Tower Power (2016)
Description: Tower Power is a multiplayer VR game, as such, there is only one mode: Multiplayer. Players can play as either God or Hero. There can only be 1 God in any game, this player will be the host of the game. The rest of the players are Heros. This asymmetrical aspect is what sets Tower Power apart from other multiplayer VR games.
Organization/School: Temasek Polytechnic
Project Team Size: 6 people.
Duration: 3 months.
Roles I worked: 3D Environment Artist, 3D Character Animator
Programs Used: Unity 3D, Adobe Photoshop, Maya LT
How did Tower Power come about?
Tower Power is a final year project as an intern under Temasek Polytechnic, where a group of 6 students with 2 different specializations in the Game Design and Development Diploma to come out with a VR game on Steam VR using the HTC Vive.
So our team have come out with:
Tower Power is an asymmetrical co-op VR game. VR games are usually isolated experiences. We want to create a fun co-operative experience that caters to two different groups of people by allowing play mode of two different perspectives.
Co-operative Tower Defense and first-person hack and slash. Play as either the God(1st Player) and move towers Or play as the Hero(2nd Player) on the ground slashing all that stand in your way. Work together and defend the castle from the titans(enemies).
Tower Power Promotional Video
Tower Power snapshot of the game scene & details
As the game consists of 2 players at all times, the God(1st Player) will be in the background running around placing towers down onto the game level to create strategic pathing to slow down the enemies to prevent them to destroy the floating 'Heart' structure which if destroyed it, is a Game Over. The Hero(2nd Player) will be in the foreground on the game level itself repelling any enemies that God(1st Player) missed out on or fighting side by side along.
What I did for level design:
As for the level design, there is not really much to design on as the game is more like an open-ended way for the God(1st Player) will be in the background running around placing towers down onto the game level, so the level is built as a giant grid for the God(1st Player) to build on.
Assets I modelled after identifying what was required:
The first 4 towers asset shown above are to fit into the game level to allow the God(1st Player) to place the towers onto the game level, whereas the remainder of the 3D assets is used for environmental purposes. All assets are modelled and manually painted to fit the overall gameplay.
Crystal Golem is modelled as an enemy unit for the gameplay, animated with keyframe animation in Unity 3D.
To conclude:
For the first time developing on a VR platform, the experience is different from a regular non-VR 3D game, as the 3D models have to be scaled close to human height and cameras configured in order for the player to transverse in the 3D environment properly.