Zero-gBay
About This Project
This is an experimental game I co-created for my EXPERIMENTAL GAMES PRODUCTION module.
Assignment Brief
- Produce a GDD
- Research, Design and Create an experimental game
- Project Post-mortem
Project Details
- Group Members: 2 people
- Role: Co-Designer & Developer
- Documentation: Miro & Word
- Platform: PC
- Genre: Mech, Simulation, Casual
- Timescale: 9 Weeks
Playthrough Video
Description
In this game you are working on a spaceship in a mech, packaging orders and sending them off to people. As a pair, we tried to make an Immersive Mech Experience where you control the mech’s movement and limbs using a set of custom peripherals to execute a series of ordered tasks similar to the overcooked game series.
For my role in this project, I mainly worked on creating blueprints for systems and mechanics, meshes to interaction with and for level design, materials for meshes, diagrams for documentation. I also helped with the research and designing of mechanics, systems and the level within the game.
The blueprint work was mainly on the machines within the game, for example the assembler which packages the parts the player puts in the machine. This helped me a lot with understanding communication between objects within the game, and how to make a smaller game loop which needs to be repeated. The rest of the blueprints was helping within the object’s interaction, mainly to do with the communication between the objects and the machines. I also helped within the blueprints for the character, this was to do with the movement using the pedals and some of the aesthetics, for example the head bob when the character walks.
Videos of playthrough
Miro board – Research & Design
Level Design
The level design was created for the original movement of the character, then later on we changed the speed of the character at the end of the project timeline, this made the game feel slower. The design of the level was to accommodate for the loops and decisions within the game, this means the short loop of collecting of objects and putting them in the assembler was right next to each other. The next decision after getting the package, is to either put the package in the bin or in the turret. For the level, I made it so the player either goes to the right or the left to make their decision.
Materials & Meshes
We decided on a simplistic visual style for the game, as I was doing the modelling for the meshes. I created the meshes within Unreal Engine 5, this was because it was easy to create and implement the meshes within the game quicker. For this project I also had to learn how to do materials, this was easy for basic and emissive materials, but for more complicated materials I had to follow tutorials on how they are made. This has now helped a lot for my knowledge in materials and will aid my future projects.
Documentation Diagrams
