May 31

Medieval Street

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I made these models for an assignment for which we were to make a building’s exterior and some environment. I chose to make something I could potentially use for my senior project.

If I were to use these buildings, I would probably remove the polygonal frames on the surface of the building as well as the window holes. All the framing would be easily replaced with proper texturing and bump mapping. I made the holes with a boolean subtraction, so they’re simple to completely remove. I’m very happy with the way the barrels turned out. I think the brazier looks good, but I’d want to remake it with less polygons or without the feet if I were to use it in the game.

I think my senior project game would play very well on tablets and some phones, so I’d like to do my asset creation with that in mind.

May 30

Senior Project Week Three

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I started working on the ability to attack targets and enemies. I quickly realized that a fundamental aspect of my game revolves around two key features, the ability to swap the active player character with characters on the bench, and the ability to equip items that define the character’s attacks.

I’m in the process of adding XML serialization, something I’ve done with many past projects, and an large inventory system, something I’ve never done in a game. Pretty soon, I should have any number of pre-defined characters and items. It should be pretty simple to create a random item generator. With all this serializable data, save and load is just around the corner. This game is practically making itself.

Senior Project: The Name of the Game

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The working title of my senior project is “Sandsea: Shadow of Umbri.” “Sandsea: Shadow of Umbri” chronicles a daring slave’s escape from the dark and militaristic peninsular country of Umbri and through the front lines of a great war. I’ve … Continue reading →

May 23

Senior Project Week Two

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Over this past week, I accomplished two main goals. The first is that I just about “finished” the design documents. I’ll be posting them here soon. The second goal was in taking the first steps in a basic prototype. It’s just unfinished character and camera movement, but I’m liking what I see.

I fished around the unity store and found an excellent medieval village for free. It consisted of only two different houses, but that can go a long way with variation in rotation. It figured it would be an excellent source of prototype graphics, but I will probably end up using these houses later on. Originally, I had intended to create all my assets myself. After viewing what was available on the asset store, I may end up buying a few assets. I was pleasantly surprised.

I’m starting my third week now. I should have basic game-play, and more polished controls and camera work, by next week. Maybe even my inventory system. I’m right on schedule!

May 16

Senior Project Week One

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When I realized I was going to be working on my senior project, got to work on a few things I knew I was going to need. A game idea, documentation templates, and a plan.

Before the semester even began, I was excited and ready to go.

Gantt Chart

I took advantage of new features available through Google Drive, including the app “Gantter.”

Fun with charts aside, I quickly developed a game concept. Because of the rich history I have been developing with my sandsea setting, I chose it as the setting for my senior project game. The title of the game is “Sandsea: Shadow of Umbri.” It chronicles the journey of an escaped slave as he fights his way out of an oppressive and militaristic country.

For obvious reasons, it became apparent that very few of my classmates were as prepared as I was to get to work. I’ve already penciled down the basic mechanics of the game. Now, it’s time to fill my design document templates.

May 11

Best Script or Play: Sandsea

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Sandsea is a setting I originally developed for a permanently shelved, grandiose dream of my own MMORPG. Thanks to developing it further for a table-top role playing game campaign I ran, and choosing it for the setting of my screenplay in my script writing classes, Sandsea has grown into a robust and unique universe. Further development includes my senior project, which is currently being developed.

A eager cabin boy’s accident causes the loss of his Captain, and the boy is determined to lead the crew in the Captain’s rescue.

This screenplay won the 2012 Wilmington University College of Technology Award for Best Script or Play.

Read it online or Download the PDF.

Apr 28

Wayward Passage Proof of Concept

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Wayward passage was created in the second half of a game development course. It’s inception sprung from a small idea which I called “GrapPort.”

The grapport was to be a gun that fired a missile-like projectile. On impact, the missile latches on to what it hits. The player can then teleport to where the missile landed, or teleport the struck object to the player. Additionally, the missile could penetrate enemies and objects; setting it up for a use multi-purpose tool/weapon.

Like a spark in an engine, the mechanic exploded into being, and it brought a friend, a story. Monstrous, long-lived, denizens of a strange planet command the short-lived smaller inhabitants, forcing them to labor in the mines where the large don’t fit.

You, an interstellar cargo hauler, get sucked into a wayward wormhole and crash land on this planet with subterranean jungles. The friendly inhabitants are amazed at your technology and ability to teleport yourself and other objects.

Play Wayward Passage Now!

Mar 12

GDC 2012

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Apparently, I forgot to actually post this.

My classmates and I got back from a week-long trip to GDC this morning. We each got Summits & Tutorial passes.

On my first day, I participated in the Scrum Essentials tutorial. I learned a lot about managing our game development process. It’s a bit difficult to apply the fundamentals of scrum/agile development to our trio, but the lessons learned will definitely help our process. I learned a lot that I can take with me past this stage of my career.


I spent the second day at the Level Design in a Day tutorial. It was thrilling to be in the room with so many honored game industry vets. I learned a lot about concept and structure of level design. My ears have never been as perked up as they were when I was at the Interesting Decisions talk by Sid Meier.

With all that education behind me, I realized how under-prepared I was for the real reason to be at GDC. Despite not having a portfolio, going around to the developers at the booths in the career pavilion was eye opening. I asked around about what they were looking for in a game designer. I heard so many different answers. Here are some paraphrased quotes.

We want to see that you can add value to existing games, or be a genius. Improve or mod an existing game to get our attention.

We want to see your game documentation.

We want to see game concept summaries and documentation samples. Full documentation is too much for us to want to look at in a portfolio.

Our designers are also story writers, so we want to see writing samples.

We don’t actually have a separate designer role. Everyone has a hand in the design of the games.

The solution is clear. I will do all these things, and more.

Also, swag.