Hello! How are you? How did you started this 2022?
Here's Tobias Rusjan from Saibot Studios and games like Doorways and Hellbound ːhellonː
This new project Out of Bounds is a game that I originally created as a solo developer for the Unreal Engine Megajam 2021. It was a 7 day jam where I needed to create, among other stuff: all the gaphics, sound effects and game logic.
You can download and try out that version for free on Itchio:
I really liked the final result, so I decided to continue working on this project to improve it in all aspects, adding new features and eventually releasing a new and better version here on Steam.
So I invite you to add the game to your Wishlist, because some good stuff are coming 👌
And below, you will find some more information about the project and the development of the original version during the 7 days of Jam:
THE IDEA
Out of Bounds is about "creating" your video game while "fixing" bugs...
You need to find the tools for the different areas (mechanics, graphics and audio), bring them to their depots, compile and test. But in the mean time, some errors will come out in the form of creepy creatures, and they will try to stop you; to avoid that, you will pop up your Lina Tracer gun 🔫
https://youtu.be/t87pOC8BTQc
THE LEVEL
One of the first things I did for the jam was the blocking for the level design. I did a quick sketch on Photoshop and then the basic 3D on Blender. Here's how the first meshes looked like:
I consider this a very important step, since you put the idea you have in mind into something solid and ready to test.
And one of the things that most commonly happens here is that the scale end up being pretty different to what you had in mind, so you need to adjust here and there.
THE MECHANICS
Here's the first video I uploaded to my Twitter account. In which I showcased the most important features of the game: picking up items, dropping them into their depots, and pressing a button to progress.
https://twitter.com/TobiasRusjan/status/1432871644419305473
And of course, I did some "awesome" concepts before that. Everything was based on the Unreal Engine 4 editor's style, so other devs who play the game can feel like home.
After the jam, I added a Compiling Shader feature when you press the Apply button on the Graphics sector. You can see it in the video below:
https://twitter.com/TobiasRusjan/status/1436115510668795906
THE ART STYLE
Besides the game itself, I needed to create some kind of aesthetic, both in terms of visuals and audio. But since I only had 7 days for everything, it needed to be as simple as possible.
So what I ended up doing was creating very simple low poly shapes , without UVs, textures or vertex colors; just different material instances for the different polygons of each mesh.
Concept art:
3D art:
I'm not actually a 3D artist or anything. I have been using 3D tools for some time, yes, but I was mainly focused in creating blockins, collisions or some basic hard surface buildings.
So creating these more organic forms was something new for me, and super fun!
THE INTERFACE
I also needed to create the interface for the game (or HUD). To achieve something quickly, I decided to render the items I already have created, look for a nice font and add some borders:
The original idea was to have the face of the character for the health, but I ended up using an apple... It's super red, looks nice and I think it represent life/health pretty well :D
And don't forget about the menu... I wanted to have something like the image below (with options and the character on the side), but I didn't have time for that:
So I ended up creating a basic screen with instructions during the game, which I built during the last hours of the jam:
THE ENEMIES
The game won't be ready until it has something to bother you in your journey to achieve your goal.
Here's where the Spiky Bugs came!
After exploring the map doing the pickup-and-drop-items for some time, you will try to compile again the mechanics and BOOM! This creepy creatures will spawn from nowhere and will try to stop you.
https://twitter.com/TobiasRusjan/status/1434641415708020740
You will pop up the Line Tracer (yes, that's from the Unreal Engine function Line Trace) and start shooting those creatures!
Here's where the action and shooting part of the game starts. It could be super fun for some or super stressful for others. But the game needed something like that at some point, since it won't be completed without it.
And this was also a new task for me: rigging and animating in Blender (both enemies and player hands-weapon). and this was 2 days before the jam deadline! 🤯
WHAT'S NEXT?
I decided to start 2022 dedicating most of my time to Out of Bounds. I have a big to-do list with improvements, fixes and new features. Also for this new version, the game will count with the art direction of the great Viktor Ahmed; and the music of audio specialist David Levill 😎
During the next weeks, I'm going to start uploading some of the development progress at my new Twitter account. You can follow me there to stay updated:
https://twitter.com/TobiasRusjan
Cheers and wish you all an amazing 2022!
Tobias