Author: Emily Zhou

Navigate the cat condo network to drop items on the roaming humans below! Controls are WASD for moving, left and right mouse clicks for paw swipes, and the Space Bar to jump. How many humans can you destroy?

Mac

PC

Unity Project

Game Pitch: In this game, you play as a cat. The goal is to navigate around a giant cat condo world and drop dangerous items onto the heads of the humans below, making sure not to harm your beloved owner (aka food source). You lose if you fall and become noticed by the humans.

I chose this idea because there are a lot of jokes about cats being evil but there doesn’t seem to be a serious 3D game about a cat killing people. I am also trying to create a style for what a cat’s daydream should be. I want to move away from realistic textures so I would like to stick to one very vibrant color palette and keep everything flat shaded.

Controls: To me, playing with a controller feels better than pressing randomly assigned keys on a keyboard. I will have the two joysticks control movement and vision and will use the back triggers to control the left and right paw swipes (for pushing items). Using a controller feels more natural for left and right paw movements anyway.

This image is some concept art for the point of view of the player. You will see the cat’s body, but will have to look down a bit to see the humans.

Game References:

A game that hasn’t come out yet, called “HK”. The main character is a cat, and they have very realistic cat movements (I will do more basic ones, but this is a good reference): https://hk-devblog.com/

Fotonica, really bright platforms (I am not interested in the linear direction though)

Abstract Rituals, I like the way this game looks. It gave me the idea of making the world a cat condo. However, these paths are randomly generated, and are impossible to walk on (based on gameplay videos).

Non Game References:

I have no idea what this picture is but I googled color schemes and I liked this one a lot.

I would like to make the cat design as simple as possible, like this but in 3D. Also, the cuteness might be a nice contrast.

Making the game like an obstacle course slightly based off of real cat condo elements might make for an interesting obstacle course world.

White Room Installation:

Santa Ragione is an Italian micro game design studio based in Milan. There are three main contributors: Pietro Righi Riva and Nicolò Tedeschi, who founded the studio together in 2010, and Paolo Taje who is the lead programmer. They are doing rather well and have won numerous awards. Their video game FOTONICA in particular did very well. They also created the international indie game event LUNARCADE.

According to their website, they like making games that focus on “achieving a visceral response from the player”, such as through the desolate landscapes of MirrorMoon EP, the extreme speeds in the game FOTONICA, or the controversial political narrative in Wheels of Aurelia

Wheels of Aurelia: A game about a road trip around Italy in the 1970s, where you talk to people you pick up along the way. Very narrative based, but allows for driving which is very distracting.

FOTONICA: somewhat typical arcade game style but with very trippy/unique visual elements that almost made me feel dizzy. It is very simple to learn, quite hard to play.

MirrorMoon EP: A space exploration game that is very puzzle-based. The graphics are very clean and aesthetically pleasing, and it has a unique game element of having a smaller planet be the mirror of the one you are standing on.

Mac: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx2WEOUaU_fGQzFzeDMxRU9BYTg/view?usp=sharing

PC: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx2WEOUaU_fGT01YRTlHVld3d3c/view?usp=sharing

Unity Project: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4UBeIWZoNX9blEydmVIa2RDLU0/view?usp=sharing

Created by: Emily Zhou & Andrew Edwards

A game in which the user can experience a coffee buzz by watching the cafe environment change with every sip.

Controls: look down at your coffee cup with your mouse to take a sip.

Mac: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx2WEOUaU_fGQlRkbnNtNnFPTGs/view?usp=sharing

Windows: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx2WEOUaU_fGVW5aSkxLeDUxdnc/view?usp=sharing

Whole project file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx2WEOUaU_fGUFh6YnZQT2E2ZTA/view?usp=sharing

For my project, I want to transition from a volcano environment to an underwater environment with the twist that the former is made of water and the latter is made of lava/fire. I would like for both environments to feel very calming in terms of mood.

For example, below is a sketch of an initial state.

My transition will probably be started by holding a key (like previous exercises), and I would like to try simulating the ground shaking, and having the camera ‘fall’ down through the terrain. The following is just an idea of how the colors will change (a gradient).

The ending state will be a lava ocean with animated fish and fire bubble particles. 

The following is a mood board:

I don’t have a chosen sound clip yet, but I’m currently thinking of using some kind of spa/relaxing background music in addition to sound effects.

For my still life piece, I decided to use colors that seem playful and happy. However, some of the objects indicate a more negative kind of message, such as greed and death. The arrangement is like a traditional still life piece, but the flat materials made it look very game-like, which I thought was appealing. I decreased the intensity of the ambient light so that the spotlight on the skull would have more of a glow effect.

I liked the stool and coins from the provided folder of objects so I included them. The rest of the objects were found online (with materials altered), with the exception of the necklace and mushrooms, which I modeled.

Towerfall is an archery arena game in which the four players try to shoot each other in maps that may have special environmental obstacles or special arrows. You can die from being hit once by someone’s arrow, being stepped on, or from killing yourself from obstacles/special arrows.

How it should be played…

To misplay the game, my friends and I decided to play a version where the player with the most kills is the loser. The goal is now to either kill yourself quickly or force someone to kill you. In other words, last one standing loses the round. This required a whole new way of playing, because players now have to be very cautious about their arrows (no spamming), either run away from each other or try to force others to step on them, and in some cases, look for special opportunities in the map to die.

 

My name is Emily Zhou

Here is a link to my website: http://www.eyzhou.com/