Unreal Tournament 3 Diagnosis

The level design is balanced well with adequate placement of weapons. The weapon types are useful to the map and gameplay environment with each weapon having it’s individual uses. Each player has the same mechanics and physics with no advantage for any individual.
The map of choice was Deck, it is semi-symmetrical in design with a circular type design. The map is balanced well for a fast paced multiplayer experience presenting good drop points and stand-offs. There are many long corridors to encourage good co-ordination, aim and requires a good prediction of how the individual players would move. The corridors present enough room to strafe without being blocked by scenery. The map presents good choke points and leaves no room for "camping" or "cheese" tactics.
The map allows for 16 players for a good balance for there to always be combat and no slow moments where the player would otherwise get bored. The game is intense and gives the player a sense of adrenaline, there is no margin for error, you cannot be predictable or stand still or you will end up dying.
The upgrades places throughout the map aren't unbalanced and so they do not present and unfair advantage for players, however they are useful in the close situations and will come in handy to the player fortunate enough to pick them up before a firefight.

Blood Runs Red

Blood Runs Red

‘Blood Runs Red’ is a game based around a drop of blood trying to reach the outside world for good. The drop is must complete puzzles and platform its way through the body until it reaches the top where it can escape the body’s nose, after that it is a race to the ground dodging clothes, hair and other peripheral objects. However the player must do their best to avoid germs, insects and even drops of sweat to complete the journey. Human blood isn’t the only blood trying to escape, so you’ll have a multitude of different host bodies to play through ranging from humans, to animal, to mythical creatures and even aliens!

 

 

The drop of blood has several enemies to avoid; the blood cannot fight and must avoid being absorbed by them. There are 3 main enemy types, germs, sweat drops and mosquitos; more enemies can be implemented in the future. Each enemy applies a new element of challenge for the blood, the germs will try to attack the drop and decrease it’s mass until it has been absorbed entirely, this is a benefit however as you become harder to be hit as you become smaller. The sweat will chase you down outside the body to absorb you altogether with no recovery, finally the mosquito will attach the blood from inside the body and outside, and the player must do their best to avoid being struck by the mosquito as must as possible, because it’s game over if they’re hit. However there isn’t just human blood in the world, the player will have 4 body types to try and escape from, the human, the tiger, the dragon and the alien, each presenting different puzzles and obstacles to complete and avoid. The other bodies will present appropriate challenges as the player will be able to understand e.g. clothes on the human, hair on the tiger, scales and fire from the dragon and weightlessness from the alien.

 

The game’s view position changes depending on where the player will be relevant to the body. While inside the body the player will encounter a platforming, 2-D view style and outside will encounter a view from behind the blood drop. The blood’s main mechanism comes from its ability to alter its shape to fit between and under obstacles. As the player makes their way through the body, the difficulty of the puzzles will increase and they will be relevant to the certain areas of the body. The player will go from the feet, scaling the bones of the legs and avoiding bacteria. The platforming will have to be done carefully as the bacteria will be falling down to attack the blood. At points in the game, the player will need to go through cracks in the bone to get to the other side and continue platforming. The shape-shifting will be needed to avoid obstacles and get through the body. The player will go experience force based puzzles involving places like the heart and lungs, where the player will be pulled and pushed due to the blood current through the heart and the oxygen in the lungs. While inside the body the player will encounter points where the mosquito will penetrate the skin and attack the drop. A shadow will appear in the spot where the mosquito’s stinger will hit, the player must duck, jump and shape-shift to avoid being hit.

Once outside the body the player will now have to trickle down the body with no means of stopping. While the blood runs, it will be chased by drops of sweat trying to absorb it. The player will encounter obstacles as they fall, such as clothes, hair, wounds, limbs trying to wipe the blood away and again mosquitos, which the player can see diving into the body. The player can still shape-shift and jump as before but this time it will be much harder as the player will be racing against the time.

 

Key Features

·         Shape-shifting

·         Multiple Camera Views

·         Platforming

·         Scripted Event Obstacles and Enemies

·         Area based puzzles

 

The game’s genre will change from a puzzle platforming game to a racing game, trying to escape the drops of blood. The genre will alter the way the player will need to think in order to solve the puzzles and avoid the obstacles. The chasing aspects of the game will be exhilarating when compared to the slow platforming. The platforming will still deliver a sense of excitement to the game as the player still needs to avoid the bacteria.

The target audience will be 3 to ensure everyone can play as the game itself is fun and child friendly, it doesn’t deliver any adult themes but will educational to some small children as it will be anatomically correct inside and outside the body.

The Art direction of the game hasn’t been set in stone, it’s aimed towards a toon like art style or a cell-shading style.

 

 

Robots Don’t Like Borders

Robots Don’t Like Borders

‘Robots Don’t Like Borders’ is a game based around the main protagonist Washington. Washington is a robot who based inside a comic book called ‘Robot Force 5’, however he dislikes being part of a comic book and wants to escape his comic prison at whatever cost. To escape the comic book he has to ruin the series by altering the story and doing things that shouldn’t happen to annoy the readers. His adventure will eventually lead him to cross over into other comics to acquire items and help from other comic book characters.

Washington is part of a squad of Robots. He is the 5^th robot and each robot’s strength is resembled by their level (1 being the strongest and 5 being the weakest). The other 4 robots are called Hawaii, Tex, York and Cali. The other 4 robots are trying to stop Washington from ruining the comic as they are under the belief that if the comic is ruined then they will cease to exist. Washington will travel between his comic and 2 others, a Japanese themed comic and Dark style comic. Washington will travel between older and future issues of his comic to ensure he can find a way to progress in ruining the name of his comic. He will make friends with the 2 other protagonists in the other comics who will help him to ruin the name of his own. The 4 other robots as well as the antagonists of the other comics are the main bosses of the game who Washington has to defeat before progressing onwards. Each time he defeats one of his fellow he ruins his comic’s reputation even further. As Washington continues to ruin his storyline the better chance he has to travel between comics by “breaking the fourth wall”. Before the end of the game Washington will become Robot 0 and have to defeat the final robot 1 (Cali). Once the other 4 robots are defeated the story is completely ruined and he can finally escape the book itself.

The game is an over the shoulder, 3^rd person, action-adventure. Washington’s main mechanism comes from his continuity bar. As the player makes their way through a comic ruining the linearity, the “continuity” meter will decrease and once the meter is completely depleted, the player can exit the comic and jump into another one of their choice. The player can jump between a previous and subsequent comic to assist a past (NPC controlled) ‘Washington’ to pass blocked doors and impassable areas that the player would have met as they themselves played through the game. ‘Comic jumps’ allow a player to take something they have found in another comic of a subsequent area of the game and take it back to a previous inaccessible area, and the player will in-fact have to do this to progress through the game and ruin the continuity.

As well as being able to jump between comics in his own series, the player can use Washington’s ability to jump between other comic series. In these other comics he will make use of items, get to objectives, fight other bosses and even come across allies to help him tarnish his own comic. All throughout the game Washington will come across the other robots who try to stop him, and occasionally he will have to fight them, these are the boss battles set into the game. The game will try to be funny and make pop culture references for the audience to relate to and laugh at. Overall the game is set in 3 comic universes, a robotic cartoon-style future, feudal japan with an ancient Japanese water-colour style, and a modern day city which is dark and adds a stealth element to the game.

  

Key Features

·         Comic Jumping

·         Collision of Art Styles

·         Time Phasing

·         Over the Shoulder Ranged/ Melee Combat

·         NPC Allies and Past-Self

·         Team of Robots

The game’s genre is Action-Adventure with hints of puzzles and platforming involved. The genre will play an important role in the structure of the game itself and how the player should look at the game. In certain areas of the game you will have a stealth sequence incorporated into the game, especially around the ‘Dark City’ comic, where you will be accompanied by an ally who will help you understand this sudden genre change. In the Japanese themed world you will experience a change in genre again as the games incorporate Japanese stereotypes and pop-culture references, mainly linking to Japanese game shows and RTS style combat, these will only be around for short instances and will only be implemented as a small mini-game.

The target audience will be 16+ as the game itself isn’t directly offensive or graphic but will include strong language and adult themes to get the jokes across, especially with some of the theorised humour which will border 80s movies and classic movie jokes and themes that are splashed into the game at points.

The Art direction of the game will range depending on which comic the player is in. There are 3 comics, ‘Machine Force 5’, ‘Night Hero’ and ‘Oh, Japan’ (these names are all little jokes in themselves). The art style shall change as the player progresses through the difference comics and will be exposed to difference visual effects and themes.

The Drum Solo

                                                                                                         The Drum Solo

The drum solo can be selected from the solo menu. They’re longer than guitar solos and harder to achieve, they also cover the entire battlefield and have stronger effects or last longer. There is a drum solo for each playable character (Eddie, Doviculus and Ophelia). You obtain the drum solo in the campaign after you defeat the Black Tear Monster towards the end of the campaign. All drum solos have a 4 minute cooldown before they can be used again and are instantly accessible as soon as the Megastage is fully upgraded.

Drums of Riggnarok – speed buff

This is the drum solo used by Eddie for Ironheade.  The Drums of Riggnarok give Eddie and every allied unit on the battlefield a speed buff that lasts for 30 seconds, the buff increases the movement speed of every allied unit by 50%, and attack speed by 50%, it also increases Eddie’s flying speed by 100%.

Allies 

Movement Speed +50%

Attack Speed +50%

(Eddie) Flying Speed +50%

The Tainted Blastbeat – stun and damaging over time effect

This is the drum solo used by Lord Doviculus for The Tainted Coil. When this solo is completed it unleashes a sound so terrible every enemy NPC unit on the map is stunned for 20 seconds, except for human players who are stunned for 5 seconds. The solo also creates a damaging effect that decreases all enemy unit’s health by 5% every 5 seconds for 30 seconds, except for other players it only lasts for 10 seconds.

Enemies

Stunned:  20sec
(human player) stunned : 5sec

Health -5% every 5 sec for 30 sec

(human player) Health -5% every 5 sec for 10 sec

Black Tear eruption – eruption damaging everything in the radius

This is the drum solo used by Ophelia for the Drowning doom. When this solo is completed it creates and eruption underneath every enemy unit and deals damage reducing their maximum health by 50%, except for other players who are forced to the ground and it deals damage reducing their maximum health by 25%. It also heals all allied units who are in combat for 30% of their maximum health.

Enemies

 (Human Player) Health -25%

Human Player: Grounded

Health -50%

Allies

Health +30%

The Lantern

           The Lantern





The mechanic is called ‘The Lantern’. The Lantern can be picked up by the player and is normally only obtainable by completing a puzzle first. The Lantern changes what the player would previously perceive to be dangerous or inaccessible. With use of the lantern, spikes that would originally be thought to be dangerous can be changed when in the light of the lantern, and not just spikes but many different objects (see fig. 1), such as edges of cliffs revealed to be boulders (see fig. 2) and even creating new obstacles such as revealing bear traps that would be harmless grass outside the light of the lantern, this will normally be a section of the game in which the player will no longer be able to continue with the lantern and would have to drop it (see fig. 3).

The player can drop the lantern at any point while holding it, the lantern has no time limit and will never cease working. When the lantern is dropped it is simply placed at the player’s feet, there will be other lanterns that can be picked up later in the game. To ensure the player cannot continue to use the lantern indefinitely, the lanterns will reveal new obstacles that the player will not be able to get past without first dropping it (see fig. 3). The lantern will be required to get past a multitude of obstacles and also dropped to get past others, the figures I have created reveal how this mechanic will work in the game. The lantern’s radius is small and will cover just a few feet in a circle around the player.