FACT SHEET
DEVELOPER:
Stephen Warner
Based in Essex, United Kingdom
YEARS OF EXPERIENCE:
6 (started in September 2014)
WEBSITE:
https://stephenwarnergamesdesign.com
https://github.com/SWGamesDeisgn
PRESS / BUSINESS CONTACT:
swgamesdesign@outlook.com
Personal Email:
swarneruk@yahoo.co.uk
ADDRESS:
Southend-on-Sea
Essex
England
MSc Gamer Camp - Breaking Bank.
Breaking bank was a project that was started with the end goal of having a complete game feel, which meant we had a clearer goal in mind than what we had previously attempted to do with modules 3 and 4 on our respective courses.
The team primarily comprised of three programmers, one designer and assistance from one producer.
The lack of artists on our team meant that we had to outsource the required art assets to somewhere else, our designer found that the Synty Studios Polygon Heist pack for Unity & Unreal to be a great fit for our project goal as the pack had almost everything we needed to complete the project art wise, minus UI and some key assets / alterations that we decided / needed to do in order for our game to look as finished as it does.
I was primarily programming the player character and weapon mechanics along with assisting in bugfixing AI and UI elements. I also created a custom keycard asset & texture/material as the polygon heist pack didn't include electronically locked doors or access keycards. There was also a lack of outdoor scene dressing assets in the pack, things like civillian cars for example, so I also took one of the police cars and removed some of the mesh to make it look less like a armed forces car and more suited for civillian usage, this also meant I had to create another custom material for the asset to use as the art pack ultilized trim sheet styled materials, which is great for performance and memory, except when you need to alter assets for your project.
We had originally planned for local multiplayer play with the game but decided to cut local co-op due to time constraints in favor of polishing our current features and bug fixing.
Full Gameplay Video | Playable Build | Portfolio Document | GitHub
MSc Gamer Camp - 'Impossible Rescue'
This is our work from my Gamer Camp team during module 2 from our Masters Degree course.
Impossible Rescue was inspired by games such as Manic Miner and Impossible Mission, our goal was to create a 2D Single-Screen Platformer for the modern generations. The game has an emphasis on stealth and avoidance, whilst also allowing the player the option of "fighting back" later on in the game. The player must hack different computers in order to progress through the game with either the protagonist Danielle or her robot Companion SHADOW.
This project was my first proper attempt at C++ programming, and despite my inexperience I decided to challenge myself by taking on game critical features like the computer terminals and other interactable objects. Whilst my code isn't of amazing quality it was fully function and for the majority bug free? I also took the task of audio management to which I regret due to how Cocos-2dx handles their audio engines, this along with the lack of time for testing meant that some audio bugs are present in the final build during cutscenes.
As for elements that I personally programmed include but are not limited to the majority of interactable objects, like the computer terminal objects that the protagonist Danielle interacts with, and the computers that the follower robot companion SHADOW can interact with to move platforms.
I learned a great deal from this experience and also from my team during this project, it was also a good boost to my confidence with C++.
Below are images of most of the assets from Impossible Rescue that I either am a majority or sole contributer for.
The shadow terminals had some input from a team member in order for the companion SHADOW to interact with them as they handled the hacking mechanics of SHADOW not me, I handled the hacking mechanics of Danielle.
I also implemented the progress bar UI for Danielle's hacking mechanic, which has 3 or 4 stages, empty, stage 1 partially filled, stage 2 which is almost filled and finally stage 3 which is a full bar.
In numeric order we have the Computer Terminal which SHADOW attaches to in order to hack, showing the state transition via sprite switching.
Then we have the Server Terminal which Danielle hacks in order to get a 'Story Beat' containing lore about the game, followed by a regular Computer Terminal which Danielle hacks to open doors.
Then there is the Weapon Charge Pack which unlocks Danielle's ability to stun enemies, followed by the President's Daughter Karen, who must be rescued to finish the game.
