Introduction

Lori Cerchio, Producer

This was the first game for the Dark Utopia team and we all approached it with some fresh and new ideas. At our first design meeting in the summer of ‘07, there were several genres we had talked about. Making a Massively Multiplayer Online Game would be too much work in the little time we had and working in all 3D was too advanced and “hardcore” for us. Eventually, we decided on a 2D side-scroller action game, with some key elements in 3D. But it wasn’t always easy as pie to make and there were many things that went right and wrong.

There are five of us on the team: Thomas, the programmer, was in charge of coding and was basically the backbone to our game. He used a game engine already built so he had more time to work on the gameplay itself; Mario was the artist and he came up with the concepts and drew every background. He worked long hours and many days to get the right look and feel to each of the levels; Cory was the 3D modeler and was also in charge of the music and sound effects. He modeled the main character, along with the boss character, in 3D to give it some substance in the 2D world. He also created sound loops that play in the background of every level and the title screen; Josh was in charge of promoting our game and designed the plushies and t-shirts that we gave away; Then there is me, I was in charge of making sure everyone did their tasks on time so we weren’t behind on any of the work. I updated the production schedule and game design document every week that we met.

What Went Right

1. Artistic Feel

We knew that if anything changed throughout the programming or storyline, that the art of the project would drive us home. Mario did such a great job with the look and feel of the whole game that players wouldn’t need to know the storyline to finish the game. By just playing the game, you can tell the setting (medieval) and understand what kind of environment the main character, Percival, is in.

Throughout each level, the look and feel has been the same. It is still medieval but in some cases, with a variety of different backgrounds to it, such as a dungeon, towns square, and an eerie lake. To get this look, Mario had to do a lot of research. He researched online for medieval castles, weapons, people, landscapes, and even clothing. We tried to be as accurate as we could with the timeframe we had, making sure this wasn’t just a big “fantasy” game.

2. Clear Goals

There were many changes we had to make in order for us to get this game done on time. Not only did we need to have clear goals, but the adjustment of changes was key to finishing any aspect of the game. There were originally three different bosses and two different locations we took out of the game. There were many reasons for this; for one we felt like we wanted to polish up the three levels we had instead of making five levels that were sub-par. Secondly, we basically couldn’t finish all that work in the given amount of time we had. By having three polished locations and one final boss, we are excited to show it off, even if it is a demo for the larger version.

Since we did make a lot of changes to the game, the production schedule and Game Design Document had to be updated constantly. Even issues we didn’t take into account, such as marketing and the Behind-The-Scenes video (which can be found here, along with the game) were last minute. Originally, we were going to put a dream cinematic in the beginning of the game to help move the storyline. This got replaced by the Behind-The-Scenes video because it was a quick and easy project to do. The dream sequence would require a lot of 3D and art time taken away from the game, which we weren’t willing to sacrifice.

3. Presentation Display

One last hurrah before our game came to a complete finish was to decorate our presentation display in the art gallery for the final demo night. We had so much fun picking out decorations and what merchandise to hand out, at times we focused more on this than the actual game. Some of the merchandise such as the plushies, t-shirts, and swords we planned on handing out to people that have played our game. I also ordered some decorations to spice up the area by purchasing medieval decor for an old fashioned look. We took a lot of the game elements and added them into our space. Stand-ups of Percival, the hero and Astaroth, the demon lord, will be on each side of our display to give people a 3-D look of our game. If we had character costumes, which were mentioned, we would definitely have been the talk of the night.

Personally, out of everyone’s display, we had gone above and beyond the look and feel of the game and really made people feel like they were there in the medieval times. It might not sound like much but I will try my best to describe the display. Our section was in the corner of the room and we had two walls to work from. One wall was covered completely by a stone wall “look-alike” plastic covering. We needed this to cover up the existing white cement-looking wall on that side so instead of feeling like you are in a school, you are in a castle. On top of the stone wall covering, we added in big pictures of a dungeon door and windows. (Side note: I had purchased a medieval set of decorations so we put most of them on display.) Half of the other wall was covered by a big black sheet which displayed some pseudo-torches and our game’s t-shirt. The other half was blank (all white) and here is where we displayed our game posters and landscaped screen shot of the city’s background. Cattycornered between the two walls was a table with two computers on it. Our game was playable on one computer and our Behind-the-Scenes video was on the other. In-between, there was room to put our design document and art bible for people to browse. To top it off, we had two cardboard stand-ups on each side of our display, one of Astaroth and one of Percival.

What Went Wrong