UI - CONCEPT - GENERAL ARTIST
Whispers from the Treetops
Whispers from the Treetops is a 2D side-scrolling platformer. Awoken from their slumber, Sereph, the Owl Guardian is given a warning. An encroaching thorn has begun poisoning the Great Tree, threatening to cut off all life to the forest. Seraph must now scale to the peak of the entwined branches to destroy the evil at its source.
Whispers of the Treetops is a senior 2021-22 game project spanning one semester and is a work in progress. This game was programmed using the Unreal Engine Blueprints and the UMG UI designer. All art assets were drawn and animated in Photoshop.
Ultimately, this game is to showcase my
Artistic, UX/UI, and Game Design abilities.
Current Gameplay
Developement Process
Prototype
One of the first iterations of the game. At the time, I knew that I wanted a platformer with relatively simple mechanics. This is so I could focus on creating a short and polished experience without overscoping.
Alpha
In this version I mainy focused on perfecting the player controller. The environment is comprised of placeholder assets, and there isn't even any menus yet.
Final Color Palette
Color Palette Exploration
Character
Concept Art
Animation Pipeline
Proportions
Detail
Lines
Color
Polish
Animations
Glide
Idle
Wall Slide
Environment
Nature is one of the themes of this game. A lot of the props consist of different types of plants, and the materials in Unreal allows me to add a little hue shifting to add more variation. Because this game is made in Unreal, I was able to utilize the 3D space to give the game more depth.
One of the challenges for this game was creating a tileset that was easily repeatable without becoming a huge time sink. This led to the tiles being composed of three layers. The top grass, the rocky edging, and the darker background. I was inspired by the newer 2D Mario games that tend to use this strategy.
Unreal Engine Blueprint Programming
Game Mechanics
As a 2D platformer, many of the game mechanics focus on smooth and accurate movements. Along with a run and jump, you can glide and wall jump. The movement of this game is inspired by the limited movement in Celeste, Hollow Knight's responsive controls, and the gliding and stamina in A Short Hike.
Below are some of the character blueprints used in this game that have been constantly refined and tweaked for optimal game feel.
Jump and Glide
The jump contains a majority of the player character's mechanics.
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The basic jump.
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The wall jump launches the character in the opposite direction of the wall.
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Pressing space after jumping allows you to glide by lowering the gravity.
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Releasing space stops you from gliding.
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Tapping space lets you do short hops rather than a longer jump.
Stamina
Gliding is how the player can quickly move horizontally, but to prevent it being over powered, there is a stamina limit. Stamina is drained while gliding and instantly recovered when landing.
Previously, the stamina would trickle back, but this was found to slow down gameplay. It forced you to wait instead of being able to smoothly jump from platform to platform, so it was cut.