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The Machine Yard. Team 2’s level of the Going Ballistic campaign P resentation by Arielle Shander. Meet the Team. Arielle Shander - Group Leader, Artist John Welkner - Artist Hussein Nasr - Artist Thomas Nettle - Level Designer James Thompson - Level Designer
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The Machine Yard Team 2’s level of the Going Ballistic campaign Presentation by Arielle Shander
Meet the Team • Arielle Shander - Group Leader, Artist • John Welkner - Artist • Hussein Nasr - Artist • Thomas Nettle - Level Designer • James Thompson - Level Designer • Sang Kim - Scripter Temporary Team Members: Kyle Eggers, Jacob Clayman, Sean McMakin
Level Concept • “The survivors must travel across the base’s now-defunct machine yard to reach the main bunker entrance.” - Excerpt from the first version of the concept • Second level in the five-level campaign • Contains a guard shack (starting point), indoor garage, two office buildings, roads as outdoor paths, a blast door (seals off the area before the safe room), and of course, a junkyard
Main Problems We Encountered • Scope of level and its geometry was too big • Initially went over model limits • Some problems encountered were unclear and difficult to solve at first • Some scheduling conflicts between teammates • Blast door didn’t appear until the second time it was made and put it; other custom props never made it into the game • Junkyard’s navmesh for the surrounding mounds of dirt (which keeps players on a linear path) needed to be fixed • Initially had problems putting level halves together • Fell behind because artists were told to focus on making custom props
Biggest Achievements • We cooperated as a team • Even when we were behind, we usually caught up quickly • Blast door programming and animation was successful • Infected ladders work • Level mostly resembles initial concept • Successfully imported custom model (blast door) • Fixed complex pathing issues over exotic terrain (collapsed building’s ramp) • Safe rooms match and are consistent with the other levels • Fixed doors so that theyclose naturally and realistically • Fixed lighting and skybox • Added a cool machine gun at the end, which helps the player fend off the horde • Fixed prop errors (by switching certain dynamic props to staticandvice versa) • Got flag to animate • Everything worked out in the end, and the project was completed on time!
Conclusion • The scope of our level was our biggest issue; too much dead* space makes a level feel empty, so we tried to compensate by filling it up with props • Even though we ran into several problems throughout our three to four months of development, our team managed to complete the project in time • *Yes, I made a pun (Left 4 Dead and/or Dead Space- take your pick)
Thank You: • Brian: For giving me a chance to be a group leader, even though it’s only my first semester here • The audience in this room: For listening to my speech And most importantly… • My teammates (main and temporary): For working so hard and being just plain awesome! Stay cool, guys!