Portfolio
Welcome to my ePortfolio. The demos below range from a stealth first-person shooter and a paintball deathmatch to a third-person hunt for animals and running from zombies while collecting diamonds. Each game demo includes something different in either gameplay, artificial intelligence or using the environment.
Diamonds Game Demo
Fuzzy Farmer Game Demo
Splatter! Game Demo
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Stealth
Stealth is a demo of a game in which you must recover the golden chicken and return back to the extraction pad while being unseen by the guards. The original version of this project was created in GAM 312 and submitted on 08/23/2019.
I selected this artifact for my portfolio to show my C++ skills in using line tracing for the AI and using multiple cameras. This was my first game level using C++ and I see this steppingstone as a foundation for more projects using both C++ and blueprints.
Used:
- UE4 for level design
- C++ for line tracing and multiple camera switching
- Blueprints for building actor objects and collisions
Assets:
- Textures, particles and geometry are from Epic games
- Guard NPC - Unreal Marketplace, by BitGem
- Chicken model is from Epic Games.
Reflection
The process of creating and polishing the artifact was a really fun exercise. I haven't seen it for a while and it brought back the memory of choosing the scenario and motive for the game demo. I learned more about the unreal engine and how to use line tracing to find the player character. I also learned about scripting and switching cameras. Time of course was a major challenge to overcome because what I initially planned to do and the design of the environment had to be scaled down. Seeing how most of the feedback was making the environment creepy and allowing the user to feel as though they are stealthy. I really liked the idea and implemented a version of it. The environment went from day to night and volumetric fog was adding. Lights were attached to both the guards and the chicken.
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Fuzzy Farmer
Fuzzy Farmer is a demo of a game in which you are looking for specific animals on your farm. Randomly, an animal is chosen and the number to collect is decided and placed throughout the level. Having a limited amount of time, you need to find them all.
This demo was a fun project in the GAM 303 virtual game environments class. This level was submitted 06/23/2019. I chose to include this artifact in the portfolio because of the amount of work I put into making animal and count selection random for the player. Using line tracing and location of the mouse click to reveal what animal is hiding in the container.
Used:
- UE4 for level design
- Blueprints for building animal objects and line tracing
- Blueprints for animal count and randomized game elements
Assets:
- Animal models are from the Animal Variety Pack by PROTOFACTOR INC on the Epic Marketplace
- Textures, geometry are from Epic games
- Fence and box models and textures are from Turbosquid
- Ambient sounds by Orange Free Sounds
Reflection
Like the Stealth game I had a lot of fun coming up with my own take on what the assignment actually was. I love the humor in the piece with the animal particle effects and the barnyard sounds. From the feedback given I added invisible barriers to prevent the player from running around outside of the fenced area. I also added a cute border at the bottom as it really does seem like a kid’s game. A challenge that I had with the project was learning how do most of the things I incorporated in the game such as the click reveal of a random animal. Choosing the random animal and how many were also a bit tricky. Revisiting the project and from lessons learned in other projects I can see, given time, I could streamline the blueprints and clean things up.
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Splatter!
Splatter! is a game demo that takes paintball to another level. Your opponents are equipped with guns while you only have an acid filled paint gun. The enemies track you down in the level and remember where they last saw you in case you decide to hide. Can you take them all out before they eliminate you from the game?
This game started out as a C++ and Blueprints project that introduced us to shader plugins in UE4. Changing the original project from having static targets to one with AI driven enemies that hunt for the player. I wanted this artifact to show how I implemented the AI, scoring and action elements.
Used:
- UE4 for level design
- Blueprints for building actor objects, AI, paintball effects and scoring
- Photoshop for the graffiti decals
Assets:
- Textures, particles and geometry are from Epic games
- Construction props are from the Construction vol 1 kit from the Epic Marketplace
- Background soundtrack is by Andy Ray
Reflection
This game started taking a life of its own. Starting out as a showcase for shaders and on game load objects and dynamic shaders. Cleaning that up as they weren't needed for the new concept for the game level, I gave life to the static mannequins and importing the anim starter kit. I wanted the enemies to turn to the player when in range and shoot and once out of sight to follow the player and continue to shoot. Originally the enemies were hitting the player 100% of the time. I added some logic around a random number that if the number is in a certain range, take the shot and if it isn't don't shoot. I wanted the environment to seem like what an indoor paintball arena would look like by emulating an urban setting. I really like how the splatter decal sticks to the wall, floor and enemies.
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Diamonds
Diamonds is a run and collect game. Zombies have invaded the land and you must collect golden jewels to advance to the next level. Fortunately, there are bombs littered throughout that the Zombies can be steered to run into them. Only recently have I realized that this game is a third person free roaming ‘pac-man’ genre game.
I included this project because I wanted to show how I could replace the mannequin models for player and enemy characters, provide goals and a scoring mechanism that drives the player to another level. I also began learning more about actor animations. The original demo was created 03/04/2019 in the GAM 207 Information Technology and Digital Games class.
Used:
- UE4 for level design
- Blueprints for building actor objects, AI, and scoring
- Blueprints for sound and visual effects
Assets:
- Textures, particles and geometry are from Epic games
- Zombie and Character models are from the Cartoon Zombie Pack by Bugrimov Maksim on the Epic Marketplace
- Gem model from the Easy Gems Pack on the Epic Marketplace.
- Background soundtrack by MuzStation Game Music available on the Epic Marketplace
- Zombie sounds by Fesliyan Studios
Reflection
This project started out as building the office building in level two. After completing that assignment that demo grew into having the player collecting gems and progressing to another level. For that assignment I also had to implement a pause menu and a win scenario. Revisiting what was created I thought about expanding this more with a player character that wasn't the default mannequin and enemies that had their own personalities. I implemented models and animations from the Cartoon Zombie Pack and with some help was able to use montages for attack modes. As soon as that was completed I added bombs that would thin out the zombies that are chasing you. I enjoyed working on this project and creating functionality in blueprints, troubleshooting bugs in blueprints and coming up with gameplay solutions.
About Me
I am a designer and developer whose mediums range from website applications, internal education products to game developing and environmental design. I have over 20 years of experience with web development design and software engineering and am taking those lessons learned and applying them to my passion for game design and development. Always curious, I have an innate desire to know how things work. As a child I would take apart my electronic toys to understand how they function. That curiosity carries through today with software engineering and the many genres of games and gaming applications. I am exploring new ways to create immersive gaming environments with a compact and organized code base inside an independent studio structure.
Contact
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