Big Game Project: Week One

Back into activity! We’ve now started on the Big Game Project course where groups consisting of a handful of team members work together to complete a functional product in a two-month period. I’ve been assigned the role pf Producer of my group, which means I’ll have to make sure deadlines are met and the project as a whole is on track and following a set schedule. Our goal is to create a racing experience reminiscent of F-Zero and Wipeout, with several vehicles and maps to be available at launch.

(Andreas Wetter)

(Seamus Newman)

While pre-production work has been done before, this was the first week that my group got together and began work in earnest after an initial process of assigning roles and figuring out what to be prioritised for the first functional state of the product currently named “Burning Steel”. For this week while the coders would research the engine we would utilise (Unreal Engine 4) and the dedicated artists complete concept artwork for the vehicles I aided the Design department with writing the first iteration of the design document. Specifically I helped articulating the aesthetic goals of the game and how best to emulate them.

(Seamus Newman)

As we were creating a racing game fast paced, heart-pounding gameplay naturally fit into our goals. Yet unlike the sources of inspiration the lead designer wished for players to have the ability to affect gravity while going through the level by switching to the walls and ceiling of the map – effectively creating four potential roads going in parallel and in different angles in order to give the player more tactical options for traversal. How this works is in turn affected by the weight of the vehicle, with lighter ones being more agile but more prone to be tackled off a favourable lane while heavier vehicles are more reliable yet not as adaptable to a changing situation.

(Andreas Wetter)

The aesthetic roadmap was also discussed and delved into. After providing the graphics team with a mood board for reference when creating early artwork work began on fleshing out what sort of world and setting we were aiming for.

While the gameplay takes a lot of inspiration from games such as F-Zero, the setting would take on a distinctly different nature. While clearly set in a highly technological setting where gravity can be manipulated to suit one’s needs and there’s enough energy efficiency to attach enormous jet engines onto relatively small pods it was concluded that emphasis would be put on a “mundane” look. Basically meaning objects in the game would look very similar to things seen in the real world. A main example would include the jet engines that the ships will be centred on in their design. Much in the essence of Star Wars, you will be able to see every component that makes up the machinery. Every nut and bolt along with wiring to give it a hastily put together appearance more in line with the fragile existence of these racing machines that are likely to face destruction in a very dangerous sport.

This is not a world where you would seek out these borderline death races for its own sake, but rather out of desperation where a one in a thousand gamble on success is more lucrative than attempting to eke out an existence where human lives are as expendable as the hastily constructed machines you control. The dire situation that these drivers put themselves in will be further reflected on the vehicles themselves. Rather than running on clean fission reaction creating a blaze of light the engines will generate hazardous heat that could incinerate you if you find yourself on the wrong end. Intimidating, volatile machinery is what will be emulated, especially when players take damage. There won’t be a mere electrical malfunction that sparks amongst the wires – components will start to burn violently as thick black smoke spews out of your engines. Likewise the sound design will focus on the tone of menacing engines. They’re not merely loud – they roar, growl and rattle like powerful combustion engines as each part of the machine almost begrudgingly works together with the rest (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3aP4iI63AY).

The dystopian undertones will need to be captured by the soundtrack as well. While focus will be on fast paced and heart pounding rhythm similar to F-Zero it will require to take on a more grim and ominous character if it is to hit home. For this we found the soundtrack from the Dredd 2012 remake by Karl Urban to be a suitable point of reference (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-iZgkkGuME).

Now that we have a clear vision of what we want to strive towards production of assets will be done with a unified sense of what all the different components of Burning Steel will help contribute to. The following week should see a lot more progress made on the initial version of the game.

Until next time!

Björn Erik Berndtsson. Graphics and Game Design.