Title: Environmental Lead
Ghostbusters was
the one game that changed the most over its development. It started it’s life
as a Resident Evil style game, with a
ton of gadgets. What changed it from the Resident Evil feel was all the work we
put into get the feeling of wrangling and trapping ghosts. This type of game play
was exciting and had a lot of action, but just didn't fit into a game that had turret
controls. I think what finally did in this version of the game was when we
added a dodge. At that point the door was opened and we kept evolving it toward
the action adventure that we shipped.
I also ran the environmental department as well as designing a new effects engine. This was a very busy production cycle for me. Checkout my Resume out for more of those details. |
GhostBusters: The Video Game
Company: Terminal Reality
An absolute highlight of this game was years later as when I was reading Scott Rodge's design book Level Up. I was absolutely elated to find out that my pack/on screen UI design was called out in as an example of awesome UI design. It is always a good feeling to get outside validation from a fellow designer.
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Art and Effects
Proton Pack
I created everything related to the iconic proton pack including, model, HUD, effects, animated state changes, upgrades states, and base weapon design. It had so much going on that we often referred to it as the 6th Ghostbuster.
When coming up with the effects it wasn't as simple as mirroring the movie since the proton beam actually changes size and scale based on each scene.
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A programmer
and myself locked ourselves in an office for a week to just get the look and movement of the proton stream. It
was tough getting it to look right from both the player camera as well as from the
other Ghostbusters.
With each of the different states of the pack, I wanted to change the silhouette as well as color theme to match the projectile. This way there was no mistake what configuration the player was in.
Everything I did was approved by Aykroyd himself. |
In Game HUD
When the game was originally conceived, it was completely HUD-less. As it became more action orientated we needed multiple ways to tell the player the information. That is why there are at least 3 mirrored informational indicators on screen for the player to queue in on at any given time.
I eventually added in stat tracking elements and an interactive reticle so the player could spend more time looking at the game than the HUD.
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Stairway Down
Near the end of the game we realized
that one of the levels had to get cut. The problem there was a big part of
the story's exposition was in that level. This led to a redesign to scope down,
with the sewers. The challenge here was for the players to logically get to the
Mandala from the museum. I resolved that problem by making a secret passage out
of the pattern on the museum floor, with some effects magic.
Watch my Demo Reel to see this in action! |
Sewers
This was part of the sewers that was in risk of getting cut from the game. I put this entire environment together (short of the Mandala) in 2 weeks. I later was given a bit more time to get creative with the crazy piping seen above. By making the environment dark, I let the shadows and back lighting help set the mood for the level.
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Hedge Maze &
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Gear
This is just a small selection of all the Ghostbuster's gear I created for the game. Every piece had an accompanying full game play write up to go with it. Even though some of the designs were eventually cut from the final game, most found a home on Ray's desk in the firehouse.
I also worked on the PKE pause menu with materials for the digital read out that could be controlled by code. The pause menu PKE was a separate model with fake glows and a different screen so we could keep it separated from the one the player used in game. It was seamless from the player's perspective, but help out from an organization stand point.
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Stay Puft and Friends
The fat minions seen above were
supposed to explode and act as spawners for the smaller ones in the level. They
were modeled to look like ravenous burnt marshmallow. I created multitudes of variations of them with their
material by simply shifting the burnt parts of their UVs when they were
spawned.
I also textured the big guy and added in battle scarring damage states changes for the final battle.
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SPLAT! In my design opinion,
whenever you win a boss fight it should be as rewarding experience as the fight
itself. I think this was my favorite effect in the whole game since it was so
satisfying to watch S.P. splatter. It was loads of technical trickery, but
works due to the locked camera.
See my Demo Reel to see this in action and details.
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Best Practices
When I stepped up to become Environmental Lead one of the first things I did was set up best practices for the game. The power point out lined creative uses of materials, how to reused UVs, and how to create similarly themed items without the need for a ton of different texture sets.
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Ghosts and Cake
This image also highlights the material shader work on the ghosts that served as a template for all the ghosts in the game. I wanted them to look like they were composited in like they were in the movie.
My wife is a chef and award winning cake decorator, so naturally I had her help me design this cake for the ballroom. Slimer seems to like it.
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Black Slime
The most expensive material in the entire game was the black
slime. One of the reasons for this was all the things it could do. It needed to
injure the player, be neutralize by green slime, act as a spawn point for enemies,
register as a PKE anomaly, and look like a living creature.
The spawn effect was accomplished with an animated displacement map. The living creature aspect of it was created by UV pixel distortion with a normal map and several animated textures. Overall the effect of the slime was so effective, it was used all over the game. We even created golems out of it. I was happy to help create its look. |
High Rise
Considering the player was suppose
to be menaced by Stay Puft through the entire level, I thought this was a nice pacing piece
to keep the tension up at a low time cost piece. Not to mention it is a nice nod to
the film as well.
"Tell me when we get to the top, I think I am going to throw up." -
P. Venkman |