Game UI Assignment (12/1):
I took the concept from my character design/level assignment below, but re-purposed it to work as a 2-d game. I decided on this as I could make my own assets and keep the look consistent. I wanted the game to have a really simple, pixelized/cartoonish look to it.
Title Screen:
Example Level:
The actual controls of the game would function as this; the user can control the robot character with the arrow keys, and interact with the environment (open cabinets, place objects, pick up objects) with the space bar. The currently selected inventory item can be switched with the Q,W,E keys (as indicated by the letter next to the inventory object), the currently selected object is marked with a yellow box.
The rules of gameplay follow a traditional tower-defense game mechanic: the player has a certain amount of time to prepare hazards in the room (as indicated by the timer on the top of the screen). When the second round begins, scientists will enter the lab and attempt to grab the robot (delayed by the hazards previously set up by the player in the room). The hazards have a certain duration, and will vanish after a certain amount of time (indicated by the colored bars under the object, red = not much time left, yellow = some time left, green = lots of time left). The player must find a key in the room to progress to the next stage before he/she is caught by the scientists (the white bubble with the key indicates that the door is currently locked, as the key has not yet been obtained).
Pause Menu:
This is an example of what the game would look like while it’s paused and the player is accessing the menu. The screen is grayed over, and the player cannot interact with anything outside of the menu items on the left.
Character/Level Design Assignment (11/25):
Premise:
The game I want to create a UI for would be a top-down perspective, tower-defense game. The player-character would be a rogue robot trying to escape the laboratory in which he was built. The goal of the game is to discover different mechanized tools and traps that can be used to stave off the scientists attempting to catch the player, and then to escape that wing of the laboratory. Intended audience – casual players, puzzle-game fans, ages 13+.
Setting:
The game would take place in a robotics laboratory, RoCo. Each level would consist of a different wing of the lab (see image below). Because it’s a tower-defense game, it’s important that the level isn’t just a single, boxed room; but rather a collection of rooms and narrow hallways (allowing for some strategy when mounting a defense).
Character:
The player-character, Self-Sufficient Adaptable Mechanized-Companion, or SAM, is the laboratory’s most recent invention. With a round shape, and charmingly large eyes, he was intended to be marketed as RoCo’s first robotic, personal assistant. Unfortunately, the prototype’s programming was altered by a disgruntled employee – no longer a helpful little automaton, SAM is now fixated on one goal – world domination. Unfortunately, he’ll need to escape the laboratory first.
Gameplay:
Each level consists of two stages, the progression from stage to stage is determined by a timer, and is not affected by the actions of the player. The first stage is the preparation stage – the player investigates the room to find equipment to construct a defense, he/she then determines where to place this equipment in the level. The second stage is the attack stage – lab techs start to enter the room to try and reach the player, who must find the exit of the room before his/her defenses fail. Defenses can still be discovered/placed/moved in the second stage of the level to allow for the adjustment of the player’s strategy. As the levels progress, the duration of the first stage will get shorter, and constructing defenses will become more complex (requiring the discovery of multiple components to construct). However, the defense equipment will improve in strength, helping to encourage the player to progress.
An example of what a possible defense construct would look like.
