Meowt of Tune

Our game, Meowt of Tune, is a 3D platformer/puzzle solver where the player, with the help of his raccoon friend, needs to stay quiet while solving puzzles, unlocking doors and escaping the giant killer Rat in pursuit of his delicious can of tuna. The mechanics are simple but help the player get to his goal. You are able to drag certain objects to use as platforms to reach items like keys to unlock different areas. Be careful, making too much noise in game or through microphone will alert the killer Rat, who wants you out! Shhh...

Team - Ali, Brooke, Jayden, Komo

Ali, Brooke & Jayden are programmers working on level functionality & level design in Unity and Komo focuses on 3D model design like the mice and the different props for the mansion. We try to talk as a group every day, sharing what we completed, talking about our current and future tasks and asking each other for help. We are using Discord as our main platform for communication.

Progress - 3 New level Ideas

From week 1-2 of continuing our game from Pre-Production Capstone, we decided to make new levels. We all huddled together to ideate some level possibilities and came up with three ideas for new levels. Ali came up with a Night Vision Level (catch mice in the dark) and Brooke came up with a Piano Memory Game (match the ghost cat's piano keys) and a Word riddle game (Read the riddle and guess the word). Komo was in charge of creating the models for our levels. With the mice models completed, we were able to finish the first idea quickly but ran in a few problems.

Night Vision Level

This is a pitch-black level where the cat can only see his surroundings using his night vision. While the mice are running around, you have to use your limited vision to find the right one holding the key. Make sure to check every mouse, because your night vision will also be able to sense paw prints in the dark for a short time. Once you catch the mouse, it'll get startled and drop it's key. Then you'll be able to see and unlock the door. The mouse model was made by Komo using a software called Maya.

During the development of this level, we ran into a big problem with the mice and the nav mesh. The player was easily able to trap the mice because they kept getting stuck in the corner of the level. We spoke as a group, asked questions and gave ideas on how to solve the problem. eventually we thought of a clever idea to save the mice from trapping itself. we thought outside the box and implemented portals in each corner which teleports the mice on the other side of the level, so they aren't stuck. This was a creative way to find a solution and not waste too much time on the issue.

Model:

Piano Memory Game

Brooke is developing this level. This puzzle involves testing one's memory. Try your best to match the ghost cat's performance. If you fail, you'll have to try again at another random combination of notes. If you succeed, you'll be rewarded with a key or item. This puzzle is still in development so we may include other features like spawning the killer rat or having to chase the ghost cat if failing too many times. This level isn't implemented yet so we will later discuss on features we want to include for this level. The piano model was also made by Komo.

model:

Riddle Game

This riddle puzzle was made by Jayden. This game requires solving three riddles in order to progress through the game. What are they? I don't know. Only the smartest players can solve the riddles. Once you do, you will be able to obtain the reward. What is it? I don't know. You'll need to place lettered boxes on the four pedestals to guess the correct word. We will discuss some ideas to make the puzzle more interesting/difficult like scattering the boxes around the level or spawning the killer rat if you guess wrong.

Unity

Unity is the game engine we will be using, which uses C# coding language. The engine is great for building games. It has a visual editor that allow you to manage the scenes, assets, lights and cameras easily, in addition to drag & dropping game objects & components with ease. It has built in 2D and 3D physics, a UI system used for creating HUDs and menu interfaces and an asset store filled with all sorts of useful models, sounds, tools, etc. Unity is free with a huge community and receives frequent updates.

Next Steps

Our next move is to implement one of the older levels made from PPR301. The Gong level where you would deflect a musical note by moving two gongs to unlock the door. We will keep working on the other two levels with the programmers working out the logic and modeler with the 3D models, which takes time and can get tricky at times. It's important to take into account personal issues which can mess up our schedule and make changes. When the levels are complete, we are able to implement them into the mansion scene, where the user would be playing in.  Finally, we would ready our game for our 1st testing session which is exciting.