Wizard's graden
Introduction
Hey! My name is Erik and I study game design in the Netherlands. I'm currently working on my minor; a project that takes a half a year in which you can set your own learning outcomes. I decided to make a vertical slice of an RPG with the working title ‘Wizard’s garden'.
It's an RPG in a medieval fantasy setting, very original, I know. Except instead of a knight, thief or mage you play as an enchanted flowerpot who fends of evil forest dwellers with the plants it grows in its pot.
I'm posting here to get some feedback on my current progress, preferably by those who have a fair amount of experience with making (indie) games.
The character
The character is a flowerpot that has come alive through a wizard's magic. The wizard has gone mad after losing his son some years ago, and is desperately trying to bring him back using magic. Any time one of his magic experiments fails, he throws it out the window in anger, littering the garden with arcane waste. One of these failed experiments, some kind of elixir, hit a flowerpot standing in the window frame, the glass broke and the flowerpot tumbled down into the garden. After he had come to a stop, the effects of the potion became apparent and the pot sprung up, looking around in wonder…
The flowerpot is modelled and animated in maya, textured in substance painter.
Mechanics
The main mechanic of the game revolves around plants. You collect seeds and use them to grow plants with different abilities. To make the growing of the plants look nice, I worked with some shaders to make it reveal gradually (1);
I also started working on the flower, this is done in Maya using blendshapes (2) (WIP);
Of course I also had to animate the plant to match the walking animation (3);
Enemies
The first area is the ‘arcane waste', the area right outside the wizard's window. Here, mutated dung beetles dwell, collecting all the thrown out goods. I made some simple behaviour in Unity to expand on when I get to the enemies;
What's next?
I'm now figuring out the level design of the game. This includes a tutorial that should show the player the mechanics without too much hand-holding. The final product should be the first level of what could be a full game. Including finished level design, environment, enemies and mechanics.
For my project I am looking for people who have a fair share of experience with (solo / indie) game dev.
I rarely use forums, so the formatting is horrid.
All feedback is appreciated!
