Game Production Lab: Multiverse

So unfortunately I did not have anytime over the break to work on any projects of my own, but I did have a chance to get a head start on next semesters game for GPL(Game Production Lab). Seven other people and I are working on a game called Multiverse, designed by Addison Ziegler, our creative director. My job is primarily prototyping the game out, mechanics and levels, with GameMaker and once prototyping is complete I will be bumped to 2D art and other places if need be. The final game will be a 2.5 platformer built in UDK.

So far we are about 2 weeks into production with a playable prototype being due in about a week consisting of 10 levels. So I still have some work to do.

Like I said before Multiverse is a 2.5 platformer with a core mechanic of being able to switch between two worlds to be able to complete a level. The worlds are meant to be crazy, creepy, zany, and maybe a little disgusting. Each of the two worlds is supposed to be unique in it's own right with its own inhabitants, style, music, and feel, while the layout of the level in each world will be very similar with few functioning differences. Anyway, it's a great idea and I think it's going along great so far. What I have currently is a crude prototype that can ONLY be played with a controller currently. Since my prototype will eventually be scrapped for the actual game build in UDK I doubt I will be going back and adding keyboard function in. Cause I'm lazy.

Anyway if you want to test it out here is a link to the exe.
(You need the exe and other files together in a folder to play)

Final Project: Remix (Second Player)

Alright. So I'm a little late in getting this one up. Our final project in our Rapid Prototyping Class (UTD) was to take one game we had previously made for the class and to create more of a complete finished product while expanding on the original idea. I picked my game Second Player. Perhaps the reason this update is so late is because I was unhappy with the result, which I will explain why below. If you don't care why, you can still test it out at the link at the bottom.

For starters the original game was based around the idea of how our avatars in games mirror us (hence the theme being mirror). The idea for the main mechanic was that there would be two characters, one who faces all consequences, and the other, who faces all reward. The game then became a puzzle platformer with the mechanic being you must kill the second player to have him re-spawn in places he could not reach before. That game was fairly fun to play.

Now when I went in a second time I screwed up what made the first game work. Originally the game was a platforming game with puzzle elements, but once I added in a couple more features (levers and teleporting) the game became a puzzle game about placement, where you had to run and jump sometimes. This loss of activeness slows the game down and took what was originally about constant movement and death and turned it into something tedious about lining up. Once I added characters and graphics in I also believe this took away from it. The new characters were bulky and slow in comparison to my original swift black boxes. In the end what happened is I lost what originally made the game fun and got distracted with accessory features. Live and learn.

Here is a link to the exe.