR mechanics from two separate ideas into one larger idea (e.g merging dimension shift with telekinesis since they have similar themes and controls) to reduce workload and hone in on the core part of what these experiences would entail on a moment to moment basis. We got our tasks assigned, hours estimated, and energy drinks ready for a week of rapid prototyping in Unity using the Oculus Integration!!!
…until our repository COMPLETELY blew up…that’s not gone well…
This was the first significant hurdle in the list of many that are sure to come throughout the development process (such is game development). Three days of work we had all been doing in Unity was getting totally wiped anytime one of us pushed or pulled from the repo, which was extremely perplexing and frustrating to say the least. On Saturday, after everything had broken again, we all had an urgent and much needed meeting in the labs to try and figure out what the hell was going on with Unity and our repo. It turned out that somehow, somewhere deep within the GitIgnore file, a parameter for Visual Studio was ignoring files with a “.meta” tag….which happens to be the same extension Unity uses for building all assets and scripts. Bingo. We got em chief.
But it wasn’t just the repo that was causing us issues: it was the way Unity handles VR natively that was really giving myself, Josh, and Emmett a lot of problems. Since Unity doesn’t come with a VR kit pre installed (apart from the generic HMD stuff), we had to download the Oculus Integration and make sure all of that was being sent to the repo successfully, which as we know, wasn’t working properly cause of the GitIgnore. Besides that point, the Oculus Integration is rather…clunky straight out of the box and takes alot of tweaking and custom code to get even basic things like teleport movement working, meaning it was not ideal for rapidly prototyping this many mechanics that were all decently intricate. We tired using the free open source VRTK (VR Tool Kit) extension for the Oculus Integration, and while it was better suited for rapid prototyping, the amount of time it took to setup and the fact that it failed to open for anyone else even after making a clean repo branch left us with two options:
- Do we start from scratch with Unity and spend hours fighting with the clunky basic VR implementations or…
- …do we make the jump to Unreal?
After a summer of learning and experimenting with Unreal Engine 4, I had learned that its VR implementation was not only natively included and supported but also had the very barebones basics (teleport movement, grabbing interface and controls, etc) in a template that would be perfect for rapidly prototyping lots of systems like this. We had all talked about potentially trying Unreal over the summer even though Josh, Emmett, and Adam all aren’t super familiar with it. I explained this to the team at the meeting when the repo was exploding, mainly because of the ease of use of its VR implementation and because I knew we could do what we needed to do in Unreal faster than we would’ve been able to with Unity’s VR extensions despite the fact that the other team members hadn’t worked with blueprint scripting too extensively in the past. After some debate of the pros and cons of this choice…we decided to pick Unreal to work with not only for this round of mechanic testing, but also for the whole semester.
This decision was made largely because while we didn’t just consider the fact that it would be easier to make VR games in Unreal overall, we had framed this decision within the context of not only the capstone semester, but also the rest of the year as well as our professional lives breaking out into the industry after graduation. We all figured that having proficiency in multiple game engines is an excellent skill to have, as it demonstrates the ability to quickly adapt to catastrophic situations such as what we had just faced and also reinforces the idea that we can quickly get up to speed with in house or custom game engines at professional studios. After making the switch and despite the fact that Emmett and Josh were new to the engine, we managed to get most of the core mechanics we wanted to test the feasibility of completed within three days! Here’s how they turned out:
Reverse Van Locomotion for “Cash Force” , the VR fps in the back of a van. We wanted to make sure that standing in a relatively high speed vehicle didn’t cause nausea or fatigue in VR. We created a test van that infinitely moves backwards and spawns road placeholder art as it moves.
Mesh cutting for the VR arena game with melee weapons and limb damage as well as the mesh damage that would be seen in Robo Charge. We wanted to test that we could actually make these mechanics work at all, so we used Unreal’s damagable mesh features to test it out.
Interactive VR Guns and Shooting for Cash Force, Arena FPS, and Sniper Duel. We used the shotgun model from my summer project and added manual reloading, pumping, two handed grabbing, and shooting. These same mechanics could be added for any type of weapon with a manual action, including bolt actions sniper rifles, pistols, sub machine guns, and more!
Another type of manual action gun for Cash Force or the Arena shooter. This one is based on a single action revolver that has to be manually cocked by flicking the right thumbstick down after each shot! Just another example of different interactions and controls we could use for the shooting games.
Lastly is another type of VR gun for the two shooters; a full auto SMG! You may have noticed a trend here…we got really excited about Cash Force while making these prototypes, which leads right into the next part of this week…
During the time we spent prototyping the mechanics, we quickly began to realize that we were much more interested in the VR shooter ideas (mainly Cash Force) as well as the mesh cutting features that could be used in any of the other games. We made the decision to skip working on the two telekinesis/dimensional games entirely since we concluded that while they were interesting gameplay ideas, we couldn’t really think of that super clear vision we defined as one of our criteria for moving forwards earlier on.
For Cash Force, however, things were much different; every time we talked about the game, we were coming up with new ideas and gameplay concepts, like having a planning phase where you can plan the route the van takes through the city and an various support items like airstrikes. Adam also came up with a stellar art direction based around a 70’s aesthetic that we thought fit the idea so well and really brought lots of color and life to the idea.
With this decision in mind and our VR testing week complete, it was now time to narrow our list of 10 concepts down to the 3 we’d be prototyping for the next 3 weeks of capstone. One week would be dedicated to each prototype with the whole team working on the respective week’s concept at once, which may not be the fastest option but really gives us the ability to explore the ideas’ core pillars. We got together and had another meeting to make our decision, taking into consideration the criteria we had defined when we started with 50 concepts. After much conversation about feasibility, viability, clear vision, and uniqueness, we cut out the 7 concepts that we either found to be not viable for two semesters of work or lacking a clear product vision. Here are the three chosen concepts, along with the concept statements that define their core experiences. They’re numbered according to which week we plan on prototyping them out of the three prototyping focused weeks:
1. Cash Force
Intent: The intent of Cash Force is to create a fast-paced, colorful, and elaborate Virtual Reality single-player FPS experience in which enjoyment is derived from the frantic speed and detailed interactions with objects in the environment as well as snappy and responsive gunplay mechanics. Players will experience in-depth weapon handling systems with a variety of manually operated guns, along with wacky items and upgrades that merge both the realistic and fictional aspects from high octane 70’s crime films
Concept Overview: Cash Force is a single player VR first-person-shooter where you defend a moving getaway van from pursuing cars and helicopters. Set in a colorful and vibrant city with 1970s aesthetic, the players take point in the back of a moving van, firing upon pursuers in a frantic high speed chase. With a focus on intricate gun manipulation and upgrade systems, players can choose their own playstyle using cash earned from defeating enemies. Upgrade or purchase new items: from weapons to oil cans, street cones to bananas, all items have a unique purpose and are fully manipulated with VR touch controls and gestures. This creates gameplay that, unlike other VR shooters, does not feature artificial movement, since the van is not driven by the player. Instead it allows players to focus entirely on their interaction with objects and how those objects change the gameplay.
2. Robo Charge
Intent: The intent of Robo Charge is to create an exciting, modular, single-player experience in which enjoyment is derived from the physical mesh destruction of the robots, and intense combat scenarios. Players will experience robotic part combination systems, along with physics based combat that challenges players to balance both
defensive and offensive parts.
Concept Overview: Robo Charge is a 3D, single player, third-person fighting game where you take control of a customizable battlebot raging in physics-based combat against your robotic opponents. Set in a metal, trap, and spark-filled arena, players fights to the death against enemy battlebots that vary in both size and fighting style. With a focus on customization and mesh deformation, players can specialize their battlebot to suit their playstyle while cutting directly into and bashing the opponents armor. Different areas of upgrades include armor for shielding the interior battery core or offensive weapons for destroying your opponents. This creates gameplay that, unlike other combat games, does not rely on health bars, and instead the direct destructibility of the battlebot models.
3. Toy Deploy
Intent: The intent of Toy Deploy is to immerse players in a VR childhood fantasy of bringing your toys to life in which enjoyment is derived from the whimsical interactions with toys and thoughtful planning to defeat enemy forces. Players will experience nostalgic exploration with new toys and abilities, while having “God Mode-esc” control to assist and reinforce your units in the heat of battle.
Concept: Toy Deploy is a VR single player tower defense game where you discover toys to mount a defense or attack against the enemies forces. Set in a child’s room filled with toys and nostalgia, the player is charged with the task of using what is at their disposal to plan, stage, and fight as their toy setup comes to life. With a focus on exploration and strategic planning, players can move at their own pace to prepare each stage for the upcoming battle. Using common objects like books and knickknacks, players can build defenses to protect their units, or wield small projectiles to help your units and launch at the enemies defenses. This creates gameplay that, unlike other tower defense games, is engaging even during automated combat.
We presented all three of these ideas in the next class period and got some great feedback and critique to keep in mind when moving forward. However, at the time of first presenting our three ideas, we did not have all of the requirements to move out of Step 1 of capstone, mainly the intent statements you may have just read. With this in mind, we began sprint planning for the first real week of prototyping a concept, with Cash Force being chosen first since we had already made a quick and dirty implementation of the basic shooting and manipulation mechanics. We also planned to challenge Step 1 officially the next week and create the intent statements for each concept to do so!
Phew…that was a loooong section. Now onto the cool(er) stuff!
Week 3: Guns...lotsa' guns...in VR!
Our main goal for this week, as well as the two upcoming prototyping weeks, is to clearly prototype the core pillars of each of the concepts, whatever they may be. For Cash Force, we identified the following 3 gameplay pillars of the core experience and set out to illustrate them through our quick and dirty prototype:
- VR gunplay and weapon component manipulation
- AI pursuers that chase the player
- Endless runner esque dynamic world and auto backwards movement
After the week had passed and the sprint was finished, we finally presented our three game concepts as well as their core pillars in order to complete Step 1 and move into Step 2, which is the step focused around creating the three prototypes. Since we already worked on prototyping Cash Force during the previous two weeks, we’re right on schedule despite the Step 1 setback. After the Step 1 part of the presentation, we showed off what we’d done for Cash Force during the week with the gifs you see above, Adam’s concept art to the right (which shows off the super cool 70’s aesthetic we’re going for!) as well as a live demo on the projector by yours truly, which was a ton of fun! We got really positive feedback on the prototype as well as some great suggestions and critiques.
Now that we’ve completed Step 1 and our first prototype for Step 2, this upcoming week (9/17 – 9/24) will be focused on creating our second prototype, Robo Charge! We’ll also be taking the Cash Force prototype to the game testing lab this Thursday (9/19) to get more feedback!
Reflection
This step of the capstone process was extremely productive and exciting, although it wasn’t without some issues and stresses. As a team, collaboration was absolutely fantastic as always. After working with these four for so long, I’ve come to trust their instincts about what’s viable and feasible and what’s not. Our communication and meeting processes has been as strong as ever, but one thing we could improve on is sidetracking at meetings sometimes; occasionally we’ll start cracking too many jokes and get waaay off track for a few minutes. It hasn’t been a huge problem in the past, but its definitely something that would help if we just kept that extra bit of focus and saved the fun and memes until we get the meeting agenda out of the way.
Our processes and decision making have remained rock solid and have even improved. The sticky note voting idea we used for voting on the game concepts as well as the way we’ve been doing our meeting plans has been really efficient and effective, as processes like these allow us to hone in on the important bits of the sprint or meeting before they even begin.
As for the prototypes, besides the catastrophy with Unity and the repo in the first week, everything actually ended up working almost exactly to our intent as far as making rough prototypes go. While we weren’t able to get some things in for Cash Force like the road turning and enemy re spawning, we did manage to realize the very basic pillars of the core gameplay in a playable state. If we keep sticking to our design and meeting processes for the next two prototypes as well as the chosen project, I think that things will continue smoothly!
As far as what I learned during these first three weeks, I think its safe to say that I learned the importance of focusing on the usability of the core pillars of a game’s design when in a rapid prototyping mindset like this. I’m a very detail oriented person who can spend hours tweaking variables to get the perfect feel out of an interaction, so I definitely had to learn to repress that a bit and tell myself “its just a prototype, it doesn’t need to have simulated bullet ricochet physics” or something along those lines. Keeping this mindset in the next two prototype phases will be extremely helpful to me so that I focus all of my efforts into the core of the experience instead of the smaller details.
I also learned that as a team, we’re definitely capable of using a new game engine for these projects. While I have more experience than the others with Unreal, they’re learning quite fast, which I believe is a testament to the strength of their skills and abilities. The fact that we decided to pick up Unreal right off the bat is really helpful for the future, since we planned on using it later in the semester originally and getting up to speed with it sooner rather than later will allow us to get stuff done with greater speed and efficiency.
That’s all for this (large) post! Hopefully I’ll be able to stick to a weekly posting schedule for the duration of capstone and production. I really want to make sure I document this process as much as possible, as I believe knowing the inner workings of a production cycle is key to success and will allow me to look back on and reflect on this experience in the future. Next week I’ll be attending Oculus Connect 6 in San Jose California, which may delay the next post slightly, but I’ll try and get it done on the plane!
See you next time,
– Karl
