Project - Dimensional Rift
Sprint 5 4/24/25 - 5/8/25 (last sprint)
Dimensional Rift is a fast-paced puzzle-action game where players take on the role of an experimental test subject who has stolen a prototype 'Portal Manipulation Device to escape an AI-controlled facility. Combining elements of problem-solving, strategic traversal, and real-time evasion, the game challenges players to manipulate space using portals while outmaneuvering relentless robotic hunters.
(App Icon)This last sprint, I focused on polishing and UI aspects for the game. Along with light tweaks around the level after our last playtest on Thursday 5/8.
Tweaks around the level were mainly around the warehouse which included adding save points, adjusting portal placements and filling in empty space with boxes. Save points were added to each 'area' of the level, including the warehouse and vent area. Portal surfaces were also scattered around the warehouse so players could have multiple ways to get around and into the next level. And lastly, I added boxes for that very reason so players can jump and climb them and also so it fits the 'scene' or implied story behind the room
Majority of UI was created and implemented this sprint. Majority of these images had to be separately imported so the images can have button blueprints attached to them. Along with also needing to be rescaled or slight color adjustments.
Including:
- Player HP Bar
- Starting 'Loading' Screen
- App Icon
- Key Bind UI
- UI Buttons
- Credit Text
A part that went wrong was that the portal model I modeled and textured ended up getting scrapped because when we applied the mesh to the existing portal base in unreal, wouldn't position correctly, it would turn horizontally rather than vertically which would squish the mesh into a thin bright line.
Another scrapped part that will go unnoticed was that our game is a first person rather than 3rd person, so the player model won't ever be seen, along with its texture. But I suppose it worked out for our player UI health bar and app icon.
Overall, throughout the sprints, I think we were very well paced and I would say my weekly card completions got everything I needed done along with its polish towards the end date. I think with the playtests in-between sprints really helped also to build and play.
If I could redo this assignment, I would want our overall game to be more clear from the get-go (pitch). It felt like it kept getting changed in the beginning weeks and there was confusion on if the player could place portals on any wall or specific walls. I would stay in this same group, I think we worked well together and held each other accountable and communicated well.
If this project continued I would work on harder levels that would challenge the player to think where they can place portals and just mini challenges for them. Something like a take on portal parkour and a wider level area.
Overall, I'm very proud and happy of the outcome of the game. In future projects, hopefully I can be more collaborative outside of class rather than just doing independent work on our cards and then regrouping in class.
Project - Dimensional Rift
Sprint 4 4/10/25 - 4/24/25
Dimensional Rift is a fast-paced puzzle-action game where players take on the role of an experimental test subject who has stolen a prototype 'Portal Manipulation Device to escape an AI-controlled facility. Combining elements of problem-solving, strategic traversal, and real-time evasion, the game challenges players to manipulate space using portals while outmaneuvering relentless robotic hunters.
This sprint, I mainly focused on textures for the level within substance painter and finalizing the level. The main textures I wanted were for the vent, ceiling, and walls and if I was still on a roll, do textures of miscellaneous objects. And the last bit of the level finished off the vent maze and a transition to next level.
My first texture was the wall texture. I wanted to stick with a factory vibe, and with the reference images I found, were white lab walls which felt very clean and smooth. But with the post processing, I wanted a bit more texture since everything already looks a bit pixelated.
Then I worked on the vent bar texture. When I think inside a vent, I image a dark gray, rusty, metal. And since vent don't usually have lights, and within the vents in this level they do, I wanted the grunge and roughness to be enhanced within the harsh/limited lighting. I think this was my favorite texture because of how the lighting reacted to it within the vent area.
And to go with the vent bar I would need a vent texture which went well together with the vent bars. The copper metal gave a hint of orange to the yellow light filled area. And the base vent texture gave a nice backroom vibes but a similar grain to gravel that seemed to fit perfectly.
The last textures I worked on were general textures for props. This included boxes, wood, and bedding. Majority of these textures were just the default ones from substance painter with minor adjustments to roughness and tiling. My favorite outcome were the boxes, I experimented with drawn on tape and tiling.
And of course the level itself, I was able to finish up the design and layout of the level which was part 2 of the vent maze and vent hallway transition which will lead to the next level.
Project - Dimensional Rift
Sprint 3 4/1/25 - 4/10/25
Dimensional Rift is a fast-paced puzzle-action game where players take on the role of an experimental test subject who has stolen a prototype 'Portal Manipulation Device to escape an AI-controlled facility. Combining elements of problem-solving, strategic traversal, and real-time evasion, the game challenges players to manipulate space using portals while outmaneuvering relentless robotic hunters.
This sprint, I mainly focused on level design and progressed on some other cards within the Trello. This sprint also included our first digital prototype playtest which came with feedback that I used to improve upon our level. Overall, this sprint, I completed about half of what I did from last sprint.
(Image of Player Feedback)
This first playtest focused on the main feature mechanic which in our case, our portals where 1 spawns when the player clicks, and the 2nd portals spawns where the player lets go of that mouse click. Feedback from this feature was mainly the player struggling on how to use/ how the portal worked whether it was a UI, a sub menu at title screen, or tutorial area w/ dialogue.
Another issue play testers had was lighting. Because of how the post-processing effect works, the lighting gets very dark, and sections like the warehouse becomes very dark. Another issue that arose from the darkness, was confusion on where to go. I think with the lack of light, players couldn't tell where they could go or supposed to go. So, after hearing feedback, I went through the hallway and vent areas and added light sources and lined lights to imply that players can follow the light, guiding them into the next area.
Overhill of area within the level.
- Intro Room
- Warehouse
- Vent (maze)
- Hallway
- Miscellaneous
Intro Room - The previous starting room was very cramped and didn't really mean or imply anything and because the room was so small, the camera attached to the player would cause the POV to cut through walls and mess with the player mesh. The new room is about doubled the size with a basic scene to imply a livings quarter of beds on the ground and a simple parkour to escape the room.
Hallway - Second area to be revamped is the hallway. Within the new starting room, I added a hole in the wall for the player to go through to get into the hallway. The hallway now is well lit, and I turned in the empty room at the end into where the player will get their portal gun. There is also a secondary hallway that connects that hallway to the warehouse.
(Image of lit hallway + hole in the wall + new room)
(New hallway between main hallway + warehouse)
Warehouse - Lastly the warehouse was lightly revamped. I added a door to connect the new hallway into the warehouse and moved around the boxes.
Warehouse Vent (Maze) - Lastly was the vent area, which the only changes for that were adding more light sources, because even with the intended dark vibes I wanted, with the post-processing, made it even darker. And with this area I finished the first floor of the maze out of 2 floors.
Currently, I'm wrapping up the level to be done until our next prototype. I'm next going to work on whatever UI is left to do in Trello and or texture the level.
Project - Dimensional Rift
Sprint 2 3/8/25 - 3/30/25
Dimensional Rift is a fast-paced puzzle-action game where players take on the role of an experimental test subject who has stolen a prototype 'Portal Manipulation Device to escape an AI-controlled facility. Combining elements of problem-solving, strategic traversal, and real-time evasion, the game challenges players to manipulate space using portals while outmaneuvering relentless robotic hunters.
During this sprint, I focused more on constructing the digital level. This was what I worked on the whole sprint because we had to make a paper prototype/sketch since we never actually ended up doing that from the first sprint. This sprint not too much was done overall because of sprint break, so no one did much of anything.
First off, I made a rough sketch on how I wanted each 'room' or 'area' to be connected and where puzzles/chases would go. The few rooms I had sketched out was the starting room, warehouse, hallway, and experimental room. The level sketch still wasn't done and since we were running behind, so I instantly went into Unreal to start building the 3D level. This image here is the starting room where the player gets their portal gun. And in another image you can see the warehouse which will lead into a vent section.
A couple things I could change, the first one being simplicity. Within my warehouse build which I am very proud of, is too abstract and detailed compared to the fact that the rest of the level wasn't built yet. I tunnel focused on the warehouse rather than building a block out for the whole level.
Another thing I would change would be creating a personal notification to before working on the project, to pull from Github. With this mistake, I lost 2 hours of work which was spent on building the warehouse and vent area. By not pulling before working on the project made it clash with my push once I was done working which deleted everything I worked on. Although I was really frustrated about this, when I recreated the area it turned out better and faster.
By Sprint 3, I am hoping to finish the full level with at least 2 puzzles. If I do finish early, my goal is to create the 'chase' which would be a mad scientist model similar to the player model.
Sprint 1 2/18/25 - 3/8/25
Dimensional Rift is a fast-paced puzzle-action game where players take on the role of an experimental test subject who has stolen a prototype 'Portal Manipulation Device to escape an AI-controlled facility. Combining elements of problem-solving, strategic traversal, and real-time evasion, the game challenges players to manipulate space using portals while outmaneuvering relentless robotic hunters.
Drawing inspiration from Portals, Mirror's Edge, and Superhot. Dimensional Rift emphasizes quick thinking, adaptability, and high-intensity problem solving. This game caters to puzzle and action enthusiasts aged 15-25.
This process has been different compared to previous projects from similar and lower level prerequisites that build up to this class. Such as for being a group projects, our class gave us creative freedom after our group pitch was decided. Once in these groups, there wasn't a 'guide' that we had to follow and work wasn't 'due' in the sense of the teacher keeping an eye on you.
The project was shaped around each group members respected rolls and abilities like coding, level design and management. We also used a website called 'Trello' that is like a group checklist to keep up on our goals and its importance/priority.
During our first sprint's kickoff, we focused on getting our backlog of what we want for our game and how we wanted to distribute it like coding wise and structure wise. We decided prior that we would work in Unreal Engine over Unity since that's what we had more recent learnings from.
As work was dispersed, I was assigned to make a 'small and simple character' and a 'portal gun' both with a vibe fitting for an experimental subject and a futuristic gun to fit the vibe of the factory.
An issue regarding my work was first a rookie mistake of exporting my model from Maya without mesh combining it, which when imported into Unreal, was broken into many cubes/objects. Another mistake on my part was when UVing, my UV maps barely overlapped with each other, so when texturing, there were random lines that stood out.
Once textures were done, exporting was different compared to what all previous classes taught us for Unity. The export was to be assigned as "Unreal Engine 4 (Packed). A last issue was once everything was saved and done, and I relaunched the textured file of either models, they became broken. No matter if I tried to reexport the same model from Maya into Substance again, it wouldn't work. But when I exported a file that wasnt those Maya files of the player and portal gun, they were fine. The solution I found was to give another member of my team my substance and maya file and open them on their end, which worked and successfully imported the textures into Unreal.
I completed all of my assigned work during this sprint which was the player model and gun along with both textures applied. So much so our producer had to assign us more work, but with the remaining time wasn't enough to be within sprint 1. Currently I am working on the UI screens like the save screen, player UI, and any other menus the player will interact with. After I will probably work on a basic digital block out or making a puzzle.