City of Sand

Specifications

Genre: First person Hack n Slash

Time: 6weeks parttime (4h/day)

Ref. games: City of Brass

Tools: Unreal engine

Assets: Sword and Shield First Person Animation Set,

City of brass: Props, Environments and Enemies.

Summary.

A lone soldier wanders upon a wierd city in the desert. A ghost asks for your help to kill the evil wizard that has put a curse on the city and the people that lives there.

The Idea

Because i did a third person shooter as a first portfolio piece i chose to go another way.

I Found the city of brass assets on epic store and liked the kinda of cartoony looks they had.

When i decided to use the city of brass asset packs i downloaded the city of brass game to se how they used their assets.

For the design of the city i watched Aladdin (the cartoon movie and the live action) and i googled medival arabian citys for references.

Pre Prod.

I started using unreal blockout plugin to make the first itteration of the level. I made corridors and large open parts that i wanted to use as combat bowls. When i was finished i walked around in the level and scaled everything down so it would suit the level. When i had scaled down the paths i put up walls around the paths.

I didnt want to make a linear level so i chose to make diffrent paths to the end. At first i chose to have the whole level open so the player could chose the path the player wanted to take. But after some playthrues i chose to make some paths that the players could find.

Overview

Pictures in game

The entrance to the city and the first area you get to

A corridor to the middle area.

Lookout over the palace

and the middle area

A area with two secret ways. a brakable wall and a gate that can be opend

A secret way to the middle area.

Overlooking the middle area.

The gardens, there is two paths from here. A secret tunnel to the market and a open paths that leads to the middle area

The left area.

The market

The way up to the palace and the end of the level

Scripting

Player

I used Sword and Shield First Person Animation Set but i replaced the sword and shield. I also changed the blueprints for the player so the player could do damage to the enemies.

Player attack function

Player attacks

AI design

Melee:

The first thing I did was to use a random mesh for the melee skeleton. I did this because I felt the enemy could feel more random and diverced.

Random mesh

Melee function

Melee enemy ingame

Range:

When I started to play the game with just a melee enemy I found it quite boring and I wanted to have a more diverse feeling. So I made a second enemy and I chose to have a range granadier. Because I wanted to force the player to be aware of the surroundings and not just focus on running around and hitting enemies.

Granadier function

Granadier ingame

Traps:

I wanted to have enviromental hazards so i chose to have traps. I decided to have two diffrent traps one floor trap and one cealing trap. The traps will kill both the player and enemies instintaniously. This is becaus i wanted the player to be able to use the traps to kill enemies but also be aware of the whats happening around the player

Floor trap

Cealing trap

Player can lure enemies over traps and kill them

Potions

Health potion.

Gives the player some health back.

Strength potion.

The player gets stronger for 20 seconds and does more damage to enemies.

Health potion +.

This potion gives the player alot more health during 20 seconds.

Challenges

The main challange of this piece was the eviroment. I didnt want to focus on that so i just placed meshes in al the areas, so the level wouldnt look so empty. But now when i play the level it looks so unfinished and clutterd. I should have taken some time to make some of the areas look a bit better.

Playthrough

Ingamefootage