Isometric Game

What is an Isometric Game?

An Isometric game is a video game that is viewed at only one angle. The easiest way to present an isometric perspective is using a cube.

Here are some examples of Isometric games that I found on Google:

Q*bert (1982):

Super Mario RPG (1996):

Diablo (1997):

Fallout (1997):

Minecraft Dungeons (2020):

Hades (2020):

Tunic (2022):

Vectors in video games:

The arrow is shooting directly towards the skeleton. When the arrow collides with the skeleton it will result in the skeleton getting pushed backwards in the direction the arrow was fired.

Creating our Isometric game:

We will be making our game in Unity.

Group roles:

Me - Programmer (This role was soon changed to me being the programmer and creating models since not much work was being done..)

Adam - Designer

Kyle - Artist

I will be responsible for the unity project - building the game and coding.

Adam will be responsible for the level and gameplay design.

Kyle will be responsible for the models and textures

I will be grabbing assets from this prebuilt unity project of an isometric game. This project consists of basic character movement controls, a camera and a nice level design that I can use for reference for our own games. 

I will be creating my own Unity project from scratch and importing the camera and character controls from this game to help me get started.

Creating a character for our game:

I will be creating a simple enemy for the game. This enemy will be rather small and weak - something that preferably dies in 1 or 2 attacks.

Our game is going to be in a simple, blocky, low poly design - something similar to Minecraft.

I am thinking of a spider enemy, my main concept will be the spider from Minecraft and anything that is blocky and low poly. 

Here are some concept images I have collected from Google:

Possible colour palate for spider enemy:

Body:

Eyes:

Here is a drawing I made in Photoshop mixing some of the concept images that I collected:

Creating my Enemy Character in Maya:

I started the model using "Platonic Solids" and scaling them to make the main body.

I then made some legs using rectangles.

I added some more details - eyes, spikes and teeth.

I imported the finished model into Unity and applied materials/textures to each part of the model.

The spider will be the first enemy in our game, it will be the weakest and easiest enemy to kill.

We will be designing one more enemy for the game, something slightly more difficult to fight.

Animation:

Before I begin animating the spider I have separated and combined the diff parts of the spiders body. For example, I combined the diff parts of the legs together so that the whole leg is connected and can move as one object. I have also moved the pivot points of each body part so that they move correctly - without moving the pivot points to the correct positions, the diff parts of the body will just rotate and spin around instead of moving correctly. The pivot point is automatically centered in Maya so you have to move it in order to begin animating.

Head:

Abdomen:

Body:

Legs:

Now that the different parts of the model are adjusted correctly, I will be animating the model in Unity.

Other models and assets:

Boat:

I will be modelling a small boat that the player character will voyage in on towards the level. As he stops next to the land he will jump off and the gameplay will begin.

I will be taking reference from these images I found on Google of "low poly boats":

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I began the model with a simple cube.

I scaled it to create a rectangle and added edge loops going both vertically and horizontally on the side of the rectangle so I could begin to create boat shape.

I then Extruded the model starting with the outside to widen and create the boat-like shape. And then extruded the faces on the top of the model so that I could make it hollow.

I added rectangles on the inside of the model to represent seats and finished the model by combining each part of the model so it is one object and using the bevel tool to give it a slightly smoother and more appealing look.

Character Weapon:

I will now be designing a simple sword which the character will hold and allow them to attack enemies.

Since the view of the character will be quite small the sword wont be overdetailed. 

I will be taking reference from these images I got from Google:

To create the model I began with a cube and repeatedly extruded and scaled. 

Level Design:

Here are some images I have found on Google of "Isometric levels" that I will be taking inspiration from:

Building our game in Unity:

Here I am beginning to build the games level. This will be a simple platforming style level.

I made some simple models such as trees, rocks and bushes. I also created materials to give the game colour.

I made a small wooden bridge out of rectangles.

Here is a view of roughly what I want the in-game camera to look like.

Scrum Sheets:

Trello:

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GDD (Game Design Document):

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