CAGD 377: Sprint 2
ePortfolio
Blog Post 2: Graphically Challenged
Publication - 2/22/26
The Goal
At the end of this semester, my team, MLG, will have developed a mobile game called LightFall's Reign. The only requirement for this game is that it contains rougelite aspects. Meaning that it must have meta-progression between rounds, like upgrades. The production process of this game will test my group's ability to follow the iterative design process using agile scrum.
Game Summary
LightFall's Reign is a single-player sci-fi extraction shooter where players customize a ship, fight through enemy forces, and decide when to extract or risk everything for stronger rewards.
The Role
As LightFall's Reign's Lead Designer, it's crucial that I convey my thoughts and ideas for the game we are producing to my team constantly. Ensuring that we are on the same page about every single design choice prevents explosive moments of disagreement, something I have experienced and would not like to repeat again. To negate the possibility of that, I've continued my work on updating the game's GDD with all the current information, removing any information that is null and redundant. Communication within my group has been exceptional, with us all meeting on Wednesdays from 2-5, ensuring we get enough time to work out issues and still have time for independent work. The group sessions give me motivation to work even harder as I see my groupmates working as hard as I am. The progress of our team in the first sprint was great, and I think this sprint was just as amazing. We've certainly kept the momentum up.
The Sprint
Sprint 2 started with a debrief on the progress we had made during the first sprint. We acknowledge issues faced during that sprint and the methods to resolve those issues. The main issue we had was the delegation of cards and the length of our backlog. That weekend, we met up online to discuss the additional cards needed for the backlog, giving us a better pathway to follow during the semester for the game's development. After we had our debrief, I began some work on visual representations of what I wanted the game to look like at the end, giving my team the clearest image I could give them. After that, I continued working on my models by creating High-poly models that I could use in the texturing process.
Visual Representation Mock-ups
I created these mock-ups on the same weekend I wrote my first blog post, hence their inclusion in both this one and the previous one.
I created the starting screen for my programmer and producer to have an idea, as in this sprint, we're going to expand into these areas if progress keeps going at the rate it is.
Combat Visualized (Contains content found on the internet)
Combat was visualized mainly for my programmer, as he's currently building the cycle of play, and it would help to know what you're aiming for at the end.
Hangar Visualized (Contains content found on the internet)
Ship hangar visualized, the hangar is essential to the rougelite mechanics, so giving imagery towards this helps the creation process. This section will be worked on much later, but getting a head start on planning isn't bad.
High-Poly Models
Mobile development is very different in all aspects of development compared to console or PC development. One of the largest differences is the graphical capabilities. Within mobile games, models can't have millions of faces; otherwise, the game would lag incredibly or just crash immediately. Due to the limitations of the platform, I had to create my models in a different manner than usual.
This involved me creating Low-poly models as a basis, which gives a shape of a model but doesn't contain much detail. Last sprint, I created those models; this sprint, I needed to create a very detailed version called High-poly. After creating the High-poly model, I would "bake" it onto the Low-poly model using Adobe Substance Painter. This would make it look very detailed without the drawbacks of a High-poly model, making it very optimized, perfect for a mobile game.
Starting Player Ship
The first model I worked on for the High-ploy variant was the player's starting ship. This also happened to be the hardest model to do. The topology of this model was unique, which made it hard to create defining aspects that could be seen from above. The aspects need to be seen from above, as our game is top-down. Eventually, after many tries, I ended up with this variant, something I believed could pass as a sci-fi ship in our game.
Weapons
Laser Turret
After the player ship was done, the rest of the High-poly models progressed without issues for the most part. Most of the work I needed to do was to create many extrusions on the surfaces to make it visibly different from above, so the baking process would go smoothly. This here is the laser turret. I tried to mix some sci-fi into its design while also retaining an element of realism.
Missile Turret
The details I added to the missile launcher were a result of being in the flow state of extruding and beveling. I just knew I wanted to add some "texture" to it, and this was the result of it. I think this came out exceptionally well with the designs on the tunnel that houses the missile.
Missile
The details I added to the missile were small but added up to a difference that I am satisfied with. Throughout the model, I created little vents for the missile to release heat or energy as it approached the enemy ships.
EMP Turret
Details added to the EMP Turret follow a similar path as the laser turret, with me still in my flow state, just extruding and beveling. I didn't have high hopes originally for this turret, but I was pleasantly surprised after I worked on it for an hour.
Bomb Turret
With the bomb turret's design being the most interesting, I wanted to focus much attention on the creation of its High-poly counterparts. I invested heavily in adding details to the bomb; I wanted to ensure it looks striking from above in battle. The holder received similar treatment as well. I'm most proud of this model.
Primary Laser Turret
Between design changes, a new weapon class was created, a primary class. A primary weapon would be available only on that version of a ship. This was the primary weapon for the starting ship. Since it's a special class, I wanted to give it a unique design, so I gave it wings to match the ship.
Mobile development is also different in terms of texturing models. However, I am not familiar with how large a difference there is development-wise between them. All I knew was to create the textures with as little overhead as possible. I tried to keep the textile density of the models good enough to be used at low resolutions, which is difficult to do. Texuring was definitely the hardest part of this sprint for me. To prepare for texturing, I used "bake by mesh name." Where I use the Color IDs from the High-Poly directly onto the Low-Poly, making the texturing process much smoother. I ran into a few issues unfortunatly but I was able to fix them before the sprint ended.
Starting Player Ship
This is the finished model of the starting player ship in all its glory. I wanted to create a ship that seemed to blend in with the galaxy surrounding it, hence the dark paint job. The rectangles with the yellow and black lines are where the turrets get placed. The two-tone design went better than I thought. The little cyan in the back is the engine that powers the ship; it'll be illuminated once in the engine.
Weapons
Laser Turret
The finished laser turret, the green boxes will be the weapon's status lights. The purple is the weapon classes' designated color scheme. This weapon class color is not concrete and is subject to change if need be. All weapons have the same color status lights and metal; only the weapon class color is different. The status light and class color will glow while in the engine.
Missile Turret
Texturing the missile turret was very simple, as the color IDs are shared with the laser gun. The only alterations I had to make was the weapon class color to ensure it was different from the laser.
Missile
The blue will be glowing as the missile travels through space to the target. It uses the same metal textures as the other weapons.
EMP Turret
For an EMP weapon, I knew the color class needed to be yellow to represent electricity.
Bomb Turret
Red is the weapon class color for bombs currently. The base also has a glowing effect to illustrate when the bomb has been fired at the enemy.
For primary class weapons, I wanted the color to be orange. I added lights to the wingtips like a plane does.
Issues
Issues that I had during texturing persisted with the baking process of the High-Poly onto the Low-Poly. The issue persisted from stacked UV shells, which I was able to solve after multiple attempts. Thankfully, this was the main issue I had during this sprint. however I fear that with more texturing to come, I'll be running into this more.
Bake Issue
Proper Bake
The Wrap
Sprint 2 continues the same momentum that our team had during sprint 1. I'm very proud of my group for the amount of work we have put in over the past few weeks. Our digital prototype is looking good and is being prepared for the playtest this upcoming Thursday. My work on the art for this game has exceeded my expectations, and I've learned a great deal this sprint through the processes.
The Path Ahead
Going into Sprint 3, I've been assigned to create variants of player ships and also enemy ships. This will be a busy sprint for me, so I've prepared my schedule for the work I am to endure. I am excited for the work my other teammates will also be doing this sprint.
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