Evolution!™

From the Project Proposal:

Evolution!™ is a top down manic shooter game which chronologically explores various visual styles the genre has displayed throughout its history. The visual theme matures throughout the game’s timeline to reflect the evolution of the genre. Evolution!™ will bring a previously unexplored game mechanism to the genre, through the use of dual mouse input.

This central idea of the evolution of games, from their inception to their current maturity, is used as a central design philosophy for the entire game. This philosophy will be applied to all aspects of the game, from the Heads up Display, to the music, and everything in between. It will act as a unifying theme, and will draw the various other concepts and ideas implemented in the project into a single, final piece.

Evolution!™ is a short, fast paced game which will provide players with a 10 to 15 minute experience. The project will be completed by a team of 6 developers during the spring period, 2006. During this period the team will produce design and technical documents before realising Evolution!™ as a comprehensive, professional game.

The primary target audience will be gamers who recollect old arcade classics such as Asteroids, and have experienced the maturation of the top-down shooter genre. The secondary target audience will be casual gamers who enjoy brief sessions of intense action. The style of game play envisaged for Evolution!™ satisfies these target demographics through fast paced game play which transitions a range of visual styles.

The Evolution!™ design team consists of 6 members. Team Lead, Game Direction Lead, Graphic Design, Technical Lead, and two software engineers. All team members take part in decisions regarding game design and game play.

My Role

My role in the development of Evolution was that of Programmer. I created the early class diagrams, and was responsible for 3d loading and rendering, as well as level loading and game progression.

We didn't have a direct tech lead as such, but all took equal roles in design and implemenation of the engine.

Status

An early alpha was recently shown at a Graduate Exhibition and was recieved well. The game has several known bugs, and still needs work developing AI and other assets.

The Students

• Henrik Rypkema (Graphic Design)
• Jesse Higgins (Title and Game music)
• Jon McEwan (Admin, Particle Engine)
• Luke Muscat (Game and Graphic Design)
• Matthew Clark (Software Engineer)
• Michael Szewczyk (Software Engineer)
• Nick Van Soest (Software Engineer)