TEAM PROJECT PROMPT:
Create a level based on the randomly selected character description:
"Species of bombastic therapod humanoids who see only ultraviolet light and distrust outsiders."
My role in this project included working through most of the pipeline, starting in Maya and working off of our concept work/ideas. My workload consisted of all modeling, texturing and animating, building the level itself, and adding all code. This project shares many similarities to my Oni and the Blind Florist project, however in this case we were not provided with an asset kit and had free reign to develop in whichever direction we desired so long as it encompassed our randomly selected prompt. I borrowed several of my blueprints from Oni and the Blind Florist and changed them according to the level's slightly different gameplay mechanics. The vast majority of the level has been made from scratch with minimal use of asset packs.
TEAM:
Aaron Bravo
Chancelor Brown
(project management, 3D assistant, level layout)
Decarri Oden
(environment concepts, story)
Victoria G
(art lead, protagonist concepts, antagonist concepts)
Jenna Yelder
(story lead)
Ikyla Jones
(environment concepts, art assistant)
Abdullah Johnson
(music, story assistant)
MY ROLE:
Unreal Lead
3D Lead
Level layout in Unreal
Level walkthrough
CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS:
-Secondary consumers
-Large bird species
-Small eyes
-Raptor-like legs
-Many feathers
-Some parts of their bodies glow
-Regal attire
-Clothing integrates aluminum
(due to reflective qualities)
LOCATION IDEAS:
-Everything is all pitch black except for UV (purple) since that's all they see.
-The environment is a "demolished earth"
-They live in a dark environment with insects, water, grass, and rocky surfaces
-Dark or bright shades of purple
-Organisms are either dark or glow
-In visible light range, location would be highly reflective, appearing as purple to the bird people, but probably not to anyone else, likely appearing quite vibrant to others
BACKSTORY:
"It began in 3230 with a sharp flash of light... A time rip had opened and released cataclysmic energy waves that changed the modern civilizations that we knew of. The radiation released from the time rip changed humans and all living things around them. Plants became lethal, insects began to glow, animals developed many mutations, and humans experienced shapeshifting transitions that many of us were not capable of surviving. Some humans had it easy though. I call them 'metahumans.' They developed strength, agility, speed, and other powers all with little to no pain, but for my species, it was much more difficult. Layers and layers of feathers started to grow all over our bodies, our nails grew long and sharp, our feet transformed into long talons, beaks started to form on our faces, our eyes changed, and now we see only ultraviolet. It was an excruciating experience, but the ones who were able to survive are now as strong as we’ve ever been. We call ourselves Therosapiens. We stick with each other and survive on our own inside our territory. We don’t rely on anyone besides ourselves. We especially mistrust the metahumans who prey on us after the rip. We do what we must in order to survive, and as the leader of my people I do my best to make sure my people flourish."
These are reference images my group used to determine what our world would look like. A character that only sees in ultraviolet means the player's world is a UV world. As such, just about everything is going to be some shade of violet/purple which makes it challenging to keep the world feeling consistently interesting throughout the level.
The UV flower was my first go at getting a look and feel for what kind of colors and textures would be featured in Anthroplanet. The vast majority of flora in the level feature similar colors and textures.
The projection mushroom acts as a centerpiece for the level. I gave it striking features and strong glowing auras to insinuate that its biology is heavily integrated with its dimensional-breaking surroundings.
The checkpoint mushrooms serve as pathway lights throughout the level. They also have a secondary function as points of reference to keep the player oriented inside the swampy overgrowth.
The health pumpkin serves as health pick-ups in Anthroplanet. They heal for ten health points.
The health pumpkin event graph calls the "Found Health Potion" method on hitbox overlap with the player, spawns an emitter, then deletes the actor itself.
The locked gate serves as the player's main objective: to get through and escape the time rift.
The health pumpkin event graph calls the "Found Health Potion" method on hitbox overlap with the player, spawns an emitter, then deletes the actor itself.
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