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Kean Kane
Techno Ruins
Overview:
Techno Ruins is a third person action puzzler with a trusty AI/player-controlled companion. This level’s layout is similar to the catacombs where the hallways are cramped and through decay many of the exits have collapsed. The structure of this dungeon also mimics circuit boards because the walls never curve and the hallways lead to mini hubs similar to traces leading to capacitors.
Level layout and scripting done within Unreal Engine 5. Animation and rigging of robot dog and robot human done within Maya.
Guiding the Player:
To give the player an interest in the interactable terminals and robot dog at the start of the level the robot dog runs through one of the dog specific tunnels catching the attention of the player. This tunnel which the dog runs through is also next to a terminal so as the dog runs towards the tunnel the players eyes will be led to this terminal encouraging some investigation on their part. The dog running through the tunnel also encourages the player to investigate these tunnels when they are able to possess the robot dog later in the level.
Some ways that the player is suggested to move through the level is by the reduction in actions for example to encourage the player to tame the robot dog only one viable option is given at the terminal in section B which is to download junk data. Obtains this junk data there is only one option left for them to interact with which is the sad robot dog in section B. These are the exact actions needed to tame the robot dog and are the only options given to the player in this section until the dog is tamed.
Additional Information:
If you would like more information regarding the design decisions of this level the LDD is below.
You can download "Techno Ruins" on itch.io now for free!
You can also watch a walkthrough of the level below.
Walkthrough Video
Level Design Document
Click
Overview:
Click is a 3rd person surrealist-retro horror game that features a boy left at home alone by his parents. The boy cannot stay idle as the parents need him to complete a list of chores around the home. However, clicks can be heard throughout the home and with each click a light which the boy never touched is turned off. There must be something in the dark…
All props, character models, rigs, textures, and scripts were created by me using Maya, Substance Painter, and Unreal Engine 5
Graphics:
Click's graphics are inspired by PS2 era low poly games. This was accomplished by first creating simplified models for all props/characters. Additionally complex, but low resolution textures were used. Finally a post processing filter was applied which mimics the N64's 320x240i resolution.
Horror Boy:
Horror Boy's style is inspired by the surrealist horror genre where the setting is not only scary but also has true dreamlike elements. One way this was captured is by giving the character sunken eyes. The Sunken eyes give the illusion that Horror Boy is always looking at the camera without needing to animate them. This is a similar technique used in paintings where the eyes appear to follow the observer.
AI Antagonist:
The AI antagonist during gameplay will turn off a room's lights which are adjacent to a room who's lights are already out after 7 seconds. This slowly spreads darkness throughout the house. An issue that came up was how should the AI determine what rooms it can darken. This is because there is no way based on operations to tell which rooms have doorways leading to one another. So this was solved by encoding each room object with it's own unique tag and all the unique tags of the adjacent rooms.
Finally the AI then chooses two rooms at random from the list of rooms which can be darkened then chooses the room which is connected to the most rooms. So the AI antagonist tries to maximize its spreading capabilities to eventually trap the player and consume them.
Additional Information:
If you would like more information regarding this game the game pitch document is below.
You can download "Click" on itch.io now for free!
You can also watch a walkthrough of the game below.
Walkthrough Video
Click Pitch Document
Kanes Game
Overview:
kanesgame.com was created with Java Script, HTML, CSS, and the PixiJS library.
Gameplay:
kanesgame's gameplay consists of spawning 1 of 3 units, the spearman, archer, or wizard each costing 100 money. The money counter is shown by the black text at the upper left corner of the game screen. The player earns money passively over time. To win the player must reduce the enemy castle to 0 health points by strategically spawning their units to combat the enemies units.​
Graphics
All graphics in this game were created by me using Pyxel Edit. All characters were created and animated in an 8x8 pixel grid then being outlined in a 16x16 grid. The style of the environment and character art is cutesy and cartoonish.
Additional Information:
You can play kanesgame right now at kanesgame.com!
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