"Future Crater Mecca" Level

Now for some stuff from my 3D for Games class. Over the entire semester we worked on one level, starting with the concept and going on to grey boxing, modular building and prop modeling, set dressing, lighting, all that jazz.

The level was built with UDK 3. The props and buildings were modeled in Maya, with help from guys like Photoshop, CrazyBump, xNormal, Zbrush, the like.

First off my concept:

...was a two-part kind of deal, with a clean, sunny street on top and a dim, messy, hidden bazaar underneath.

HOWEVER, as a class we decided on one concept to stick with, and mine was not it. Instead we went with "futuristic religious mecca inside of a giant crater" (concept by that bro Michael Curtiss).

My final level:

All of the buildings and props were modeled by the entire class and then shared. Here's what I made:

Check these models out in the screenshots and the video... they look much cooler placed in the world than on a grey background!

Knighted Details

The game pieces, made from sculpey, paint, and tears:

The Captain

The Soldiers

The Scouts

The power up: the Tank

The level up: the Swordsman

The characters, all represented by the pieces above... used in the game manual:

Finally, this painting was used on the box as well as on the manual cover:

"Knighted" Board Game

The final assignment for Game Design I was to mod an existing board game into our own. Obviously, I started with Chess, and ended up with a game called "Knighted".

The basic theme, board, and victory condition were kept from Chess. The major changes were made to the pieces: their importance, and their movement. In Knighted, a player starts off with all soldier pieces (modified pawns), as well as two scout pieces (pawns that can jump, or weakened knights) and the captain (king). The soldier pieces, however, can evolve into stronger pieces (modified rooks and bishops) if it captures an enemy piece.

Check out the manual below for more detailed instructions.

The game came out pretty well, all in all. It probably could have benefitted from a couple more playstests, to really ensure that it was all balanced out, but since that time went into making the art look nice and the physical game look totally pro, I'm satisfied.

Animations

Also here are some animations, one from Traditional Animation 1 last semester:

...and the rest from TA2 this semester:

(Sound clip from Left 4 Dead 2):

Even though it wasn't required for the game major, I'm extremely happy that I decided to take Traditional Animation 2 this last semester. My animation improved GREATLY in the last few months. If that ends up being beneficial to me in my game future... well, that'd just be icing on the self-satisfaction cake, I suppose. c:

Chess Mechanic

Back into the school groove, now. c:

Game Design assignment: visually represent a mechanic in a board game (Chess). The mechanic is the movement of the knight piece... it jumps!

And this one is two pawns getting stuck by landing in front of each other. BLOCKED.

Summer 4

Summer 3

Summer 2

Summer 1

My goal this summer is to do a painting a day. I've already failed a little, but it's good to have a goal.

My other goal is to get a job. : D

I spent most of the time trying to figure out corel but here's a sketch.