All posts by Joseph Jake Williams

Modeling, Solo Project

Modeling – Pillow

Tools Used

Substance Painter
3DS Max

Skills Utilized

Modeling

Overview

This was a learning experience focused towards texture painting inside of Substance Painter. This also serves as a example to unwrapping a model.

Description

There are two variations. My first variation (red & white colors) was a the actual first test inside of Substance Painter. Later on my first variation changed to (red & yellow colors), however the model was not properly unwrapped which is why there is the second variation (cloth brown color).

Group Project, Level Design

Unity 5 – The Great War: Strategic Tactical Advance

Click Button

My Level Design Walk Through

Role

Level Designer

Task Assigned

Re-create a battle from World War 1 into a RTS (Real Time Strategy) Level.

Tools Used

Unity
Git
3DS Max

Skills Utilized

Level Design - Set Design - Research - Model Manipulation

Overview

A team project RTS made for the World War 1 Centennial. My focus while on this project was the battle of Passchendaele. The team utilized GitLab as our main form of Source Control.

Above: Paper map for the battle of Passchendaele. This paper map uses 2 real life maps of Passchendaele during WW1. One was used for fine detailing of the town road system and the other was used for general town location and trench systems.
Above: Early stages of British trenches.
Above: British artillery gun set design for Passchendaele with more visible in background.

**Models and textures accredited to other members on the team**

Above: More detail trench work on the German line inside of Passchendaele.

Document of Work:

Blueprint, Solo Project, Visual Scripting

Unreal Engine 4 – FPS/RPG Prototype

Role

Game & Systems Designer

Tasks Assigned

Work on creating blueprint systems inside of Unreal Engine 4 to create FPS / RPG style of game elements.

End Goal

To essentially work towards creating multiplayer along with the base game elements.

Tools Used

Unreal Engine 4
Photoshop

Skills Utilized

Prototyping - Unreal Visual Scripting

Overview

This project started out as a personal learning experience for myself to become more familiar with Unreal Engine Blueprinting. As of recent (May 2016) I changed the direction of the project towards a cleaner style of blueprinting to prevent issues I was running into. The project stands out to me in 3 cycles.

First Development Cycle
First Cycle

    The first cycle was when I first started this project. During this cycle the code was clumped together as I was trying to run a majority of my blueprints off of things like tick events. The whole focus in my first cycle was not to create code that functioned smoothly, but to create the base mechanics and understanding of how Unreal Blueprinting logic worked. This was back on Unreal Engine version 4.7. My blueprints and components were all created through trial and error of creating the game system (take my health bar found in the first screenshot below for example) and adjusting it until I got that system to function correctly. Throughout the first cycle I did not follow any tutorials.

Second Development Cycle
Second Cycle

    My second cycle of this project started when I decided to scrap my work from the first cycle and start from scratch in Unreal Engine 4.9. My blueprints from the first cycle were a bit of a mess in the sense that I had a majority of functionality stacked onto the actual game character. This was found to be a problem during my second cycle as I wanted to begin learning replication & unreal multiplayer. I followed a tutorial by Arbo on Unreal Blueprint Tutorials called "Blueprint Building FPS from scratch". I succeeded in creating the base menu functionality & local network multiplayer (same network IP).

Third Development Cycle
Third Cycle

    Finally this is where my third cycle started on the project. This was during the release of 4.10, followed shortly by the next release which was 4.11. I started the project again from scratch and my reason for always starting from scratch was to prevent possible issues and to also give myself more practice in re-creating systems I had already learned. On this cycle I started using more video and documentation tutorials to get further in my personal development. As I followed the tutorials I adjusted each one towards my goal of being replicable and more dynamic. What I mean by that is creating functionality that can be applied in a number of different ways.

    For example when I started working on the functionality of 'Take Damage' & 'Do Damage'. In the past I learned to place this type of function onto the player character and do all the operations there. I realized if I wanted to apply the same logic my character has onto lets say a enemy, I would then have to re-create the entire function again on a whole new blueprint. This is when I started researching into components. This then allowed me to place the functionality of 'Take Damage' & 'Do Damage' onto multiple actors without having to create the functions over for each actor. Doing this I also found performance gains and that it kept my blueprints more organized.

This project contains the following elements / systems:

Hud
Health & Score
Inventory
Pickup, Drop, View, & Replicated
Skills
Speed Multiplier & is Replicated
Menu System
Main, Host, & Join Menus
Respawn Menu
Replicated
Character
Movement, Emote, & Firing all Replicated
Do & Receive Damage
Replicated & Component
Multiplayer Connection
Join, Host, Leave, & Close Session

 This is a project that mainly focuses towards learning more about Unreal 4 Blueprinting & Systems Building.

First Cycle Images

Below are images that relate to my first development cycle.

***DEVELOPMENT***

Update (12 - 23 - 2016): Work started on a whole new UE4 scene for this project. Currently implemented first-person with weapon switching (tommy gun & pistol). Sounds implemented and emitters for the shell ejection. See images below for level.

 

(Old) Second & Third Cycle's Content is still being created (6 / 6 / 2016). Content will be uploaded and added shortly. For any further inquiries about this specific project please email me directly. Download-able 'demo' is available on request.

 

New Images (UE 4.14)

Old Images (Rework for UE 4.12)

Group Project, Level Design, Project Management, Visual Scripting

Unreal Engine 4 – Ascendance

Role

Project Lead

Assigned Tasks

Assigned team tasks, created weekly game builds, debugged, worked on side tasks, provided direction, and mentored other team members.

Tools Used

Unreal Engine 4
Axosoft
Slack
TortoiseSVN
Trello
Google Drive

Skills Utilized

Level Design - Mentoring - Project Management - Concept Paper Maps - Quality Assurance Documentation - Source Control - Task Assignment - Unreal Visual Scripting

Overview

Ascendance is a first person survival game. This project was created by a group of students at UAT (University of Advancing Technology).

Game Story - Read More
Game Story

    Ascendance starts off as a world set in the year 2065 after a biological warfare started by the Russians. The United States put project Bastion into motion which was giant underground self sustaining bunkers to help protect its citizens, however the bunkers were not built to withstand chemical warheads. The story takes place inside of Bastion: 01 also known as the presidential bunker. After the chemicals seeped in only 10% of the inhabitants remain un-mutated. The player makes choices with the half-Asian female main character who has grown up entirely inside of the bunker, not knowing what the real world used to look like. The player must survive, as they are entrusted with the information about a fail-safe opening with Bastion: 01's doors, which have been locked shut since its original lock-down. The player must race against time and mutants they will face in order to make it out of Bastion: 01 before it is too late.

Project Start - Read More
How It All Started

    The project started as a student innovation project and was moved into the production studio course. There the project recruited 31 members for the first semester in the game studio. We utilized management tools such as Axosoft, Trello, Google Drive, TortioseSVN and Slack in order to help keep organized and on track. The project went through several stages of minimizing scope of the project and scale of the levels in order to make a working prototype by the end of the first semester. The project was presented at the Greenlight event at UAT and was accepted for another semester in the game production studio. During the second semester the project started out with 15 members. During this time I made a call in order to re-vamp what levels the game would feature. Originally the game was planned to feature 4 unique areas, however due to the scale of this the project fell short of having fully completed levels. Instead the focus was to create only 3 unique areas and to split the first one up into smaller bits for each designer. By doing so the team was able to divide and create the settings required for the game. Ascendance was also posted onto Unreal forums and several other social media locations in order to spread word of the game. Towards the end of the second semester in the production studio, Ascendance was pushed through as a playable free-demo available on the website.

Before & After (Hover to Flip)

**Full credit to team members Aaron Ramirez (Level Design), Mike Demo (Environment Assets), and Chandler Demming (Concept Artist / Environment) for creating the above scene.**

Above: Showing my main menu blueprint; the options sub-menu.

Blueprint_Showcase

Above: Picture may be enlarged for closer viewing. Shows the behind scripting for the main menu image that is above this image.
Above: My behind scenes work for persistent level loading / unloading as the player moves throughout the game. Affects screenshot above this one.
Above: In editor modification of character texture made into material to add pores and other attributes to add realism.

**Credit to Gabriel Vielle for the original character material / model.**

For Additional Information

 Documents of Work:

Ascendance_GameDoc_Snippet

Above: Screenshot of the Game Document on google drive showing the story and story-line.

Ascendance_GameDoc_Snippet_2

Above: Again the Game Document, this time showing the start of the weapons section.

Ascendance_Axosoft_Snippet
Above: Showing of Axosoft and the agile software that was utilized for the first semester.

 

Full Game Documentation

Level Design, Solo Project

UDK 3 – Underground Bunker

Role

Level Designer

Tasks Assigned

Creation of a multi-theme level.

Tools Used

Unreal Development Kit 3
Photoshop

Skills Utilized

Level Design - Set Design - Paper Mapping - Created Tiling Textures - Gameplay Balance

Overview

UDK 3 Multiplayer Capture the Flag map with different themed areas to keep the player entertained through gameplay. I decided to go for a asymmetrical challenge when creating this map.

This map features the following themes:

Warehouse Area
Pipe Tunnels
Bloody Mid Battle Area
Rocky Transition Halls
Computer Room
Hex Tech Room
**Credit to Nobix at http://nobiax.deviantart.com/ and Epic Games for 3D models and materials. **

(Hover to Flip)

Above: Area from the upper-left on previous image. This shows some of the really early stages of set design.
Above: Later iteration of the image from directly above this one, more set design being added into the scene.

(Hover to Flip)

Above: (Before) image of very early stages.
(After) screenshot of same location with more set design added in.

(Hover to Flip)

Above: (Before) very early stages where white-boxing just barley ended.
(After) image of about mid-way through project completion.
Above: Later pass of same location but with more set design added in.

Document of Work:

oldproduction1
**Preview of full document**
Level Design, Solo Project

CryEngine 3 – Island Mission

 

Role

Level Designer

Tasks Assigned

Implement AI patrols, player objectives, and create a island scene.

CryEngine
Photoshop

Skills Utilized

Level Design - Set Design - In-Editor AI Behavior Creation - Story / Mission Creation

Overview

This is a single-player first person shooter where the player gets objectives that direct them across the island. The island has enemies set to patrol around as this is their island base.

Description

This level was made with the intent to fully implement AI patrols and player objectives inside of CryEngine. I also worked on adding a balanced side path for the player to take in order to give a more dynamic feel to the level.

Above: Paper map for the level made before beginning work, showing intent of a main path with objectives.
Above: Early stage of getting the level layout, this would be the small town with a docks on the north.
Above: The early stage of what the farm was looking like.
Above: Top down overview of entire level with bounds.

**Image was rotated for comparison to paper map.**

Level Design, Solo Project

CryEngine3 – Foggy Escape

Role

Level Designer

Tasks Assigned

Create a level that had a story element with AI.

Tools Used

CryEngine
Photoshop

Skills Utilized

Level Design - Set Design - Paper mapping - Story/Mission Creation - Documentation

Overview

This single-player first person shooter level has the player going through a small foggy town captured by enemies. The player must progress though the fog and patrols of this quiet farm area.

Above: Papermap showing the initial idea behind the level.
Above: Showing the starting area for the player without the fog enabled.

**(Disclaimer: Fog disabled in some screenshots to showcase level.)**

Above: Further down the path from player start showing some pathing obstacles.
Above: This shows the small lake area with a bridge.
Above: Area towards player start, on the other side of the hill. This is the main road that leads through the village.
Above: Showing one of the paths leading through bushes.
Above: Split path.
Above: Area just before the first AI patrol encounter.
Above: Character engaging a AI patrol.
Above: Area is located towards the back of a village house.
Above: Area towards the end of the scene, loot house on the right.

 Documents of Work:

Above: Snippet of the word document for pre-production.

** Full documentation can be found at ** - http://www.josephjakewilliams.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/CryEngineMapOut.docx