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WALKTHROUGH

GRIMWATCH

GrimWatch is a solo project I made part-time between the 1st and 31st of October 2019 using Unreal Engine 4. The objective of GrimWatch was to create a prototype for a Dark Fantasy Third Person Shooter

with a gloomy October/Halloween atmosphere.

CONCEPTION

  • Solo Project

  • 5 Weeks Production

  • Sets place after the tutorial (level 2)

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Project Schedule: 

  • October 1st to 4

    • Find the Game Feel and Make a first draft in Sketchup.

  • October 7 to 11

    • ​Finding Assets, Start the Avatar and Create Section 1 of Layout.

  • October 14 to 18

    • Complete the Avatar and Camera, Create Section 2 and 3 of Layout.

  • October 21 to 25

    • End Section 3, Create a Simple Enemy, Level Art.

  • October 28 to 31

    •  Make it feel and look as good as possible.

* Every Tuesday, I must have a working build.

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CONSTRAINTS

  • Dark Fantasy theme

  • Action Adventure Mechanics.

  • Working with a small and fixed Schedule.

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GOALS

  • Create a prototype to show the game feel, rules and playstyle.

  • Have a functional prototype within a month

DESIGN PROCESS

I have made the First draft of the map in Sketchup before moving it to Unreal Engine 4. It is always important to be prepare, especially on a short delay.

grimwatch_designProcess.png

Gameplay Intention

A post-tutorial level that sets the player in a village that recently fell to a demonic invasion.

Playtest and Iteration

Due to short production time, the Mill part of Section 3 was cut and the Hideout was move below the Tavern instead.

 

As I was playtesting the level, I did not felt like this part was essential to make the level great. The Tavern would do the job just as well.

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The main focus of the level was to offer an interesting environment focusing on the pillars: introduction, rhythm, balance, framing, guidance and navigation.

LEVEL CONVENTION

In this prototype, I had to introduce the player to the conventions of GrimWatch. These rules would have to be applied in every other levels of the game.

Guidance:

The golden path and the points of interests will be lighted by torches, lamp posts or other sources of light.

Rhythm:

The terrain will be twisted or destroyed by demonic magic if enemies are close by or they have passed in the area, letting the player know about upcoming combats or platforming.

Navigation:

For the exploration and navigation, I like to use Triangular Design, so every point of interest or objective faces each other, which reduce the player's chances to get lost.

LEVEL WALKTHROUGH

TECHNICAL SKILLS

To be able to make GrimWatch come to life, I had to work with Blueprints, Animation Trees, State Machine and Post-Process.

GrimwatchVerticalSlice3.png
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