PROTOMETHEUS
3D Game - FIRST GAME PROJECT
As a little robot, bring the factory back to life by activating machines that will trigger elemental effects utilized for the production process. Use those to make progress through the facility, but be aware of their potential hazards!
PROJECT INFO
Date
3rd semester (2020/2021) @ Game Design, HTW Berlin
Duration
5 months
Team
Philipp Juhl, Marco Perschke, Kay Priesnitz, Lenja Raschke
Coaches
Prof. Susanne Brandhorst, Prof. Thomas Bremer,
David Witzgall
Technology
Unity, Maya, Substance Painter, Adobe Photoshop, Cubase
Constraints
3D Sidescroller made in Unity. Due to COVID-19, we had to work remotely.
My Part in this project
Game Design | Game System Design | Visual Development | 3D Art | Sound Design | Assistant Programming
My learnings
This was my first game project working remotely in a group of four. I gained experience working with the Unity engine, as well as various programs to achieve our visuals.
DEVELOPMENT
Due to Covid-19 we, unfortunately, had to make our first game from home. Instead of prototyping together in person, we had to find alternatives, to quickly test our ideas and pitch them to others.
Working during COVID-19
We used the collaborative online whiteboard Miro for sharing our ideas and found a way of prototyping through basic and easily exchangeable shapes to build our levels.
It also helped us gathering references, quickly sketching something, and explaining our ideas to others as well as enabling other students to give us feedback on our work.
For the first weeks, we constantly worked together and were able to quickly iterate prototypes and test them. Later on, we split up the tasks, each of us working on an individual area.
With the help of a kanban board, we structured our tasks and almost daily had an online meeting, where we would share and discuss our results.
VISUAL DEVELOPMENT
My main part in the production phase was to develop a visual concept and implement it into our game.
Mother Titan
While working on our Fake Screenshots, I came up with the concept of a big titan head, resembling the heart of the factory and guiding the player through it. I also created and textured most of the 3D assets, using references of large machines and soviet factories.
Character Design and Modeling
The player character was envisioned as one of the robots, that are produced in the factory, but should stand out. The overall shape of his body should appear anthropomorphic and slightly childlike.
SOUND DESIGN
I was responsible for our Sound Design, as well as implementing the finished sounds into our game. Therefore I also wrote scripts for managing audio and creating subtitles.
Voice Lines
We wanted to create a constant connection between the player character and the mother robot, even though she is not always visible to the player. So the best way to achieve this was to give her a voice and have her guide the little robot along his journey.
The lines were recorded and edited heavily to have them resemble a robotic voice.
SFX
Sounds like the feedback for active elements should sound very natural, which is why we took them from a sound library and changed them with various effects so that they fit into our setting.
Other sounds were achieved with the use of different sample instruments.
Soundtrack
One of the last steps was to create a suitable musical mood. Inspired by the machine noises of the production process, a percussive atmospheric soundtrack was created.
Starting very subtly, the sound develops until the player reaches the titan head activating the production and leading into a dark repetitive loop.
