Cameron Murphy
Technical / Systems Designer
A 3D platforming collectathon, meant to combine the fast paced gameplay of Sonic Adventure, with the more open level design of Super Mario 64.
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Platform: PC
Date: Fall 2019
Role: Solo Project
Engine: Unity Engine
Description:
In this game, the player runs around using WASD, and controls the camera with the mouse. They can also jump and double-jump with the spacebar, and hold down the left-mouse button in order to do a spin attack, that will increase their speed and damage enemies, but can only be done for a limited number of time before going on a cooldown. The main goal of the game is to find the specified number of Mafia Coins in each level. Typically, the level will have a more open area that the player can traverse in order to find smaller challenges where they obtain Mafia Coins.
Development:
I initially developed this game during my Game Tech II class during the Fall of 2019, when abroad in Montreal. This game was developed in Unity engine, and was mainly used to test many features of Unity that I have never used before. This game was my first major 3D game developed in Unity, and taught me a lot about the engine. Specifically, it was the first time I utilized a variety of features in Unity such as shader graphs, animation trees, HDRP and ProBuilder. In terms of the concept of the game, when initially experimenting with the engine in class, I was interested in trying to create a 3D platformer. When thinking more about it, I became intrigued with trying to make a collectathon that had larger open levels, but didn't feel tedious to traverse. Through this, I came up with the idea of having faster paced movement similar to Sonic Adventure, in order to make traversing the level faster and more enjoyable.
Level Design:
During my Fall 2020 semester, I took a Level Design II class, and decided to design a new level for this game, due to not being happy with how the initial level came out. You can see more about this level in the video below.
What I Learned:
This game was incredibly important in helping me develop my skills as a Technical Designer. Being the first major 3D game I had developed, I learned many new things about the Unity engine, such as animation trees, and building levels in ProBuilder, that have become invaluable in making me a better designer. While some of it turned out a little messy due to it being the first time I used a lot of this stuff, it was a great learning experience for teaching me how to improve on these things in the future.