Dinosaurs Vs Robot Aliens

Dinosaurs vs Robot Aliens (DVRA)

It is the time of the dinosaurs, and robot aliens have landed! The player must fortify their base and defend against the invaders before they steal all the fossil fuels.

The game is designed to be an accessible take on the tower defense genre. Traditionally, tower defense games have tended heavily towards war settings (modern warfare or medieval), and would continue indefinitely, making it very unappealing to the casual gamer. DRVA is aimed towards a more casual market, with lighter graphics, accessible website community and a set victory point.

The player takes on the role of the ruler of the Dinosaurs living in the Jurassic Age. The Dinosaurs tend to live happy and carefree lives, mainly made up of eating, breeding and sleeping. They really have no complaints.

One quiet morning, Robot Aliens land and demand that the Dinosaurs provide them with fossil fuels to power their spacecraft. The Dinosaurs decline the offer. The Robot Aliens are angry at being refused, and the attacks begin.

Dinosaurs vs Robot Aliens was my first decent sized game project, with a decent sized team. We worked over the course of one term (12 weeks) with around 25 people, who were budgeted to work around 9 hours each per week.This was a massive ask for us as we were also doing this subject at the same time as three other subjects, we had no control over who went into the team, timing was very tight, we had to answer to an extremely picky client and we needed to have a finished game at the end of it.

For the project, I was Lead Designer, with 2 other designers under me. I was primarily responsible for the high level design work, with the other designers working on combat under my direction. I also spent a lot of time testing and balancing the game, for which I needed to work in XML. 

It was certainly a trial by fire, but it was something that I'm infinitely glad that we did it, as it was a hugely useful learning experience, and I have another game to add to the list of "I did this." My biggest lessons this time around were

• Scope well and be prepared to adapt
• Team members need clear direction, goals, discipline and praise
• Programmers are the heart and soul of your game, understand what they do and talk to them often
• Don't be afraid to ask dumb questions
• Pitching and presenting are skills and take time to develop

As I still have yet to get a decent video capture working, have some screenshots of the game! If you'd like a proper working copy, please contact me and I will be able to arrange it for you.

Coming Soon.. Dinosaurs vs Robot Aliens

For the past 12 weeks, I have been Lead Designer on our game for one of my subjects this term. It's come together fairly well, still could use a lot of polish, but for 25 people over 12 weeks with about 9 hours a week each, I'm pretty chuffed with it.

I'll be doing the write up and reflection soon, so stay tuned! But for now, a teaser.

Endor Assault: Warcraft 3 Custom Map

For this assessment we were required first to analyze a secondary world, then to design a level to fit within that world. I chose the Star Wars universe for mine.

I identified a number of elements that were consistent across the various games and movies of the Star Wars franchise, and then created a level that was intended to convey as many of these these elements as were appropriate, as well as experiment with player skill acquisition and training. The elements that I identified were:

• Cybernetic Upgrades; a strong theme throughout the Star Wars universe is the destruction and replacement of a father figure. Part of this is to become the father, and with most of the evil figures relying on technology for power, the protagonist gaining some kind of cybernetic upgrade assists with this process. Often this is the first step to overcoming the father. Consideration should be given to allowing (or forcing) the player to gain some kind of cybernetics. This could be as part of an RPG skill upgrade system, or a narrative event in which a player loses a limb.
• Jedi and Lightsabers; the majority of Star Wars games that feature Jedi as a primary NPC allow the player to become a Jedi. This is possibly the easiest way to establish the player character as heroic, as it gives an easy excuse for the player to be better than others around them. The lightsaber is arguably the single most iconic element in the Star Wars universe, and so requires little exposition on its importance. Jedi are characterized by their use of lightsabers in battle, and allowing the player to customize the color or strength of it encourages ownership and projection; the player is the Jedi because they’re wielding their lightsaber. Conversely, allowing the player to connect with the character via the lightsaber, or withholding it until the player completes a task also provides unique motivation.
• Planetscape vs Unfamiliar World; the transition between planetscapes (desolate wastelands or overpopulated, dense cities both serve equally well) and non-organic environments can be very powerful. The planetscapes should be familiar enough that the player recognizes them as “Ordinary Worlds” and therefore identifies with them. In contrast, space stations or ships (particularly Sith/Empire ships) should be stark, sterile and unnatural. This will give the player a sense of discomfort and added tension.
• NPC interaction; the player should need to interact with multiple different NPC’s, often of a race different from the player character. The Star Wars narratives often require the hero to work with an unfamiliar (but still vaguely humanoid) race that they have little experience with. Finding a way to work with these races is part of the process of nature overcoming technology. The universe is also teeming with a multitude of races, so levels with only human NPC’s will feel unauthentic. It is also fine to have bosses that are other races, though generally these should lean towards being cybernetic or Sith.
• Sound; background soundtracks should be dramatic and orchestral. The background tracks should involve a lot of string and brass instruments and drums for emphasis. During combat sequences these should be faster, heavier and more dramatic. Sound effects should be clean and iconic, for example the swooshing noise of an opening door, the deep repeating sound of an alarm, or the buzz of a lightsaber.

I created the level in the Warcraft 3 editor, which I found to be an absolute joy to work with. I intend to come back to working in the editor, and once I have some free time, to develop a series of campaign maps around these same themes, allowing me to explore a deeper storyline.

The map can be downloaded here and requires Warcraft 3, including the Frozen Throne expansion to play.