Falling Sands Devlog #1

Dev Log #1 | Beginning Production

Welcome to Falling Sands by Angelina Grace McCormack

Welcome to the ruins of Castle Graybill, and our first development log from team Falling Sands!

For some background on this project, this game is being created as a part of Kent State University's Game Project course, with the goal of creating a multiplayer game in Unreal Engine 5 over the course of the semester. The basis of the world-building and voxel approach was coined by one of our team leads, Tony McNeil, after being inspired by YouTuber CodyCantEatThis, where he recreated Super Mario Bros but in 3D, yet keeping the pixelated style. This cultivated a goal of seeing out the world Tony envisioned, but with this simplified, pixelated voxel style. He provided resources for making Voxel models (MagicaVoxel), as well as a good amount of preliminary ideas that created a framework for the greater worldbuilding and game mechanics.

On the topic of team leads, Isa Wezey is our other captain, who is in charge of design documentation, delegating and tracking tasks, and polishing art assets as needed. The project was off to a bumpy start in assertive task delegation and direction, and Isa was able to get everyone on the same page, as well as making a more cohesive and simple scope that will align with the other classes students have throughout the semester.

Group member Cameron Willis is the crux of our coding and blueprint integration for the project. He has been instrumental in making character animations work and player systems such as health and damage being implemented to make a bunch of 3D assets into an actual game. Additionally, his input was key in the early stages of production when there was uncertainty for the direction of the game; between him and Isa, Falling Sands will be able to become the vision that was originally sought after.

Jonah Howell and Ty Morris have been instrumental in designing the map for the game, creating detailed and annotated 2D drafts of the Castle Graybill, including the overall layouts, as well as details for NPCs and environmental decorations and how they will impact the players.

Group members Victoria Farrell and Grace McCormack, on the other hand, have been focused on art-adjacent tasks. While they have created some assets, Grace has been focused on utilizing Dmitry Karpukhi's Blockout Tools Plugin to create a 3D replica of the level design team's work. This has resulted in several passes of the castle in order to create levels that easily stack and ensure mobility for the player, as well as having the details such as holes in the floor that will prove to be obstacles. Additionally, they have created general assets for dressing the courtyard, and Victoria has begun modeling a plethora of multi-use furniture that will be used throughout the castle, such as vases, bookshelves, chairs, and much more.

Finally, group member Anna Stevenson has been focused on figuring out blueprints for minor environmental effects in the game, as well as a write-up for sound (in both the SFX and musical context). This has resulted in most of their progress being research heavy thus-far, but will prove to improve the game feel upon implementation.

All-in-all, the project has the beginnings of player systems, design of player characters and beginnings of environmental assets, a clean grey-boxing of the castle environment, all of the levels designed, and sound being planned thoroughly. So far, the development is off to a strong start.