Unit 12 - Game Maker

Within this unit I was tasked to design/pitch a videogame by combining different inspirations from various media. Below is the documentation of the whole process.

Anchor 1

Toys At War

A scenario-based game set in a household environment. The available scenarios are based off real-life fights and are re-enacted via toys. Each scenario offers a main objectives and additional optional side-objectives allowing for replayability.

For inspiration I've looked at different media in order to find evidence of toys coming to life and of different war scenarios, below is what I've decided to take on as my inspiration.

World War Toons
(videogame)

Battlefield Heroes

(videogame)

Toy Story

(movie)

Small Soldiers

(movie)

War Thunder

(videogame)

World of Warplanes

(videogame)

Army Men 3D

(videogame)

Toy Soldiers

(videogame)

War based third person shooter game, fighting using vehicles from world war 1 and 2

Toy based movie set in a household environment.

Cartoon-like art-style based in a war zone environment

Game based on Toy Soldiers fighting real wars

Based on these franchises I plan to design a game in which the player controls an army of figurines, possibly all within the artstyle of the stereotypical armymen using green plastic as the main aesthetic, fighting over control of a household.

All of the models would be within the scale of toys and the game would be based within an environment of a house, inspired by the popular movies ''Toy Story'' and ''Small Soldiers'' in which toys come to life and the whole movie is seen from the perspective of the toys, which also allows for a more unique level creation that can be approached from a completely different angle making the levels more creative and original due to the nature of the fact that these kind of levels have not appeared in common media in much detail before.

The levels would be split by the different rooms in the house, the player would most likely start in the bedroom of the child that owns the toys and would slowly fight for control over different parts of the house with the opposition which would most likely be toys owned by a sibling of the original child.

To include a war-theme into my game I've decided that the two different sides would be based off the designs of the different vehicles used by the Allies and the Axis during WWII.

Because the main focus of the game is toys fighting each other I've decided that the weapons used by the toys would not actually be harmful to the toys. For example the armament of the toys would consist of nerf-gun like ammunition and water bombs made from balloons where the main objective is to disable the enemy toys instead of destroying them;

I would most likely make the enemies use some sort of harmful weapon such as tooth-picks or needles to make them seem more villainous as that would be more harmful to the toys.

For added difficulty, the toys might be limited by a time-limit due to the owners coming back from school due to the fact that just like in "Toy Story" the toys do not move when humans are nearby.

I've decided to create a model of a toy plane to add to my game. I've created the model in maya basing it off the Spitfire model of English planes.
I then imported the model into Substance Painter 2 and created a texture for the model to make it look like a cheap, plastic and worn-out toy. I then rendered several images to show the model in different lighting. The last image shows the model with a sky hdr and loaded with nerf darts which are planned to be used as ammo in the game.

Here I've decided to make a more toon-like tank for the game. I've used the exact same techniques as I've used for the plane and once again I made the tank look like old worn-out plastic

I've looked at different effects I could use to represent my models in a different fashion using Photoshop. This experiment lets me look at different ways to apply the toon look I was researching earlier. .

This is a mock-up poster I've created for my game. It features the two vehicles that I created earlier and a bedroom environment that I've created. I've attempted to make the poster pop-out more by making the barrel of the tank go in front of the text while keeping the tank behind the text. This gave the poster a slight feeling of depth which makes it stand out. I've made sure that my poster has all of the necessary marks such as the ESRB rating and what one of the systems the game will be available on is. Overall I believe that, if finalized, the poster would look believable and would advertise the game well.

This is an architect view of the house the game is set in. So far I've created the first floor and I plan on mapping out the second floor if given the chance. to. I've looked at different already existing architect designs and based mine off of those to make sure that my design looks believeable and correct.

Ive created and textured a simple model of a bedroom in order to better visualize the environment the game would take place in.

Here I've created a basic visual for what the HUD within the game might look like. It feature all of the usual icons available in any ordinary HUD and borrows elements from games such as War Thunder or World of Warplanes. For a brief overview of the elements, In the top left of the screen there is a simple visual indicator for how much Battery and Ammo the plane has left. In this example the plane has no balloon, is missing one dart and has used up 1/3 of its battery. In the bottom left of the screen there is a simple silhouette of the plane indicating damage to the engine. In the top right I've created a simple radar to help the player navigate and be aware of their surroundings. Around the screen there are several indicators pointing the player towards the direction of objectives or ammo refills.

Project Description

Theme

- Kid-Friendly, Toys, House

Setting

- Stereotypical House environment with exaggerated features

Genre

- Casual, Third-Person-Shooter

Game Engine

- Dyppz Dynamics

Core Gameplay Mechanics Brief

- Single Player

- Scenario-based gameplay

- Third person

- Main objective + Side Objectives

- Two different campaigns based on the allies and axis

Objectives

- The player re-enacts the war taking place within the scenario, the main objective would be doing a task which won that specific war such as destroying a main base. The side objectives would be more tricky to achieve, things like bomb 10 bases before completing the main objective.

Targeted platforms

- PC

- Nintendo Switch

- Xbox 1

- PS4

Target Audience

- Ages 3+

Monetization model

- Retail purchase

- Digital download

Licenses / Hardware

- Maya, Mudbox, Substance Painter, Marmoset Toolbag, Crazy Bump, Photoshop

Team size

- 10

Combat Model

- Toys based on world war vehicles, armaments based on nerf darts and water balloons

Influences

Toystory/Small Soldiers

- Toy based environment

War Thunder/World of ______ (Wargaming)

- War based fighting using vehicles from world war 1 and 2

Battlefield Heroes/World War Toons

- Cartoon-like art-style

Army Men 3D/Toy Soldiers

- Game based on Toy Soldiers fighting real wars

Overall I believe that my game pitch was successful and proposed a fleshed out idea that could be made into a real game. The game features a fair amount of challenges to keep players engaged. Due of the game's lack of true violence, blood or gore, the game can be catered to a younger audience which is a new demographic for games featuring a war theme as most are made with a target audience of 16+. The game can be a gateway to learning more about the history of events that took place as each campaign level will feature a battle that originally took place in the war recreated within the game's house environment. If I were to add onto the project I would definitely create different animations that represent different in-game mechanics to help better portray what the game would be about. If given the chance, I would also like to design more areas of the house as currently there is only 1 room that I've created to represent the game and I'd like to create more models as currently there is only one model for both a tank and a plane.

Evaluation: