Sorcerers of Sunderland

The name of my game is 'Magic Mandem'.

Research and references:

My game will be set in Sunderland City Center. Here are some screenshots I took when exploring the area on Google Maps to show where I want my game to be set:

Underneath the screenshots, I have provided screenshots of my unity level that I have created, taking inspiration from my Google Maps screenshots.

Creating my weapon in Unity:

I was introduced to Unity's particle effects. Here is a gun I have created that shoots particles, this is temporary, it will be replaced with my weapon model in the future. The particle effects will be useful when I am replacing assets with my own models. I will use the particle effects for my attacks.

Here is the code that I have created and assigned to the gun and this will allow it to shoot when you left click. The gun model and bullets will eventually be replaced with my magic weapon and a custom projectile of my choice.

Here is the Script I have made for my enemy AI. This code will allow the enemy to move around:

I set the enemies target location to the player. This will make the enemy chase the player around and kill the player on collision. I have set the enemies speed to something slow and realistic so that the gameplay is actually fair and playable.

This pink square shall be a placeholder for my enemy for now.

Magic weapons in video games:

Sorcerer class - Dark Souls Trilogy + Elden Ring:

Sorcerer's Catalyst (staff) - Allows the player to cast spells consisting of magic beams, weapon buffs and healing spells:

Pyromancer class - Dark Souls Trilogy:

Similar to the Sorcerer class - Pyromancy is the art of casting fire, instead of the sorcerer's staff you use the Pyromancer's flame. This allows the player to class different spells to the sorcerer, such as fire balls, poisonous and elemental spells, damage and health buffs.

Moonlight Greatsword - Dark Souls Trilogy + Demon Souls:

A greatsword that has magic powers that allows the player to shoot beams of light at enemies.

Spells - Skyrim:

Spells in Skyrim are a weapon type instead of a starting class requirement like in the souls games. There are 160 total spells in Skyrim, these spells consist of fire, ice, lightning etc.

Sketching magical weapons in Photoshop:

I drew this 'magic sword' using the paint brush tool and the vertical symmetry tool: 

Here is a silhouette of a shield that I made in Photoshop:

My main weapon idea I have is a magical spell sword. This sword with be blue/purple and will have a glowing/sparkling aura around it to really give off the 'magical' concept. I am thinking about the Moonlight Greatsword or the magic sword spell from the Dark Souls Trilogy:

This the 'Soul Greatsword' spell, the player uses the Sorcerers Catalyst to cast the spell which allows them to attack with a Greatsword made of magic:

Thia is the 'Magic Sword' spell, it allows the player to apply magic damage to their weapon and turns the weapon blue: 

Here is sword that I drawn in Photoshop of a simple sword with a blue blade and blue glow to create a magical effect:

Creating my models in Maya:

For my sword and shield models I took reference from these YouTube videos here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL6-3XAL37o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQwvo26pktI

Sword:

I created my sword model starting with a plane - I used edge loops and extrusions for the blade of the sword.

I then made the guard and handle for the sword - I extruded the bottom of the blade which allowed me to expand the model outwards for the guard. I continued to extrude the bottom of the model to create the handle and made edge loops to shape it.

Here is my final model:

Shield:

To create my shield I again began the model with a plane. I used the front view, scaled and inserted edge loops to create the shape that I wanted. 

I then extruded the plane outwards to that the model was 3D. 

I extruded the edges of the 3D plane to create the outside rim of the shield for more detail. I also mirrored the model to ensure that it was symmetrical. 

I made the handle for the shield by starting with a cube. I scaled the cube to a small rectangle and extruded it to for the curve for the handle. To complete the model I used the bevel tool on the handle to give it more edges and made it look smoother.

Here is my final model:

I imported my sword and shield models into Unity, which they will the replace the gun in the players POV.

Character concepts:

Since you are unable to see your own character due to the game being in first person, I will not be designing a player character. Instead, I will be designing an enemy character. The enemy will be a low-poly human. Having the enemy as a human fits into the theme of my game since it is just set in Sunderland. 

Here are some images that I have collected from Google of what I want my enemy character model to be like:

Modelling my enemy in Maya: 

I am taking inspiration from this video that I have found on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J-xj5Rm5QA

I started off my model with a simple cube and began to extrude and form the shape into a human.

First I modelled the head and neck. To model this I inserted edge loops on the cube and extruded and formed it into the shape of a human head.

Then I made the torso. For this I extruded the bottom of the head where the neck is and continued to create edge loops and extrude the model.

I then made the arms and hands. Continuous extrusions and scaling was used to create them. I extruded the side of the hand to create a thumb so that the hands are in a sort of 'mitten' shape - I didn't want to add more fingers because it is a low poly model and the video is in the ideal style that I want my character to be.

Lastly, I created the legs and feet. I split the hip area of the model to create a sort of crotch area so that it is separated to create the two legs. Once again I continued to extrude the model, I began from the hip area and extrude down. I inserted edge loops for the knees and began to extrude out forwards to create the feet. I scaled down the end of the feet to create a shoe like shape. 

Here is the completed model:

After completing the model - I began to detach the different parts of the body: 

(Detaching the different parts is needed to begin animating. It is especially needed for a humanoid model, since all of the different parts separately and the pivot points of each part need to be moved to a specific position. For example, if the model was not detached and or the pivot points were centered instead of separated and moved, the model would just spin around in a circle if attempted to move or rotate. But if the parts are separated and the pivot point is transformed they will move correctly and only the selected part(s) will move.)

Here is my fully separated model. I have separated each part that I want to animate - legs, arms and head.

I will now parent the different parts of the body which will prepare me to begin animating my character.

Trello:

Post Production - Post Mortem:

Besides my game not being fully complete and not featuring everything that I had planned for, I am still happy with what I have made. Not having everything completed that I hoped for will motivate me to work extra hard on my next game project.

The only problems that I seemed to have ran into during production was that I could not get my character animation completed by the deadline. Also, my computer blue-screen crashing one lesson which resulted in me losing my early character model. But I managed to get back on track the next day.

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