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Blood Tide: Design of a 3D Computer Game

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Blood Tide: Design of a 3D Computer Game Project Number: RL1-P109 Blood Tide: Design of a 3D Computer Game A Major Qualifying Project Report submitted to the Faculty of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science on May 4, 2010 Submitted By: Joseph Alea, Garret Doe, Sarah Gilkey, Chris Willams, Frank Williams Advised By: Professor Jennifer deWinter and Professor Robert Lindeman Abstract Blood Tide: Design of a 3D Computer Game By Joseph Alea, Garret Doe, Sarah Gilkey, Chris Willams, Frank Williams This report discusses the results of the implementation of the game Blood Tide for a joint Interactive Media and Game Development and Professional Writing Major Qualifying Project. Blood Tide is a multiplayer, online, action, real-time strategy game that combines the strategic planning of a real-time strategy game with the fast paced combat of an action game. This report will detail the game‘s vision, the artistic and technical designs, the gameplay features, the successes and shortcomings of the project, and research on effective strategies for providing in-game help. This report will begin by introducing the game features of Blood Tide, then it will discuss the implementation of the game, and finally it will discuss the results. In addition to the results of the implementation, this report includes a post mortem from the project team that discusses lessons that were learned from the hurdles and successes of this project. ii Acknowledgements We would like to acknowledge Robert Lindeman and Jennifer deWinter for their assistance and guidance as our advisors. Additionally, we would like to express our gratitude toward Sean Beck, who helped us during the implementation phase of the project. We would also like to recognize the following people for giving us their time throughout the project: ChanLing Beswick and Colin Cowles for dedicating time writing original music for our game. Elliot Borenstein, Drew Hickox, Ryan Bedell, and Lukas Wong-Achron, the makers of Blinding Silence, for their help and suggestions during the development process. ChanLing Beswick, Steve Esposito, J. Forrest Hogeboom, Nick Holovnia, Shanna Infantino, Dan Lampke, Amanda Moreno, Pat Nietupski, and Mike Oshetsky for taking the time to test in-game help and provide valuable feedback on our game and its help. Ryan Bednar, Jordan Fields, Gabe, Wyatt Gray, Carolyn Hardy, Kirk Lanciani, Keegan Leitz, Graham Pentheny, Justin Perron, and Bryan Rickard for their invaluable help and feedback during testing. iii Table of Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ iii List of Figures ...........................................................................................................................x List of Tables ......................................................................................................................... xiii List of Equations................................................................................................................... xiv Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2: Gameplay Vision ................................................................................................... 3 2.1. Gameplay ................................................................................................................... 3 2.2. Victory ........................................................................................................................ 4 2.3. Artistic Design ........................................................................................................... 4 2.3.1. Art Pipeline ......................................................................................................... 5 2.4. Audio Design ............................................................................................................. 6 2.4.1. Game Music ........................................................................................................ 6 2.4.2. Sound Effects .......................................................................................................7 2.5. Technical Design ....................................................................................................... 8 2.5.1. Hardware Requirements ................................................................................... 8 2.5.2. Software Requirements ..................................................................................... 8 2.5.3. Entity ................................................................................................................... 9 2.5.4. Structures ........................................................................................................... 14 2.5.5. Character ............................................................................................................ 14 2.5.6. Player Controller ............................................................................................... 15 2.5.7. Unit Controller .................................................................................................. 15 2.6. Hint System .............................................................................................................. 17 Chapter 3: Units ..................................................................................................................... 19 iv 3.1. Human Units ........................................................................................................... 20 3.1.1. Scuba Troop ....................................................................................................... 21 3.1.2. Submarine ......................................................................................................... 22 3.1.3. Bomb Ship......................................................................................................... 25 3.2. Piscivian Units ......................................................................................................... 26 3.2.1. Merman ............................................................................................................. 27 3.2.2. Manta Ray ......................................................................................................... 28 3.2.3. Turtle ................................................................................................................. 30 3.3. Unit Sounds .............................................................................................................. 31 3.4. Steering .................................................................................................................... 34 3.4.1. Seeking .............................................................................................................. 35 3.4.2. Avoidance .......................................................................................................... 35 3.4.3. Interpolation ..................................................................................................... 36 3.5. Unit Abilities ............................................................................................................ 37 3.6. Commander Types .................................................................................................. 38 3.6.1. Tactical-Commander ....................................................................................... 38 3.6.2. Field-Commander ............................................................................................ 39 Chapter 4: Structures ............................................................................................................ 44 4.1. Artistic Vision .......................................................................................................... 44 4.2. Headquarters ........................................................................................................... 45 4.2.1. Headquarters Controller.................................................................................. 46 4.2.2. Scuba Troop Headquarters.............................................................................. 47 4.2.3. Submarine Headquarters ................................................................................ 48 4.2.4. Bomb Ship Headquarters ................................................................................ 50 4.2.5. Merman Headquarters ..................................................................................... 51 4.2.6. Manta Ray Headquarters ................................................................................ 53 v 4.2.7. Turtle Headquarters ........................................................................................ 54 4.3. Buildings .................................................................................................................. 55 4.3.1. Plot Controller .................................................................................................. 57 4.3.2. Defense Turret .................................................................................................. 58 4.3.3. Greenhouse Dome ............................................................................................ 59 4.3.4. Training Bunker ..............................................................................................
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