Sprint 2 - Mecha Fighters

For the second sprint of development, my team and I focused on beginning to build a playable core loop and get the base of the game into 3d space. Our programmer continued to work on core mechanics, such as enemies spawning, firing, mechs firing, as well as other things like resource tracking. Meanwhile our producer continued to add more cards to our Trello board and also worked on texturing any models that were completed, as well as building some basic UI functionality.

My main focus this sprint was to create and UV models, as well as talk with the producer and programmer consistently to make sure that things were shaping according to my vision. As the game will mainly take place on a static screen during levels, it has been pretty simple to figure out the setup in terms of models. This sprint I began by creating the model for the standard plasma mech, which I based loosely off of mecha references online. I made sure to keep it very low-poly, since I know that most mobile devices aren't built to handle detailed and intensive graphics. I wanted this mecha to be humanoid with a futuristic appearance, a piece of technology that's obviously complex. The UV's were pretty simple thanks to the segmented nature of its frame.

After that, I made the model for the coal mech. For this one, I used a reference of a steampunk toy that I found online to get a base for the shape and types of details I wanted to have. I wanted this one to look older and more clunky with lots of mechanical parts visible. I gave it a more square base with a traditional barrel on top and lots of mechanical parts such as gears and shock absorbers. This one was also kept low poly to keep continuity and save memory, and I think it turned out really cool.

Once those were finished, I made some very simple models for the projectiles that each will be shooting throughout the level. The plasma mech projectile is a sort of laser beam, similar in style to Star Wars blasters. I want it to convey low damage, but high speed. For the coal mech projectile, I went with a traditional cannon ball style, just a simple round artillery that will be lobbed out of the machine to do maximum damage at a slower rate.

After finishing those models and handing off to our producer for texturing, I began working on the models for the grid and ground around it, as well as some background models. I wanted to make sure the grid was visible, but not just a simple lined surface. I tried to think of a way to visually identify where each space ended without being too forward, and I decided to do an alternating height design where each space alternates a bit in height to better define the edges. I then just added a simple border of ground around that.

For the background, I wanted to theme it around a forest or meadow type environment. I feel that those are often used in beginning levels due to them feeling warm and familiar, so I went with that for our game as well. I wanted to make sure I kept it simple, and I'm not well versed in modelling environmental assets, so I made a simple fence to separate the background and foreground and made a simple landscape with some protruding mountains. I also made some quick trees and populated them around the area, making them smaller further back to give some illusion that they were much further away from the camera.

In the upcoming sprint I will be taking on more modelling work and will be doing more texturing as well. I'm excited to try to come up with interesting designs for the enemies and other objects like explosives.