Project Pitch:

"To The Death" is a networked, 2-4 player, one hit one kill, combat game, where the goal is to be the first to person to get a certain number of kills without killing themselves or be taken out by traps.

My takeaways

Spending 2+ months and over 360 hours on this project, I'm glad I was able to really use UE4 for a my first time on a small to medium side project, comprised of 4 people. The team voting for my idea led to me taking the reins on most of the design process. After developing the core game, hook, and design, I worked on the UI and Networking to up until deadline. At deadline we got a multiplayer game, with lobby and scene transitions, incorporating a dynamic combat system, and really unique control system. And last but not least, a clean, professional, UI presentation that I am really proud of.  

 Downloadable Game File for Windows OS

Six Minute Video of GamePlay Experiance

My Responsibilities 

• User Interface

  • Title Screen, Main, Options, & Online Menu

  • Character Battle UI

    • Dynamic structure

• Networking

  • Wrapper for battle position

  • Color Management

  • Combat Feedback

  • Client updating

  • Some Combat

• Design

  • Designer

    • Battle Concepts

    • Combat Controls

    • Menu Systems & Design

    • Theme & environments

  • Character Select Scene

• Art

  • Graphic Art

    • Title Screen & TTD Logo

    • Menu Icons

    • Combat UI Icons

Title Screen, Main, Options, & Online Menu

• Control Interoperability

  • Menu updating accordingly - All menu systems will update to the control scheme that being used, and will update to reinforce acknowledgement of changed controls.

  • Hot swapping controls - The ability to change from one control type, like controller and/or keyboard, at the detection of use.

• Menu Highlighting

  • Magnification & Animation - when a select section of the menu is hovered over or press on via controller it will grow and animate to indicating being highlighted.

  • Non-functioning Warning - when an option is select that is not available an animation will flash letting the user it's not available.

• Modular Design

  • Quickly change/update - a multi-layer system, that allows individual pieces/assets of the UI to be swapped out without the need to create complete whole new assets, allowing for less dependency on artists.

• Hierarchy Menu Systems

  • Cycle sub-options - using existing menu options to generate addition options without having to create another menu page and/or drop down dialogue.

  • Menu Cycling - using new subsystem menu to circular cycle through more options.

Character Select

• Shader Built Icons - Player Character Icon are built, modified, and updated through the shader to only depend on a few number of assets with the flexibility for future changes.

• Scene Interactivity - UI changes causes updating in the 3D scene and/or actors in the scene.

Character Battle UI

• Button Position Indicator -"Billboard"-ed icons updating and changing biased desired control scheme.

• Aim Arrow - Color changing to assist with gameplay.

UI Screens Gallery

• Wrapper for battle position

  • Translating Player Position - Taking the networking player index and make it correlate with the player battle position index.

  • Lobby/Character Select - Align the networking player index to the correct position.

• Color Management

  • Battle position works across scenes - the select player battle position index is maintained through network transitions.

  • Control Schemes correlate - Varying control types/schemes work together regardless of the users preference, e.g. Xbox, PS4, Nintendo, IJKL, or Arows.

  • PC, Xbox, PS4, Nintendo Controls - The ability to change control types during combat without effecting the server (experimental). Can be seen through at the 10:15 mark on breakdown video or in the demo if pressed "0 ~ 5" on the numpad.

• Combat Feedback

  • Updating Combat UI - Targeting ripples to other clients updating exclusive code that reflex the users UI.

• Client updating

  • Passing Server Info down - Making sure only data that is relevant and needed is passed to the client. Making less network stutter and making combat more responsive.

• Some Combat

  • Polish & Bug Fixing - Optimize network communications, help fix small issues, and resolve problems.

Networking Code ScreenShots

• Combat, UI, & General Purpose Designer

  • Battle Concepts - Created and iterated on a familiar but unique battle system that used multiple types of weapons with a few various attacks per weapon.

  • Combat Controls - Iterated and developed controls that turn traditional concepts on there head, with a "one button for one opponent" style that allows for flexibility and responsiveness.

  • Menu Systems & Design - Created and developed intuitive menus that mimics the layout of a directional pad on a controller or the layout of the arrow keys on a keyboard; for simplistic and swift use.

  • Theme & environment - Researched and investigated regions and periods in time that embodies the genre and concepts of the game, and build out features of theme to incorporate back into the game.

• Character Select Scene

  • Placement and Layout - Designed and built out the environment to align with the UI, giving the character select scene more life, and attracting more attention.

  • Interactive Elements - Connected several elements from the 3D scene to work with the UI's interaction.

Design ScreenShots