Games Independent Study - Project Info

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I and two of my classmates made 5 small games over the course of a 10 week quarter. Generally, I did the bulk of the programming and they did the art and game design, but our roles overlapped quite a bit.

Week 1: Get the Ball Rolling

For the first week we made a simple splitscreen racing game (2-4 players), based on the UE4 template.

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Week 2-3: SubMarine

Over the next two weeks we made a first-person point and click escape room. This project had a lot of moving parts, (probably too many for a two week project), and we had to trim down our original plan a bit to get it done in time.

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Week 4-5: Sticky

Next, we made a 2-4 player splitscreen top-down shooter where the goal was to damage the pillar in the center of the map, which could only be done after defeating a certain number of minions. Minions would spawn teamless and chase after & shoot the nearest player. Teamless minions can be captured once by a player using their cooldown ability. They then would target any player other than the capturing player.

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Week 6-7: Ah, Rhythms

Next we made a two player rhythm game with a call and response mechanic. First, each player would get 16 beats of blanks (with a randomly selected pattern of blanks and rests), which they would use to choose the buttons that the other player would have to press during the response phase. Missing a note in either phase damages the player, and getting it right damages the opponent (a more perfectly timed hit does more damage). Failing to select a note for a blank in the call phase also selects a random note to use in the response phase.

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Week 8-10: Garrote Simulator

The last game we made was a VR game we jokingly called “Garrote Simulator”. 3 different types of “atoms” fly toward the player, green, red, and yellow. Red atoms must be punched, green must be sliced using the wire between the player’s hands, and yellow atoms must be shot by using both hands to aim and pulling a trigger. Using the correct action gives the player points, using the wrong action or letting them hit you subtracts them. After 2 minutes the round is over and you have the option to add your score to a high score chart. Of all the games we made, this was the most popular in playtesting. It was a lot of fun to play, and the high score chart stirred up quite a bit of friendly competition.