GUI/HUD Design – Menu System

Ok so this is the menu system that has been created for the Rabbit Heart game project that we have been working on. It’s a simple menu with some of the concept artwork used from the Rabbit Heart project website of the character Ululu and the Rabbit Suit wandering in a field. I felt that this was a good image to use for the menu as it is a lighthearted piece of work that reflects the game rather nicely. In the first image, the menu system is the usual set up of a list of buttons, each one taking the player to a different part of the game. If they click on “New Game” they will be taken to a new game, as is obvious through the button labeling. There are also “Load/Save” “Options” and “Extras” If the player clicks on the Load/Save button, they shall be taken to previous saves so that they can continue their current games. Then if they click on the Options button, they shall be taken to the Options screen, as can be seen in the second image of the menu system. The player will be able to go into the Audio, Graphics and Video settings and alter them to their own preference. There is also a screenshot of the extras menu, if the player clicks on it, they shall be taken to the two options presented within the screenshot, either to go to the artwork gallery, which will display the concept artwork for the game, or they can watch the credits of the game. I feel like this final option to view the credits is not needed, but most games offer the option to watch them, so I have included it in this design.

Ululu GUI and Update

Ok so this was my first design for the Ululu GUI. This is really, really basic, with next to nothing on it, spread out and rushed. This needed a major overhaul and thanks to the feed back I gathered from others in the group, I was able to take a look at this and change pretty much everything about it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So after much reworking and design changes to pretty much every aspect of this GUI, here is the almost finished result.

 

 

 

 

 

This is the reworked model, with a proper map and compass system in place in the bottom right hand corner. The backpack has been cleaned up and the white box around it removed, it is also no longer blurry. The health bar and energy have also been changed, the energy bar is now in the shape of a battery with a full charge, to show that the energy based weapon that Ululu carries is at full charge. This energy bar will deplete as Ululu fires her weapon, eventually needing to replace the depleted battery with a new one from her pack. The health bar shows Ululu with 5 frogs for her health, this is going on the frog plasters that were shown on the Rabbit Heart blog. Each time Ululu takes a hit, she will lose half a frog and she will need to use plasters to eventually regain her life. I have also installed a left and right hand icon set at the bottom of the screen, indicating which items are equipped in each hand, at the moment in this image there is the blaster, which is present in Ululu’s left hand. Her right hand is empty. There is also a small crosshair in front of Ululu so that the player can aim with their weapon and can also see what Ululu is looking directly at, this also offers help when it comes to picking up items, instead of just walking over them and them magically appearing in the empty storage slots in the back pack, Ululu could have to walk right up to them and pick them up individually with a button press or mouse click.

If the player either clicks on their back pack or opens it through the inventory hot key, then they shall have the inventory open up for them so that they can place items in Ululu’s hands or into the back pack for storage reasons. As can be seen in the screenshot below, the inventory has been opened and stored within the back pack are a spare battery for the weapon and Ululu’s Helmet. I have only placed four item slots within the bag because the game comes with a limit on what Ululu can carry, meaning that the player will have to choose which items to carry with them, so I decided that instead of five or six slots, there would only be four as this is much more limiting and gives the player more choices to make with their items, instead of being able to just carry lots of items with them. Some more pieces still need to be added, such as the arrow that will be going into the map to show where the character is on the map and which direction they are facing and travelling in.

Conversion of Game Genres

So sometimes within games there are certain crossovers, there could be a mechanic from one game genre found in another, or a certain way the player interacts with the game. One example of this would be the first and third person views available in the Elder Scrolls games, so the person can have the traditional RPG experience in third person or they can take on the game through the first person view like in a first person shooter game.

Another example of a conversion within a game would be Brutal Legend.

This game is an RPG that has elements of a real time strategy built into it. There are “Stage Battles” paced throughout the game where the player has to build up their stage and their army in order to beat the enemy band and destroy their stage, similar to how a player has to build up their base and their army within a Strategy game like Red Alert or Starcraft.

This is the first that I have ever really come across something like this, because while the game is primarily RPG, it does have that element of RTS within it, which is a nice crossover because it offers something unique to the game that gives it that fresh edge and it gives the player something else to do within the game, while having it add an extra challenge for them to overcome.

Even though it is interesting, it is also sometimes rather annoying because if the player loses the battle, they have to start over and do it all again until they complete it, which is the norm in any game, but of course it is still frustrating. It’s also sometimes a case of the battles dragging on as neither side can gain any ground until something major happens, giving that team the edge. I feel that the premise of this crossover was well thought out, but it could have been implemented in another way, but as it is, it’s fun and offers a new challenge to the player that may not be present within other games.

 

3DS Max Tutorial – Door Lock

For the first proper assignment we were given with the program 3DS Max, we were assigned objects around the studio to recreate within the program. I was assigned a door lock to recreate.

As can be seen in the image below, my door lock was a partial success (in my mind at least) because it looks like a door lock. I will need to practice more in order to get the shape properly recreated so that is something that I need to build on and work at, but I think that with time I could get there.

If I had to go back to do this again, even though I took plenty of pictures of it for reference, I would definitely take more of them just so that I can cover all of the angles that need to be covered and so that I can get the mechanisms right in shape and look. I will also likely be able to texture the final product next time as well, which would add to making it look like a proper door lock.

Computer Unwrap and Final Render

So for one of the assignments within the module, we had to create a model of a computer along with the keyboard, mouse and monitor, all within a limit of 256 polys. I managed to complete it using only 92 Polys.

As can be seen in the images below, the Unwrap is fully textured and the computer is showing up in its final render with the textures applied. It is rather messy looking which is a shame, the images I captured with my phone camera were of a poor quality, so the next time I have to take images of something for textures, I will have to make sure to use a high quality camera instead of a low quality phone camera.

Cog Unwrap and Final Render

So this was a tutorial in 3DS Max that we had to do, each person would be assigned an item that they had to model within the program. I was assigned a cog that I had to model and texture. This is the result.

It isn’t the best cog in the world and the texturing is pretty shoddy, but that can’t be helped when it was only my second attempt at using the program. I’m sure that as time goes on I will get better at this sort of stuff with practice. Next time I will likely take some more time working on the texture as well so that it has that metallic look for the cog instead of it looking like it has been painted.

3DS Max Modelling – Pub

 

So we have been working on “The Street” for a while now, models have all been submitted for the project now and I thought I had held off putting my renders up for long enough. So here they are, my building and asset.

I built a pub for the building portion of the project, it doesn’t look overly like a pub in the render underneath unfortunately which I am a little disappointed in, I will need to be more savvy on the look the next time it comes to building something like this. I found it difficult at times creating parts for it as well such as the windows, and then applying the textures because I kept doing the texture map wrong, but I got there in the end, which was good because my patience was wearing a little thin towards the end.

The asset is the pub sign, which was easy to make and simple to render once I had gotten the hang of texturing the building. The sign is nice and simple and looks like a sign. It fits onto the building with no problem and looks fine. It would have been better if I had taken the time to create a hanging sign to hang over the door instead of a wooden sign that sits above the top window of the building and this is something that I shall be doing the next time I have the chance to work on something like this.

Character Bio Antagonist – Nick Blitz

Basic Information

Full Name: Nick Blitz

Alias/Nicknames: Blitz, Strike, Speedy

Gender: Male

Species: Human/Dragon Kin

Age: 36

Date of Birth: 4^th December 1977

Sexuality: Straight

Religion: Draconian

Native Language: English

Physical Appearance

Height: 6ft 3inches

Figure/Build: Muscular

Hair Colour: Red

Hair Style: Dreadlocks

Eye Colour: Brown

Skin Colour: Tanned Brown

Tattoos: Dragon tattoo down right arm.

Scars/ Distinguishing Marks: Burn scars litter his body as well as a scar running from his shoulder to his hip caused by a sword during combat practice.

Preferred style of clothing: Light clothing and leather armour when in the dragon kin lands. When he is in the human realm, he wears a leather jacket and black t-shirt, baggy cargo pants and skater trainers.

 

Character Bio Antagonist – Megan Tanzir

Basic Information

Full Name: Megan Tanzir

Alias/Nicknames: Meg

Gender: Female

Species: Human/Elemental

Age: 16

Date of Birth: 12^th March 1997

Sexuality: Bisexual

Religion: Agnostic

Native Language: English

Physical Appearance

Height: 5ft 11inches

Figure/Build: Curvy

Hair Colour: Purple

Hair Style: Shoulder Length Curly

Eye Colour: Green

Skin Colour: Pale White

Tattoos: None

Scars/ Distinguishing Marks: None

Preferred style of clothing: Full body robes when in the realm of Draknor. Within the human world she prefers to wear sandals, three quarter cropped trousers, an open shirt and a plain white t-shirt.

Character Bio Antagonist – Amy Gallichan

Basic Information

Full Name: Amy Gallichan

Alias/Nicknames: Flamer, Fuse

Gender: Female

Species: Human/Dragon Kin

Age: 20

Date of Birth: 5^th December 1992

Sexuality: Straight

Religion: Draconian

Native Language: English

Physical Appearance

Height: 5ft 6inches

Weight: 136lb (9.7stone)

Figure/Build: Curvy

Hair Colour: Red

Hair Style: High Pigtails

Eye Colour: Blue

Skin Colour: Tanned Brown

Tattoos: Dragon Wings tattoos on her back.

Scars/ Distinguishing Marks: Amy has burn marks up and down her arms; she also has a small collection of scars on her forehead from a particularly bad case of burns.

Preferred style of clothing: While in the human world, Amy wears a bright red tank top, black jeans and pink converse shoes. While in the Other World, she wears leather armour and light clothing so that she can quickly change to her dragon form.