Within Castle Rumble Imp's Omen the player will take on the role of one of Dracula's imp minions who have become fed up with the mistreatment of his kind and decided to revolt against the forces of evil as they are treated as lesser then the other hordes or monsters who obey every word of their dark master.
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This project was formed together from a 12 person team consisting of different skills sets of a verity of levels with a given deadline of 13 weeks and with only one limitation attached our game had to be based off of an existing retro game serries for our game we decided to base it within the Castlevania series.
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My personal contribution to the team as a whole was a large one within the projects production as originally I had created several of the key documents that held our games design together over the period of the products production along with this I was made lead of the design team as leader ship roles where split amongst some of our members of our team to oversee each department of the team and make sure things where on schedule.
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Along with my lead responsibility's I also took on board the role of our teams sole level designer as efforts amongst the team had to be distributed into other areas of the team at times of the production for this we decided as a team our game would take the form of a survival horde mode in order to help keep scope of our games design.
Introduction to project
As a team it was our task to create a game within Unreal engine 4 we used a GitHub to shear our work as this was not only effective in keeping work sorted correctly but was also vital as it must be noted our game was completely created remote as this university project took place over the pandemic.
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The first thing to note about our game is that it is loosely based on the Castlevania game franchise and with this in mind our team quickly got to work discussing what kind of game we wanted to build along with how it would fit within the games world all this preproduction was needed to be completed fast as documentation was needed to be sent out to other outsource teams in order to have our character models created.
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Within the first week it had been decided amongst the team that we would create a survival horde mode where the player would take on the role of a rebels imp fighting the hordes of evil, this lead me to create the character and animation list as seen below along with the item list this documentation was used by the team when implementing items, weapons and enemies.
Level Overview
While taking on the role of the design lead I also had the responsibility's of the teams sole level designer with this I was tasked with creating a level that would suit the style of game we where creating while keeping in mind of the gameplay mechanics things such as shops that the player could purchase items had to be considered along with where the player would be blocked by a barrier that they would have to pay to open to gain access to other areas of the level.
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The setting of the level was easily going to be Dracula's castle this made our asset lists easier to create along with having a clear idea on what kind of structures to expect helping me create a layout that suited our game along with having a verity of rooms that all would feel right at home in the lord of darkness's castle.
As seen by the layout above and the top down view of the in game level the castle consists of several towers each with two floors to them along with a west and east wing that all connects to a center courtyard from this point a large dining hall can be accessed along with the door that leads to the castles dungeon an underground hall with several rooms filled with horrors.
The elements of a survival horde mode also had to be taken into consideration when planning out each room as key points where enemies would spawn had to be tested along with the actually layout of the level this level did have a lot of work done on it in terms of changers from playtesting or even just deciding that some elements of the level where best left out of the finished game.
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Overall the contributions of the team did help provide what was needed for the level with assets being completed and effects being created to be used help being the level alive during the production as seem below a finished screenshot from the final version of the product with the level teaming with life and details that all show the work and efforts of the team working together so well especially during a tight deadline and unfamiliar restrictions of being fully remote.
Development Blog
During the project it was also our responsibility to keep an updated weekly blog especially as team leads as this helped us each keep track of our respected area of the team as communication on this project was vital if we where to create the project we had imaged, as seen below I have provided a link that will take you to my personal blog on the products production and my contributions to the project overall during its development.
Level Breakdown - Court Yard
The players spawn point was an important element of the game that I needed to consider when planning out the level as the spawn area needed to allow the player time to come to grips with the games mechanics while also giving the player a challenge.
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The levels center point was a perfect place for our players to spawn as this area not only allowed the player to move freely avoiding enemies within early waves of the game but also allowed the player to spend their first amount of gold on a number of things such as one of several new areas to progress on to or possibly purchasing items from the shop and holding down for another wave.
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During playtesting of the game we had to make the call as a team if this felt good for our game due to the pandemic getting others to playtest proved to be a challenge for the team at times.
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Despite the pandemic myself and the team had play tested this level endlessly during the project to make sure each area felt that it fit within the game along with fixing any issues and problems we found.
Gameplay Breakdown
During the development of our project we took a lot of inspiration from existing games that follow this survival horde mode gameplay loop for this we had looked at the Call of Duty zombies mode along with game like Killing Floor that had the player fight against increasing odds in a gameplay loop that has the player seeking out new areas of the map while also having to keep stocked on a verity of weapons and upgrades.
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The enemies I had designed for our game each played a role within trying to stop the player with each enemies having their own unique ability's and ways to attack the player helping to crate some intense moments within higher rounds the main concerned was just making sure that the early waves where balanced for the player.
As our player would only be half the size of the enemies within the game I had designed a list of weapons and items that I worked to help implement into the game these weapons would be purchased at the imp shop after a wave with the gold the player had earned from slaying monsters or alternately the player could also spend their had earned gold on upgrading the weapons they already posses at the upgrade anvil.
Overall Breakdown
As it is with all survival horde modes eventually the player must fall as a team we understood this and found that it was our most important job to keep the game fun while keeping a steady incline with the level of challenge the player would face in this horde mode as the waves increased.
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Playtesting was important amongst the team as the pandemic had made this difficulty we as team had eyes on our project at all times as we had a lot of fun braking parts of each others work and fixing this project to make it as fun and challenging as possible and I feel from this reasons our project turned out to be a success in all areas.
Level Breakdown - Dinning Hall
Once the player has reached the dinning hall the difficulty of the game increases as by this point the player will have opened enough areas to have spawners spiting out increasing number of enemies each wave although this is also where the player will be able to take full advantage of their ability's as a fast moving, air gliding, fireball throwing hell spawn.
Overview And Gameplay
The efforts that the team as a whole put into this project is something to be admired especially during a time such as the pandemic as each member of the team not only contributed to the project but where actively seeking to make this product the best it could be come its given deadline.
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Overall my role as design lead along with being our teams sole level designer proved to be a verry big challenge as it was important to keep the schedule and the wellbeing of my team in mind at all times during this project along with making active work on a level that needed to fit a specific criteria although with the work from a well balanced and dedicated team we all managed to pull together and make good on the roles we had took up.
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With all work finalized and the project ready for submission we had created a small trailer as a team for the project to advertise our game mechanics and show off gameplay within a video that would best show off the efforts of the whole teams work over the projects production.