Game Development Concepts

RPGU

For my senior thesis in college, I and two other people created a game demo called RPGU. The premise is that in various RPG games, players choose between different classes to specialize in, such as warrior, mage, ranger, etc... So why not have a University for majoring in those classes? (Hence the U in RPGU.) Players would have gone to a fantasy university where they can choose a major and take classes to level up skills, with each major having different skillsets and unique abilities. Then, they could go out and explore dungeons, fight monsters, find treasure, and uncover the secret hidden under the school.

The demo featured a fully playable dungeon, with puzzles to solve, items to find, and monsters to fight.

Left: Promo art for RPGU

Below: A screenshot from the demo

Below is the concept/level layout of the first dungeon in the game RPGU. To unlock the door to the boss hidden behind the waterfall, players have to find crystal flowers to place on the statues near the waterfall. To find the flowers, players must solve water-based puzzles throughout the dungeon, such as raising/lowering water to change lilypad paths across the water, or using water magic (an ability that can be found in a treasure chest in the dungeon) to water withered plants that grow into platforms. At the end of the dungeon is a boss for the players to fight, though the demo did not include the boss fight. The boss would have been a three-headed Hydra, called a Trydra.

Concept art for the main waterfall room in the dungeon, alongside the version from the game as comparison.

Left and above: Concepts for the plant that grows into a platform when the player waters it with water magic. (I call it a Plantform)

Below: Artwork for the Trydra boss that players fight at the end of the dungeon. Its three heads can attack individually or all together, and players must find a way to stun it before they can inflict damage.

Concepts for the crystal flowers needed to progress through the dungeon, and the statues that the flowers must be placed on.

Abbey Valley

Abbey Valley is a top-down simulation game where the player builds a community centered around an abbey, and must manage resources to help their community expand and thrive.

There are various patron deities that the player can appeal to by passing their trials. There are many deities, each with their own unique personality and theme, from the sun and moon, to oceans and volcanoes, to nature and technology, to rainbows and... even vampires?! Some deities are allies with each other and will aid you, while some are rivals with each other. Appeasing deities can grant great boons, while angering one can invite great disaster.

Every playthrough is different, with randomly generated maps featuring different biomes, which have different resources to be found. Players will need to gather and manage resources, build and upgrade buildings, keep their followers safe and happy, and endure any natural (or unnatural!) disasters that strike their civilization. Successful playthroughs unlock new features for consecutive playthroughs, adding additional building options, abilities, game modes, and more.

Examples of what some randomly generated biomes could look like: