Kingdom Rush Tribute: Porting a 2D Tower Defense Game to a 3D World using Unreal Engine 4

Video game remakes are a popular modern phenomenon in which an existing game is remade to target a different platform, a higher resolution, or simply a different audience. Seldom, however, are video games remade into a different genre altogether. In this paper, we describe the process of remaking Kingdom Rush, a popular top-down 2D tower defense game, into a 3D third-person shooter in Unreal Engine 4. In addition to recreating all visual components of the game in 3D, this process revealed several challenges that arose related to transferring the gameplay from a 2D screen to a 3D world. We describe these challenges and their solutions and describe the results of our work: a playable, single-level prototype that mimics the original game in aesthetics and functionality while also incorporating a controllable hero character

The Blood of the Vampire: A Video Game Demo

The Blood of the Vampire demo for a 2d visual novel / rpg styled game designed with the Unity game engine. The game is a continuation of Florence Marryat\u27s 1897 novel, The Blood of the Vampire, which features a complex story that players get to shape through their actions. The overall project includes several other versions including a C++ game and a html text based game. Development of this game spanned over a year and was impart a collaboration between DPA major Marie Jarrell and English major Lauren Woolbright

Game engine architecture : A comprehensive view

Game development is an ever growing interdisciplinary field. A variety of different skill sets need to come together to create a professional game. These range from art, audio and design through programming and development. It is difficult to isolate the different disciplines in game development since every aspect of the game is co-dependent on everything else. Even in the programming domain there are a number of sub-disciplines that a game can require such as physics programming, environmental programming, artificial intelligence and programming the core game engine, A game can even be developed in a number of different ways depending on the design of the final product. This daunting array of required disciplines makes it difficult to offer effective instruction in game development, The tendency is to divide the disciplines according to traditional academic categories. This leads to offering courses on game development that are too narrowly focused to lead to any functional games or to courses that are purely theoretical, This thesis attempts to outline the development of a generic game engine and show how it can be implemented with minimal skills, beyond those in programming. It is intended to serve as a foundation for developers who will specialize in a particular area, but will nonetheless need to understand what a game engine is and how programmers in different fields can work with it

Design methodologies to implement computer games (Super Milkman)

Trabalho final de Mestrado para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Informática e de Computadores.Jogos de vídeo actualmente são a principal forma de entretenimento, superando filmes e música. O processo de criação de jogos de vídeo envolve muitas áreas de especialização. Começando pela definição da arquitectura, existem os motores de física e gráfico, os recursos artísticos, como modelos 3D e imagens 2D. Além disso, alguns destes recursos artísticos são animados. Os efeitos visuais, o áudio, a interface de utilizador, as mecânicas, a câmara, e às vezes, inteligência artificial, juntos criam o sistema de jogabilidade. Cada uma destas diferentes áreas requer diferentes metodologias para ser implementada. É apresentado um protótipo de um jogo de vídeo, chamado Super Milkman, onde são descritas as diferentes metodologias para cada área e são discutidas as opções escolhidas. O protótipo desenvolvido é jogável, podendo servir de guia para programadores iniciantes na área dos jogos de vídeo e podendo também ser estendido através da adição de novos níveis de jogo.Video games nowadays are the first form of entertainment, exceeding films and music. The process of creating a video game involves many areas of expertise. Starting from the definition of the architecture, there are also the physics and graphical engines, the art assets like 3D models or 2D sprites. Furthermore, some of these art assets are also animated. The visual effects, the audio, the user interface, the mechanics, the camera and sometimes the artificial intelligence, are connected creating the gameplay system. Each one of these different areas requires different methodologies to be implemented. Herein, it is depicted a prototype of a video game, namely Super Milkman, where are described the different methodologies for each area, and discussed the option chosen. The prototype developed is playable, can be used as a guide for beginner developers of video games, and also can be extended through the addition of new game levels.N/

Testing an Original Story in Multiple Artistic Mediums

The Story is one of the oldest forms of communication between humans. Various methods have enhanced and updated the Art in a variety of ways since the concept was created. In modern times, a story can exist in multiple mediums because of the variations that humans use today to tell stories. I present an artistic project that will show my development of an original universe, plot, and characters into a storyline introduction for enjoyable purposes. The belief was that these ideas I created could succeed in multiple formats, but I would need to narrow it down and test what I had created. I chose two different mediums, a Written Narrative and a Video Game, as means to tell my story as much as I could within the time frame. By using the opinions of others, I’ll learn if either project can be successful in telling my story and which method offered the best experience with my particular story ideas to share with an individual

Automated Game Design Learning

While general game playing is an active field of research, the learning of game design has tended to be either a secondary goal of such research or it has been solely the domain of humans. We propose a field of research, Automated Game Design Learning (AGDL), with the direct purpose of learning game designs directly through interaction with games in the mode that most people experience games: via play. We detail existing work that touches the edges of this field, describe current successful projects in AGDL and the theoretical foundations that enable them, point to promising applications enabled by AGDL, and discuss next steps for this exciting area of study. The key moves of AGDL are to use game programs as the ultimate source of truth about their own design, and to make these design properties available to other systems and avenues of inquiry.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for CIG 201

Support tools for 3D game creation

Nowadays, tools for developing videogames are a very important part of the development process in the game industry. Such tools are used to assist game developers in their tasks, allowing them to create functional games while writing a few lines of code. For example, these tools allow the users to import the content for the game, set the game logic, or produce the source code and compile it. There are several tasks and components regarding the development of videogames that may become unproductive, therefore, it’s necessary to automate and/or optimize such tasks. For example, the programming of events or dialogs can be a task that consumes too much time in the development cycle, and a tedious and repetitive task for the programmer. For this reason, the use of tools to support these tasks can be very important to increase productivity and help on the maintenance of the various processes that involve the development of videogames. This dissertation aims to demonstrate the advantages of the use of these kind of tools during the development of videogames, presenting a case study involving the development of a Serious Game entitled Clean World.Atualmente, as ferramentas para o desenvolvimento de jogos são uma parte bastante importante de todo o processo de desenvolvimento. Estas ferramentas servem para assistir os criadores de jogos nas tarefas que realizam, permitindo-lhes a criação de jogos funcionais escrevendo poucas linhas de código. Desenvolver um videojogo sem a utilização de ferramentas especializadas é um processo complexo e que consome bastante tempo, daí a existência de ferramentas que permitem ao utilizador importar os conteúdos para o jogo, definir a lógica de jogo, produzir o código fonte e compilá-lo. Este tipo de software é normalmente utilizado por quem se dedica à criação de jogos como hobby, ou por profissionais que procuram otimizar o processo de desenvolvimento de jogos. Existem várias componentes ao nível do desenvolvimento de videojogos que se tornam pouco produtivas, se não forem automatizados e/ou otimizadas. Por exemplo, a programação de eventos ou de diálogos pode ser uma tarefa que consome demasiado tempo no ciclo de desenvolvimento, para além de ser uma tarefa entediante e repetitiva no ponto de vista do programador. Por este motivo, a utilização de ferramentas pode ser muito importante no que diz respeito ao aumento da produtividade e manutenção dos vários processos que envolvem o desenvolvimento de videojogos. Nesta dissertação pretendemos demonstrar as vantagens da utilização dessas mesmas ferramentas durante o desenvolvimento de videojogos, através da apresentação de um caso de estudo que envolve o desenvolvimento de um Serious Game intitulado Clean World. Em Clean World, foram identificadas determinadas tarefas que se mostraram demasiado repetitivas e entediantes quando programadas por inteiro, como é o caso da adição, modificação ou remoção de componentes como diálogos, quest ou items. Tendo em conta este problema concreto, foram criadas algumas ferramentas de forma a aumentar a produtividade no desenvolvimento do jogo, tornando tarefas repetitivas e entediantes em processos simples e intuitivos. O conjunto de ferramentas é constituído por: Item Manager, Quest Manager, Dialog Manager e Terrain Creator

Doctor of Philosophy in Computing

dissertationPhysics-based animation has proven to be a powerful tool for creating compelling animations for film and games. Most techniques in graphics are based on methods developed for predictive simulation for engineering applications; however, the goals for graphics applications are dramatically different than the goals of engineering applications. As a result, most physics-based animation tools are difficult for artists to work with, providing little direct control over simulation results. In this thesis, we describe tools for physics-based animation designed with artist needs and expertise in mind. Most materials can be modeled as elastoplastic: they recover from small deformations, but large deformations permanently alter their rest shape. Unfortunately, large plastic deformations, common in graphical applications, cause simulation instabilities if not addressed. Most elastoplastic simulation techniques in graphics rely on a finite-element approach where objects are discretized into a tetrahedral mesh. Using these approaches, maintaining simulation stability during large plastic flows requires remeshing, a complex and computationally expensive process. We introduce a new point-based approach that does not rely on an explicit mesh and avoids the expense of remeshing. Our approach produces comparable results with much lower implementation complexity. Points are a ubiquitous primitive for many effects, so our approach also integrates well with existing artist pipelines. Next, we introduce a new technique for animating stylized images which we call Dynamic Sprites. Artists can use our tool to create digital assets that interact in a natural, but stylized, way in virtual environments. In order to support the types of nonphysical, exaggerated motions often desired by artists, our approach relies on a heavily modified deformable body simulator, equipped with a set of new intuitive controls and an example-based deformation model. Our approach allows artists to specify how the shape of the object should change as it moves and collides in interactive virtual environments. Finally, we introduce a new technique for animating destructive scenes. Our approach is built on the insight that the most important visual aspects of destruction are plastic deformation and fracture. Like with Dynamic Sprites, we use an example-based model of deformation for intuitive artist control. Our simulator treats objects as rigid when computing dynamics but allows them to deform plastically and fracture in between timesteps based on interactions with the other objects. We demonstrate that our approach can efficiently animate the types of destructive scenes common in film and games. These animation techniques are designed to exploit artist expertise to ease creation of complex animations. By using artist-friendly primitives and allowing artists to provide characteristic deformations as input, our techniques enable artists to create more compelling animations, more easily

The effects of graphical fidelity on player experience

Graphical assets in video games have become increasingly complex over the years, but little is known about their effect on player experience (PX). In this paper, we present results of a controlled study with 48 participants comparing how abstract and stylized graphics influence player experience in casual games. Our results show that high-fidelity graphics result in a more positive impression of the game. However, we also show that many effects are only present in the game with a more challenging mechanic. This shows that casual games can be compelling and enjoyable to play despite simplistic graphics, suggesting that small game developers and researchers need not focus on elaborate visuals to engage players. Copyright © 2013 ACM