Amalga
Game Projects
My latest project with a group of others, we made sure to be very ambitious with this one. It is a 3D mech shooter game that relies heavily on fun movement and good combat. This game has been very taxing on me, but in a good way. I have spent 40+ hours on it every week and have been proud on most the systems and levels I have made on it so far. To keep up with the development I have put into this project, you can check out my development blog.
Progression Systems
I personally have worked on making the progression system in the game work great. We wanted the game to reward the player for playing well so I implemented a level and boss ranking system which gives a larger payout based on the time it took to defeat the boss, the health the player loss, and how many enemies they defeated in the level. The whole system was setup with one results manager I created that you can set the variables in manually to change the parameters for each level's ranks. This made it an easy script to add in each scene and edit for easy balancing based on how we completed each level.
There was also another progression system I implemented, being the experience and leveling up system. After defeating an enemy, the player gains experience points. These work with the game manager to keep leveling and experienced gained by the player persistent. When leveling up, the player has the choice of increasing their overheat meter (previously called stamina but changed for design reasons) or increasing their health. This gives a player choice on how they want to progress in the game whenever they are successful.
UI Design
This is a quick run-through of all the UI elements I designed for the game. This includes the shop, equipment manager, bounty canvas (level start), pause menu, settings menus, and loading screens. All of them contain animated content to keep it looking juicy and entertaining for the player. They are all built with a sci-fiction style using bright colors. The UI menus also all have sounds that give it a futuristic computer vibe. All of this was made with player understanding in mind as well as to keep the player interested. Mock-ups were made on paper and then implemented quickly through code to give an example of what the player will see and interact with.
Video Preview
This is a video of a few of the main things I have worked on in the game. The main things I highlight are over the creation and polish of the shop and equipment areas, as well as the level which I created for the game.
Fight Fire With Water
Players can add time or handicap to one side or another to make the game more enjoyable for their playstyles.
PLAY IT NOW!
This is my first published game and it is available now for free! Download it here and play it for yourself:
https://coopdeloop.itch.io/fight-fire-with-water
Fight Fire With Water! was made for the Butterscotch Shenanijam 2018 in under 48 hours. I was in charge of all design choices and programming for the game. Art, animation, and music was produced by a close friend. During my time with this game jam, I added experience to my accessibility to Unity and C# skills. I had to find ways to balance the game, build enough content, and make it fun for both sides in 2 days. It was a very tough and strict schedule but it ended up being a fun and nice game that people can play for free.
Below is a video showcasing the game and some of it's features and gameplay.
Globby's Adventure
Globby's Adventure is a simple 2D platforming game where the best way to transport around is not just by jumping, but by using the character, Globby's stretching body to cross gaps and avoid hazards. The character shoots out part of his body and then slingshots himself up in that direction, with a longer sling having more force for the player to get more distance. I was assigned to make the camera system and the basic level design concepts of the game.
I made cameras move based on trigger placements, only showing a block on the screen and not moving with the player unless they reach a new block out of the camera's view. While working with the level design for this game I made the desert level shown above in the video and screenshots. This level used IPM (Introduce Practice Master) to make sure the player knew how to use their abilities, going up in difficulty progressively. I also created the checkpoint system in the game. Using bools and an array of collectibles, the collectibles would be added into an array and then be put back into the game if the player died without reaching a checkpoint, as the bool had not been set yet.
PillPopper
This was a game I had to make by myself. I made the game with Unreal. I was restrained to the theme of side effects. My idea was to make a game similar to the Sonic 3 chaos emerald minigame with some extra elements. The player now has a slide and his jump height and slide distance can be changed as well. The side effects of the game are when you grab a pill, it randomly changes your stats, but the pills also help remove the walls for the player to progress.
The largest problem with this game was making varying content to keep the player interested in playing. As the game was based off of a minigame, there wasn't much depth to the whole concept. In order to keep someone playing, I would need to put in many elements that change with the levels.
Contact Info:
Phone: (314) 587-9916
Email: CooperSchneider@outlook.com
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