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Mine Drift
Mine Drift is all about racing through a mine at high speeds. Make sure that you don’t fall off and get the highest score. |
Fact Sheet
Role: Level Designer, UI/UX Designer, Systems Designer Date: September, 2015 – December, 2015 Type: Game Engine: Unreal Engine 4 Platform: Tablets |
My Experience
Mine Drift was a student project, for which the school was sponsored by ARM, who were looking for projects to showcase their new tablet processor at GDC. This meant that we were developing for Tablets. We were also required to use Unreal Engine 4.
The game itself was quite simple. The player is in a mine cart which is racing going through a cave at high speeds. The player has to make sure they don’t fall off the edges by tilting the tablet in turns. The faster they go, the more points they get and the harder it becomes to stay on the track.
Initially, the project was supposed to be a multiplayer cart racer on tablets, but due to issues with the engine and development speed, we had to change it around, halfway through development.
Mine Drift was a very messy project, for multiple reasons:
- First time using Unreal Engine 4 for everyone in the team.
- First time developing for a Tablet Device for everyone in the team.
- A lot of workflow/communication issues within the team.
Mine Drift was a student project, for which the school was sponsored by ARM, who were looking for projects to showcase their new tablet processor at GDC. This meant that we were developing for Tablets. We were also required to use Unreal Engine 4.
The game itself was quite simple. The player is in a mine cart which is racing going through a cave at high speeds. The player has to make sure they don’t fall off the edges by tilting the tablet in turns. The faster they go, the more points they get and the harder it becomes to stay on the track.
Initially, the project was supposed to be a multiplayer cart racer on tablets, but due to issues with the engine and development speed, we had to change it around, halfway through development.
Mine Drift was a very messy project, for multiple reasons:
- First time using Unreal Engine 4 for everyone in the team.
- First time developing for a Tablet Device for everyone in the team.
- A lot of workflow/communication issues within the team.
Game Design Document - Aside from Sound, all work was done by me
Level Design
We created a spline system in Unreal, which we used to built levels with. This had a lot of delays though, so I had to do with block-outs for a while. At a late stage in development, I had to create 3 levels in the span of day. We were only able to use 1 of them, which can be seen here. A document with the others will be provided below.
We created a spline system in Unreal, which we used to built levels with. This had a lot of delays though, so I had to do with block-outs for a while. At a late stage in development, I had to create 3 levels in the span of day. We were only able to use 1 of them, which can be seen here. A document with the others will be provided below.
Level Design Document
At this point in time, my documentation skills weren't the best and I only had a day for this whole thing, so I just didn't have the time to create a beautiful document.
UI Design
We had to create a system that would give the player some information about the game. We decided to create 1 diegetic UI element, which could act as a HUD and provide all the information the player needs. This GPS system was placed in front of the player’s cart and features: A Mini-map, giving the player a bit of the road ahead so they can choose which routes they will take. A Balance Meter, showing how far the player is off balance and is a key element for the player. An indicator showing if the player was about to collide with another player. An indicator showing if there are any environmental hazards.