CAGD 377: Sprint 5
ePortfolio
Blog Post 5: Armed And Ready.
Publication - 4/11/26
The Goal
By early May, my team, L.F.G., will have developed a mobile game titled LightFall's Reign. The main requirement for this game is to include rougelite elements. To implement those requirements, the game must include meta-progression between rounds, like upgrades. The development of this game will test my group's ability to follow the iterative design process while using agile scrum.
Vision Statement
Forge your ship through increasingly perilous battles, risk it for greater power, and take down LightFall.
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
Within L.F.G., I am the team's lead designer. The importance of the lead designer is that they introduce and shape the core game idea that guides development. My task for the entire development process is to ensure that my vision for LightFall's Reign reaches each team member. My producer needs to understand the game's ins and outs to determine the backlog for the game and to organize sprint workloads to ensure all aspects of the game are completed on time, and my programmers need to understand all technical aspects to turn your ideas into functional software while preserving the intended feel of the game. If my team members don't have a clear understanding of the game, the overall production will suffer, or worse, lead to a halt in production. Currently, we've had little issue in that regard, thankfully, but that doesn't mean I won't continue to strive for clarity and conciseness within my game documentation.
The Sprint
Sprint 5 started to indicate the different stages of development between the artists and the programmers. On the programming side, tasks assigned were necessary to the core gameplay loop. While on the art side, tasks assigned started to lean more towards the "Wants" or "Wishes." During this sprint, I was tasked with creating a series of higher-tier weapon models to distinguish them from lower-tier weapons. Adding these upgraded models would visually communicate increased power to the player, reinforcing a sense of progression.
Reworking Weapons
Before I could start creating higher-tier weapon models, I determined that I needed to revisit the existing weapons to identify modifications that could better differentiate lower-tier designs from higher-tier ones. This included the Laser, the Missile, and the EMP; the Bomb didn't need modification.
Laser Turret (High-Poly)
Left: Old, Right: New
The first weapon I altered was the laser turret. At a glance, they look similar, besides the panel on the left side of the barrel. For the keen eye, the barrel of the new weapon is altered in small dimensions. This was done to improve the texturing bake, as the previous model often produced errors around the barrel’s tip.
Missile Turret (High-Poly)
Left: New, Right: Old
The second weapon I altered was the missile turret. The difference between the two models is more pronounced, as this turret, I believe, required more substantial alterations. Since the top part of the weapons will be seen more often than the sides, I wanted to make the top silhouette more pronounced. The extrusions on the barrel are more subtle in the newer model, resulting in a cleaner and more effective texturing bake.
EMP Turret (High-Poly)
Left: Old, Right: New
The final weapon I altered was the EMP turret. The original EMP model was an experimental design that looked strong in Maya but caused issues in both Substance Painter and Unreal Engine. The updated EMP model was rebuilt from the ground up using techniques developed over the course, resulting in a variant that performs reliably across all software with no major issues.
High-tier Variants
After refining the existing models that required modification, I developed a plan for each high-tier weapon that builds on the base variant while expanding and enhancing its design. The approach was to analyze each low-tier weapon and consider what its contrasting “opposite” variant might look like, which led to the final high-tier designs.
Laser
The goal for the high-tier variant of the laser turret was to create something unique while still retaining the identity of the laser weapon class.
Low Poly
Left: High-tier, Right: Low-tier
These are the low-polygon variants of the laser turret. The high-tier variant distinguishes itself from the low-tier with its circular-shaped body and smaller barrel.
Left: High-tier, Right: Low-tier
These are the high-polygon variants of the laser turret. The high-tier variant retains key design elements from the low-tier variant but introduces new details and variations, making it distinct while still clearly recognizable as a laser turret.
Textured
These are the textured variants of the laser turret. Both are composed of the same materials: titanium for the body, platinum as the secondary, and aluminium as the trim. Red is the designated color for the laser weapon class. Overall, I am very satisfied with both variants of the laser turret, as they are both unique and look perfect for their role.Missile
The goal for the high-tier variant of the missile turret was to create something unique while still retaining the identity of the missile weapon class.
Low Poly
Left: Low-tier, Right: High-tier
These are the low-polygon variants of the missile turret. The high-tier variant is distinguished from the low-tier by its shorter barrel and increased overall width. Its body also features an opposing form, arching outward rather than inward like the low-tier design. Its ammunition design also reflects this distinction, reinforcing the unique identity of the more powerful variant with its more compact yet broader appearance.
Left: Low-tier, Right: High-tier
These are the high-polygon variants of the missile turret. The high-tier variant retains key details from the low-tier variant, such as the barrel ribbing and side infusions, but alters them to better suit its design.
Textured
These are the textured variants of the missile turret. Both are composed of the same materials with titaniaum as the body, platinum as the secondary, and aluminium as the trim. Baby blue is the designated color of the missile weapon class. The overall look of both these weapons encapsulates what I imagined a missile turret should look like on a spacecraft. I am very happy with these.
EMP
The goal for the high-tier variant of the EMP turret was to create something unique while still retaining the identity of the EMP weapon class.
Left: Low-tier, Right: High-tier
These are the low-polygon variants of the EMP turret. The high-tier variant distinguishes itself with its V-shaped energy rails and more boxy shape. The point of the V-shaped energy rails was to indicate their increased power over the low-tier's single rail. The boxy shape was to distinguish itself from the rounder low-tier, while also referencing the initial design I had for the EMP turret.
Left: Low-tier, Right: High-tier
These are the high-polygon variants of the EMP turret. The high-tier variant is designed to be less detailed on the sides to bring more attention to the V-shaped energy rails. Despite it being less detailed, the high-tier still reflects the low-tier's design language.
Textured
These are the textured variants of the EMP turret. Both are comprised of the same materials: titanium for the body, platinum for the secondary, and aluminum for the trim. Yellow is the designated color for the EMP weapon class. I'm very proud of the high-tier's V-shaped energy rails, as they emphasize its increased power and give it a distinctive visual identity.
Bomb
The goal for the high-tier variant of the bomb turret was to create something unique while still retaining the identity of the bomb weapon class.
Low-Poly
Left: Low-tier, Right: High-tier
These are the low-polygon variants of the bomb turret. The high-tier retains the same holder and bomb separation as the low-tier, while introducing a completely different overall design language. The low-tier emphasizes a boxy form, and the high-tier adopts a more triangular aesthetic. By following the core principles laid out by the low-tier and using a different design language, the high-tier appears unique while remaining easily recognizable as a bomb weapon.
Left: Low-tier, Right: High-tier
These are the high-polygon variants of the bomb turret. The high-tier continues its triangular aesthetic into the holder, incorporating triangular-shaped inserts that reinforce its overall design language. The bomb itself incorporates a series of vertical lines similar to the low-tier bomb.
Textured
These are the textured variants of the bomb turret. Both are comprised of the same materials: titanium for the body, platinum for the secondary, and aluminium as the trim. However, the aluminium is hardly noticeable on these weapons apart from a few select spots on the holders. Purple is the designated color for the bomb weapon class. The bomb weapon class remains my favorite, especially with the addition of its high-tier variant, as it has pushed my creativity to its limits.
New Weapons
Along with creating new high-tier variants of the Laser, Missile, EMP, and Bomb turrets, my producer greenlit the addition of two new weapon classes: the Beam and the Lighting Chain. These new weapon classes were designed from the start with both low-tier and high-tier variants in mind, eliminating the need to modify existing models later in the process. Designing with both variants in mind allowed the poly-count of the low-polygon models to be so well-optimized that some high-poly details were introduced on the actual model rather than baked on like other classes before these.
Beam
The goal for the new beam weapon class was to create something immediately recognizable as a beam weapon. The low-tier variant was developed first to establish the class’s design language, while the high-tier builds on that foundation and elevates it to the next level.
Low Poly
Left: Low-tier, Right: High-tier
These are the low-polygon variants of the beam turret. With these being entirely new, the design language of the low-tier is fresh, with no previous iterations to base itself on. The low-tier uses a central core positioned between its arms to generate the beam, with the arms channeling energy into a single focal point before projecting it forward. The high-tier piggy-backs off of this design with a more elaborate arm design that is longer and bulker to emphaize it's increased power. Notably, the low-tier variant has its main energy rail modeled due to its great optimization; the high-tier variant, however, needs it to be added to its high-polygon variant.
Left: Low-tier, Right: High-tier
These are the high-polygon variants of the beam turret. Both variants include additional energy rails along their surfaces. The low-tier has large energy rails, while the high-tier has concentrated energy rails that are spread more conservatively.
Textured
These are the textured variants of the beam turret. Both are comprised of the same materials: titanium for the body, platinum for the secondary, and aluminum for the trim. Orange is the designated color for the beam weapon class. With this being an entirely new weapon class, it was a challenge to ensure all the boxes were checked from the start, but the low-tier turned out so well that it made it easy to create its high-tier counterpart.Lighting
The goal for the new lighting weapon class was to create something immediately recognizable as a lighting weapon. The low-tier variant was developed first to establish the class’s design language, while the high-tier builds on that foundation and elevates it to the next level.
Low-Poly
Left: Low-tier, Right: High-tier
These are the low-polygon variants of the lighting turret. With this class being new, it was essential to create a design language for the class that's cohesive and appropriate. The low-tier weapon is a simple, shaped lighting bolt that has a core holding the two sides together. The two sides have energy rails, which are actually extruded on the model rather than baked on. The high-tier weapon expands on the low-tier weapon's design language with its more apparent lighting bolts and more bulky core, emphasizing its potential power.
Left: Low-tier, Right: High-tier
These are the high-polygon variants of the lighting turret. Similar to the beam turrets, the high-polygon variants mainly include more energy rails that run along the sides of the weapon.
Textured
These are the textured variants of the lighting turret. Both are comprised of the same materials: titanium for the body, platinum for the secondary, and aluminum for the trim. A dark blue, almost indigo, is the designated color for the lighting weapon class. The lighting weapon class is my second favorite, mainly due to the high-tier variant that turned out better than I could've imagined. Drone Ship
In addition to modeling weapon variants, I also worked on a drone ship model to support an upcoming ability being developed by my programmer during the sprint.
Low-Poly
This is the low-polygon variant of the drone ship. The design is relatively simple. I used military drones as a reference when designing it. It has a weapon slot on top, just in case our team has enough time to create a customizable loadout for it.
This is the high-polygon variant of the drone ship. An energy element was added to the rear of the craft, but most alterations on this variant consisted of creating defined lines similar to those of the player's stealth ship.
This is the textured variant of the drone ship. To ensure that the player understood the craft was an ally and not an enemy, it was textured using the same color scheme as the player ships.
Third Electronic Playtest
The playtest conducted during this sprint used a build that was very similar to the previous one, as many of the new features were not yet ready for implementation. These planned additions were intended to improve gameplay clarity, so without them, feedback remained largely consistent with earlier playtests. The most significant change in this build was the introduction of abilities, represented by the two face icons on either side of the ship. While players were initially unsure of their purpose, those who understood them responded positively.
The Wrap
At the end of Sprint 5, I am very satisfied with my progress. This was my most productive sprint in terms of completed tasks, and I also improved my workflow throughout the process. Compared to the previous sprint, my output increased significantly, and I intend to maintain this level of productivity through to the game’s release on Google Play. My team also consistently completed their assigned tasks, contributing to the game feeling increasingly complete.
The Path Ahead
For the next sprint, I will finally have the opportunity to work on the hangar background, a task that has been assigned to me for the past two sprints. In addition to this, I will also be creating several boss ship variants, so my workload will be similar to the current sprint. My goal is to complete all assigned cards within this sprint. One concern I have is the lack of overall smoothness in the game at this stage, but I trust my programmers to help refine and polish the experience in the upcoming sprints.
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