Battle Of The Bands
ROLE:
Sole Dev
PROJECT TYPE:
PC Game
PROJECT ENGINE:
Unreal Engine 4
Unreal Engine 5 (Update)
Battle of the Bands was a project made in Unreal Engine 4. It was designed conceptually through a Game Design Document in my "Game Design Module" in 2021, and then made into an actual game in my "Gameplay Prototyping" module in 2022.
This was a rhythm-based shooter that changed as I attempted to refine it's mechanics. It gave you times you could and couldn't shoot through audio cues, and shooting enemies would give you a combo bonus if done in the time.
Since then, I have begun to remake the project in 2023.
GAMEPLAY VIDEO
GAME DESIGN
To begin this project, we had to create a Game Design document in which elaborates the mechanics of our game, while getting constant feedback from our lecturers in order to refine this to the best of our standards.
Additionally, we were encouraged to style our GDD's around the theme of our game, to help give it a visual flare.
You can see examples below of the layout, or read through the link below.
GAMEPLAY PROTOTYPING
Gameplay Prototyping involved creating a prototype of the above game sypnopsis. I changed my original idea from shooting being tied to rhythm to instead shooting within the rhythm being rewarded due to issues in relation to the system. You can see gameplay in the video below, or find out more about the process through the blog posts linked in the next section.
MECHANICS
RHYTHM:
The core of Battle of the Band's gameplay relies on the rhythm of the game, which I struggled with but still found ways to implement into the game through iteration, being indicating through audio when the player can and can't shoot.
You can find more about it discussed in the Blog Post below.
COLLECTABLES:
To help create a sense of progression through the level, I decided to have collectables be the player's path to completing it, and programmed it so the player was unable to face the boss of the level unless they had found every item.
You can find more about it discussed in the Blog Post below.
PICKUPS:
To balance the game's difficulty, I added pickups for the player's stamina and health in order to balance out the gameplay, and hid them throughout the level as advantages for exploring the level.
You can find more about it discussed in the Blog Post below.
UI:
In the game's UI, I tried to reflect a stylish rock n' roll theme within it, taking inspiration from media such as old band posters and logos, such as the title logo, which uses the Beatles font.
You can find more about it discussed in the Blog Post below.
2023 REMASTER
I am currently working on a remaster of this game from the ground up, most primarily to create new, stylish User Interface that reflects a funky vibe that I feel would suit a game such as this, taking into account skills I have learned within my User Interface course. Below you can see some of the work I have done so far.
LOGO:
The logo was remastered within Photoshop, this time breaking away from pixel art and instead being fully HD, as this gives me more opportunities to bring out the style of this game through vector art.
MAIN MENU:
With more knowledge of the features of Unreal, such as level sequences, I decided to make a 3D Title Screen from the ground up.
First of all, I created assets resembling stickers for the buttons, which would be selected from the player's guitar case, tying everything back to a funky-music theme.
Then, I created a 3D Enviornment relating to the main character, who is part of a garage band, in order to provide both context to the game and continue with the theme. Finally, I provided a splash screen which shows the entry into the garage before fading to white.
I also created a small textbox at the bottom to give context to each option, while writing them with a personality that reflects the light hearted theme of the game.