VFS – Matheus Pitillo

December 3, 2012 — Comments are off for this post.

National Mech League

National Mech League is a 3D Dual Stick Shooter PC Game that my team and I created as our Final Project of the Game Design Program at Vancouver Film School. Myself and two other students had three months to develop the whole game from the Game Concept, Pre Production and Production Phase. NML was developed using Unity Engine, and had the theme of a futuristic Sport Arena where Mechs defeat waves of enemies robots, while attempting to gain attention from sponsors.

In the far future, mankind is finally able to build Mechs. The only logical outcome of such engineering achievement is to use Mechs in a newly created sport: Mech Match! In the NML, Mechs fight waves of enemy robots in arenas around the world, in order to earn sponsorship and please the fans. By collecting sponsors points, the player can exchange these points for new upgrades, increasing their original stats.

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My Roles

Level Design
Game Design / Game Design Document
Environmental Art
Set Dressing
Lighting
Project Management
Graphical User Interface
Menu Screens Composition / Lighting

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Why Create this Game?

NML provides a theme that possesses mainstream appeal and humor potential as well. As the game focuses in a League representation, introducing a new type of Sport, players will be able to try it in a game with over proved gameplay. The game provides a fun narrative, with an intelligent AI system, in which winning often requires strategy. The goals set forth in creating this game include, but are not limited, to the following:

Combine gameplay with a Sport League Theme, allowing players to relate their favorite sports to a new concept, while providing a fun experience;
Make the player constantly modify their strategy according to each Mech Weapons.

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Design Notes

Created in Unity Engine;
3 month development time by 3 people;
4 Levels;
4 Major Objectives;
10 to 20 minutes of gameplay.

[button link="http://projects.myvfs.com/games/GD25_NationalMechLeague/NML.zip" type="icon" newwindow="yes"] Download National Mech League[/button]

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Major Features

• Unique Playable Mech
Player will control The Ocho, the Badass Cowboy. The Mech is the materialization of the pilot's personality and their design is also inspired by it.

• In-game Sport Commentators
The in-game experience is commentated in real time by two different commentators, creating a fun and humorous atmosphere that mirrors the feeling of an actual sporting event.

• 3 Unique Weapons
The Ocho features three different weapons: Shotgun, Revolver and the Gatling gun. Weapons have different effects against enemies, creating different types of combat experience.

• 5 Unique Enemy Behaviors
There are 3 different enemy classes and 4 different behaviors. Each one of the enemy behaviors has a defined characteristic in order to vary gameplay. The enemies are Red SwarmBot, Blue SwarmBot, WormBot, and BeeBot.

• Dodging and Shooting Gameplay Experience
Game places equal emphasis on dodging and shooting enemies and projectiles.

• Upgradable Mech according to Sponsor Points
Player needs to complete combo kills to collect Sponsor Points during the game. Sponsor Points can be exchanged for new Mech Golden Armor Upgrade in the Mech Shop. The upgrade will increase Mech Stats and change appearance, but will not provide any new abilities.

• 3 Unique Power Ups
Player can find Power Ups around the League Arena. Power Ups affects Mech's Stats and Weapon Stats for a pre-determined time interval. Power Ups vary into: Improving Mech Speed, Improving Mech Shield, and Increasing Weapon Damage.

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Published by Matheus Pitillo in Game Titles

Tags: Dual Stick Shooter, Environment Art, Final Project, game, Game Design, game design program, Game Projects, GD25, Level Design, Lighting, Matheus Pitillo, National Mech League, NML, PC, Project Management, Roles, sport game, vancouver film school, VFS

November 9, 2012 — Comments are off for this post.

National Mech League

Level Overview:

Game Engine: Unity

National Mech League is a 9 - 15 minutes Single Player Campaign Dual Stick Shooter experience that consists of 4 Major Objectives with more than 3 conflicts per goal. The Single Player campaign is the only Game Mode available in National Mech League. The player takes on the role of a new pilot that wants to compete in the new season of the National Mech League. As the player progresses through the Single Player campaign, they must face a series of tests in the first Section of the League Arena, to learn the basic mechanics of the game. After that, the player will navigate their way through the environments of the League Arena – divided into sections – to reach the top central platform and fight against the League Boss.

Single Player Progression:

The player's progression through the Single Player Campaign occurs in 1 level and 4 sections. The League Arena is divided into four different sections. Each section differs by difficulties, enemies, hazards, advertisements, challenges and increasing environmental elevation. The player starts on the first floor and, by advancing and completing the Major Objectives, moves further to access new environmental elevation in their search to reach the top platform.

Stages and Single-Player Time Projections

The following chart is a projection of the expected gameplay time for each level of the game and the associate difficulty progression. As the campaign progresses, the difficulty will escalate to challenge the player. There are also three game modes available with progressively more difficult gameplay: chicken, normal and badass mode.

Single-Player Beat Chart

Victory Conditions

The main goal of National Mech League is to reach the Central Top Platform of the League Arena. As victory conditions the player will be ranked and compared with other players according to their results in the end of the game.

Environment Hazards

There are four different hazards in the League Arena of NML. All Hazards are there to strengthen and reinforce the concept of the “American Gladiator”, our biggest focus for our Arena Gameplay. The hazards are: Fire Hazard, Sand Hazard, Conveyor Belt and Magneto.

Stages / Areas:

The Paper Layout below contains a complete description of the unique level and 4 sections that the player goes through in NML, the League Arena.

League Arena Stage Progression

The League Arena has 4 different sections, divided into 3 different elevations / floors. Each section has its specific Major Objective as listed below:

Goals - League Arena:
- Deactivate the Laser Gate by pressing x5 Power Buttons;
- Control the position of the bridge by filling correctly the x3 Energy Targets;
- Turn on the Pizza Box Elevator by placing x3 new slices of Pizza;
- Press the button to turn on the Survivor Glass Room Door.

Progression Flow - Sections A to D

Design Notes:

Our biggest challenge with the levels and the game design was the fact that the main game mechanic is the shooting. So, how could we vary the gameplay for each area of the game, considering that all that the player can do is shoot? How could we change up the missions to keep the player interested and invested in the game? In the end the decision to add different hazards for each section, and to relate the whole game with the idea of a Gladiator Arena, helped a lot. The player will always be facing situations in which the whole environment will react against him, while the crowd will scream and celebrate based upon your decisions in game. All missions and designs needed to relate with our theme.

[box type="info"] For a detailed and complete Level Design Document with all Enemy Spawn Points and Level Progression, please request via e-mail.[/box]

Screenshots:

Game Trailer:

Published by Matheus Pitillo in Level Design

Tags: 2012, document, game design program, Game Trailer, GD25, Industry Night, Level Design, Matheus Pitillo, Mission Design, National Mech League, NML, objectives, portfolio, Screenshots, Team Baking Power, vancouver film school, VFS, video

November 9, 2012 — Comments are off for this post.

DeathMatch: Dust Storm

Level Overview:

Game Engine: UDK

Dust Storm is a DeathMatch Level that focuses on prop dressing a level whilst maintaining the level designer perspective. As one of the VFS assignments, the goal with this Level was to take the fundamentals of Environmental Level Design and use it to adhere to the map gameplay that has been set out, as well decorating it with 3D Art Assets of UDK.

Design Notes:
For this project we received a whitebox / template of a DeathMatch Level, and it was required for us to Prop Dress the level from start to finish, according to the principals and guidelines of a DeathMatch Arena, maintaining the core gameplay of it in the map.

Dust Storm was a project to practice the new techniques of Terrain in UDK that we've being studying during the time at VFS. It was a try to create a Desert Terrain and to test the warm weather and strong lighting. My biggest references was the game Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, trying to capture some of the light aspects of that game.

For this project we were evaluated in the following areas: Visual appeal, Gameplay Integrity, Landmarks, Theme, Continuity, Lighting, History, Contrast, Believability and Level of Detail. The instructors asked us to try to create the most believable background for the level, complementing and developing a story and a good theme.

The main highlight of this level is the large central tower in which the player can get the rocket launcher by traversing into the access points on the side of the tower, or cross through it by using the jump pad at both ends, and landing on the opposite side. So all the gameplay had to be focused around this main gameplay aspect.

Screenshots:

Video:

Published by Matheus Pitillo in Level Design

Tags: DeathMatch, DeathMatch Level, Dust Storm, GD25, Level Design, Matheus Pitillo, Paper Layout, UDK, vancouver film school, VFS, video, vimeo

November 9, 2012 — Comments are off for this post.

Mission Design: The Factory

Level Overview:

Game Engine: UDK

The Factory is a Single Player Level divided into several Acts in which each member of our work team were supposed to cover one of the 3 storytelling acts (Act 01: Intro, Act 02: Confrontation and Act 03: Resolution). Each one of the Acts were done individually, but the whole Level had to make sense and complement itself, following the same genre, story and visual theme.

I was responsible for Act 2: Confrontation, a 5 to 6 minute gameplay experience . To do so, the player would be presented with a new type of Enemy AI for the first time, as well as some kind of reward that could give an extra weapon to him, or something that could influence the gameplay. Each Act had at least 3 main objectives, followed by 3-5 different enemies (Near, Far, Heavy, Minion) and 1-3 different enemy groupings using the enemy types that we created.

Design Notes:

As Level Concept, The Factory had the follow:

“In the future robots have become a part of everyday life. As we continued our inexorable advance with technology in the 21st century, we unlocked the desired milestone of Artificial Intelligence. Robots now work alongside their human counterparts, shackled by the Three Laws of Robotics. If a robot was ever not constrained by these laws, it is unknown what would happen… until today.

At a remote robot factory, a rouge AI appears to have been created. Its origin is unknown, but the military contract this company which has led the police to suspect clandestine research. All that is known now is that robots have taken over the facility and obey a different set of laws. Because of the potential danger to humans, a robot officer has been sent in to uncover and stop this AI before it can grow any stronger.

We begin outside the facility and must find a way inside and down to the heart of the facility.”

In the Act 02 of “The Factory”, the level will introduce the Second Base Area (B2) of the Old Robot Factory. The player needs to find a way to turn ON the factory system again – by finding the battery and plugging it into the core – to be able to access the elevator to the third base floor. Along his way the player will need to protect himself against two new Enemy AI that will be activated right after the energy gets back. One enemy is in patrol mode and the other one hangs from the ceiling. By restoring the energy and acquiring the new Time Weapon, the player can cross the laser corridor and finally access the elevator. By accessing the new elevator, the Act 02 ends.

Estimated Difficulty: 7/10
Estimated Gameplay Duration: 5-6 minutes

Goals:

Find the battery;
Plug-in the battery in the core;
Access the elevator.

Published by Matheus Pitillo in Level Design

Tags: Act 2, game design program, GD25, Matheus Pitillo, Mission Design, Mission Design Document, Paper Layout, The Factory, UDK, vancouver film school, VFS

November 8, 2012 — Comments are off for this post.

Jack

Level Overview:

Game Engine: Flash

Jack is a 15 - 21 minutes game divided into 3 different Levels featuring different game mechanics. For each of the levels the mission design changed radically to match with different and easy learning mechanics. Jack is part of EBM Compendium VII, in which the theme was "Jack of all Tales". The Compendium VII is about an alternate version of all Jack tales turning into the famous Jack the Ripper. The Flash Game Jack is the game version of this project, focusing specifically on the Jack and Jill fairy tale.

Design Notes:
In a total of 3 Levels, each level of Jack shows a different time of his life, to explain how he ended up turning into Jack the Ripper. The biggest challenge as Level Designer was to create objectives and mechanics that could add value the core story and that could keep the difficulty in a not too high level. For the game controls, I used in-game silhouettes and shadows to show each one of the controls the first time the player is faced with a new situation.

Goals:

Level 01:

Estimated Difficulty: 7/10 - Opening
Estimated Gameplay Duration: 4 minutes
Objectives:
1. Run away from Jill, trying to avoid obstacles in a fast paced level.

Level 02:

Estimated Difficulty: 7/10 - Mid-Game
Estimated Gameplay Duration: 5-8 minutes
Objectives:
1. Find the apples to recover Jack's energy and keep him alive;
2. Discover the correct path between the options of trees to reach the exit of the Dark Forest.

Level 03:

Estimated Difficulty: 8/10 - EndGame
Estimated Gameplay Duration: 6-10 minutes
Objectives:
1. Control Jack's Insanity Bar to keep him sane and alive;
2. Find the three pieces of memories/poems scattered around the city of London;
3. Reach the Main Plaza to follow and kill Jill, without be noticed by the Cops.

[box type="info"] For a detailed and complete Level Design Document with all Enemy Spawn Points, Level Progression and Potential Risks, please request via e-mail.[/box]

Screenshots:

Video:

Published by Matheus Pitillo in Level Design

Tags: Compendium VII, Flash Game, GD25, Jack, Jack of all Tales, Jack the Ripper, LD, Level Design, Matheus Pitillo, Term 02, vancouver film school, VFS

September 29, 2012 — Comments are off for this post.

Game Reverse Engineering: SOTC

Game Reverse Engineering: Shadow of the Colossus
Also submitted to VFS GD25 Critical Analysis Class

Article Summary
This is an analysis of Game Reverse Engineering based in the game Shadow of the Colossus (PS2). This article was also used as one of my assignments in Critical Analysis Class at Vancouver Film School - Game Design Program 2012. This assignment was also written by Hirad Harandian, Jose Gonzalez, Michael Plouffe and Quin Henshaw. With this analysis we not only given the breakdown of the mechanics in Shadow of the Colossus, as we also showed how these mechanics works and what it does for the game itself.

Published by Matheus Pitillo in Game Articles

Tags: article, Controls, game design program, Game Mechanics, Game Reverse Engineering, GD25, Matheus Pitillo, Mechanics, PS2, Shadow of the Colossus, SOTC, vancouver film school, VFS

February 7, 2012 — Comments are off for this post.

3 Act Structure: Heavy Rain

3 Act Structure: Heavy Rain
Also submitted to VFS GD25 Storytelling Class

This paper is an analysis of a 3 Act Structure based within the game Heavy Rain (PS3). The analysis was written considering Ethan's original plot in the game. This paper was also used as one of the Storytelling Class Assignments at Vancouver Film School – Game Design Program 2012.

ACT ONE

Clear Setup
How far WOULD YOU go to save someone you love? In Heavy Rain you see yourself in control of four different stories that try to answer this question. (Compelling Theme) Four characters, with different lives and motivations, each with their own strengths and weaknesses that somehow end up together in a central plot: The Origami Killer. The Origami is a serial killer who is kidnapping and drowning little boys, leaving an origami figure on their dead bodies.

Ethan Mars, protagonist of this whole story, is a father, architect, married and has two children. His life could be seen as a trouble-free life, until an incident happens and he witness the death of one of his sons;
Madison Paige is a photojournalist who recently also attracted to the cases of the Origami Killer to get more information for your story. She suffers from insomnia, which causes it to her spend your nights in motels;
Norman Jayden is an FBI agent who ends up being scheduled to investigate the case of the Origami Killer. Early on we can see that his “problem” is the main dependence on a drug known as Triptocaine;
Scott Shelby is a private detective who investigates crimes committed by Origami Killer. Like all the other characters, Shelby also has a physical problem, which in his case is asthma.

Inciting Incident
Some months after Ethan lost his first son in a car accident (Quiet Character Moments), his second son – Shaun - disappears when both are playing in a park. (Reversal) Ethan spaces out and when night time comes he recovers his senses and returns to the park to search for his son. Trying to find him in any place, Ethan returns to his house and searches for Shaun in his bedroom, but the boy really disappeared. He finally starts to question if his son was kidnapped by the Origami Killer.

A compelling central question

A story sets up a question to be answered: “Will Shaun be found before the Origami Killer kills him?”.

First turning point
After Shaun be kidnapped by the Origami Killer, Ethan leaves his normal everyday and decides to follow his quest in search for his son, trying to succeed in time, before Shaun dies.

ACT TWO

Progressive Complications
The second act does not really begin until Shaun goes missing. Because of Shaun's kidnapping, the story develops through a series of complications and obstacles. Ethan embarks on his rescuing journey and goes through five different obstacles that the player can choose (Tough Choices) if they want to follow the Origami Killer rules exactly, or trying to solve it in a different way. In parallel with Ethan’s conflicts, the other characters are solving their own obstacles (A Balanced Cast) while searching for more clues. Madison has her encounter with Ethan and begins to help him on his journey.

Midpoint Sequence
When everything seems very bad in Ethan’s life, the midpoint sequence starts with the police suspecting that Ethan is the Origami Killer, because of his psychological condition. After that, the rest of the game is remarkably more difficult (Major Sequence of Action) considering that the cops keeps trying to arrest Ethan during all his rescuing journey.

Second turning point
Ethan needs to follow your last choice, deciding if he will drink the poison – which will leave him with only one hour of life – that the Origami Killer offers to him, in exchange for revealing where his son is hidden. (Set Up/Pay Offs & Convincing and Empathetic Antagonist). A quick background story of the Origami Killer is presented.

ACT THREE

Climax
Is revealed to the players that Detective Scott Shelby is the Origami Killer. Depending of player's choice in other moments of the game, Ethan will finally reach the place where his son is held. If Ethan died before this, or didn't find all clues about his son’s location, Norman or/and Madison will confront the Origami Killer.

A Crisis Decision
Ethan is confronted by the Origami Killer and needs to decide whether to follow him to not let him get away, or whether to save his son who is trapped in a well that is filling with water.

Resolution
The game ends with an epilogue showing the scene of Ethan moving into a new apartment with his son. Ethan asks if Shaun is satisfied with the new house and Shaun says: “It doesn't matter where we live, as long as we’re together.” If the other characters in the game have survived to the end, their story are also presented in a positive or negative way, according to choices that the player made during the game.

[button type="icon" icon="paper"]Written by Matheus Pitillo.[/button]

Published by Matheus Pitillo in Game Articles

Tags: 3 Act Structure, Game Design, heavy rain, Matheus Pitillo, VFS

January 1, 2012 — Comments are off for this post.

Book Review: The Art of GD

The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses

Author: Jesse Schell
Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann
Paperback: 512 pages

As I said in my last post here in Life at VFS, the school recommended us to read some books to be prepared for classes and for our work in the Game area. So I decided to start my first Book Review with one of these recommended books. It's hard to me to review a book, as I never done this before, so I hope I can explain well what I'm trying to express here, ok?

How to teach about Game Design if this is an enormous subject, without beginning or end, and totally non-linear? There isn't one simple and correct way to teach how to create a great game. It's not like just say "do this" and everything is going to work well, since games involves a lot of characteristics from a lot of things. It seems a movie, with images and story from behind, it seems a book with some amazing narrative, but also is playable, is interactive, and changes with every choice of the player. But the hardest part of it is to understand what the player really like and search for, to have pleasure with this final product. Is too hard to just find the perfect recipe for success that will work for all tastes of all players. That's why a lot of books that try to teach about Game Design most of time don't have it completed successfully.

Jesse Schell is a Game Design Professor at Carnegie Mellon University and Executive Director of Schell Games - the biggest video game studio of Pittsburgh - with The Art of the Game Design, he shows that the technics to create a good game are around us every time, in every moment of our lives. He knew how to teach us in a non-tiring way, and with an amazing writing, the best fundaments that we need to know to formulate a powerful game for all tastes.

Wait! What the book is really about?
First of all, this isn't a book of Game Development. The author will not teach you about art, 3D modelling, programming or anything like that. All the writing is focused on Game Design: its mechanics, technics, iterating etc. And this is the best differential of the book, comparing to others with the same subject.

In one hand we will see from beginning a single map be transformed by every chapter, until complete in the end a full map with new concepts and technics. With this you can learn and create your own game following each one of these informations. This map allows you to understand better how Game Design is divided and how you can use it well. Even seems too hard to understand, the book explains very well every step by every chapter.

And in another hand - and not less important - the book presents a series of what the author calls of "lenses", or questions, that you can use in your game, or what you can ask about your game design, to see if you are following correctly the way of production. These lenses were very well studied and created with amazing concepts and technics that even new Game Designers can understand easily and start to use it on their own games.

The book starts with the basics concepts of Game Design, with the main examples - mostly with traditional board games - and then teaching about game mechanics, interface, puzzles etc.

It's normal to see the author citing moments of his life in which he used as an example to all his next creations, proving again that the game design is present everywhere. And exactly because the book is so transparent as well, we can feel that every moment is like you are having a dialogue with the author. It is interesting how the reading and accompanying of the book is simple and easy to understand, despite being so dense and with so complicated matters - especially in the chapters about the mechanics and interface.

The 100 Lenses
During all pages of the book we will learn 100 different Lenses, also know as 100 sets of questions that will help you improve your game. The more interest is that these lenses are collected from so diverse fields as architecture, music, psychology, film, anthropology, etc.

It's amazing how the author decides to teach us with a deck of cards. For us, players, what is best then one organized "game", with illustrations, informations and very well content? The "players" can buy the Deck of Lenses on the author website, or download the app for Android, iPhone, iPod or iPad, reading everything directly in your mobile.

I've tried the Deck of Lenses App on my iPhone, and I can say it works very good and it's great to have it with me all the time in hands. They have the same illustration as the real cards and are organized between category, alphabetic order etc. I do recommend to everyone too.

The Book Synopsis

"Anyone can master the fundamentals of game design—no technological expertise is necessary. The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses shows that the same basic principles of psychology that work for board games, card games and athletic games also are the keys to making top-quality videogames.

Good game design happens when you view your game from many different perspectives, or lenses. While touring through the unusual territory that is game design, this book gives the reader one hundred of these lenses one hundred sets of insightful questions to ask yourself that will help make your game better. These lenses are gathered from fields as diverse as psychology, architecture, music, visual design, film, software engineering, theme park design, mathematics, writing, puzzle design, and anthropology. Anyone who reads this book will be inspired to become a better game designer and will understand how to do it."

- Jesse Schell

Easy reading, easy to understand
The first time that I've listened about the book, I was in my old job, when I asked for a suggestions about books with this subject, and another Game Design friend of mine recommended The Art of Game Design. Since then I'm always using all tips and technics that the author presents to us. And it's not to be surprised that the school recommended this as one of the main books to study.

In my opinion The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses is one of the most powerful Game Design Books that I already read and seen in the gaming market. The easy reading, with a lot of amazing content even with just 512 pages, teach any new or old Game Designer the main principles that we need to know about Games and how to create a great one.

So, for any Game Designer, I truly recommend the book. I hope you can enjoy and learn so many things as I did.

The Art of Game Design | Official Website: http://artofgamedesign.com/

Apple Deck of Lenses App: App Store

Android Deck of Lenses App: Android Market

[button type="icon" icon="paper"]Written by Matheus Pitillo.[/button]

Published by Matheus Pitillo in Game Articles

Tags: 100 Lenses, A Arte de Game Design: o livro original, análise, book review, Carnegie Mellon University, Game Design, Jesse Schell, Matheus Pitillo, review, Schell Games, Sérgio Nesteriuk, The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses, vancouver film school, VFS