Final Major Project

About the Game
Lethal Company is the first main game that exploded the market for co-op horror survival games, now commonly referred to as "friend-slop" due to the ever-expanding list of similar games. Lethal has a fairly large amount of content to offer in the base game, but has been heavily expanded upon within the modding community. The premise is simple: land on abandoned moons, collect scrap, and sell it to the company. As you progress and become more knowledgeable within the game, you will start to collect more scrap as you skillfully deal with all of the enemies found within the interior building and around the surrounding environment without losing everything you worked so hard to get. You'll be able to buy many useful and decorative items from the company store, as well as travel to new moons that offer greater loot at the cost of higher risk. If nobody returns to the ship or does not collect enough scrap to meet the quota, the company will throw you out, and you will start over.

How I Could Use It
Aside from the game just being inspiring to create similar products, there are a few features in particular that I might like to replicate if I go down this path. For starters, having a terminal of some kind to be able to control everything seems pretty cool and would be neat to replicate in my own way. So far, I'm thinking that the ship's adaptation could be a plug socket or USB lead that you are "plugging into" other machines in some way. You might then only have a certain amount of power, so after a bit of time, the connection will be removed, so you need to be quick, which is similar to how you only have until 12 AM in Lethal. This way, I could make the power purchasable, so doing better in one round allows you to get more time in the next. This is a great way for playability, and maybe even saves if you don't make it back in time or die outside. So, power saves, allowing you to keep going, but you lose any items or whatever that you gathered.

The other feature I may want to recreate is the weather in Lethal. Weather is something that adds extra conditions to each moon, making them more hazardous. Two examples of this are: flooding over time and stormy weather that will strike conductive items with lightning. Instead of weather, per se, I could instead just make certain levels have more reactive enemies instead. I'm not exactly sure how something like this would work, and I'd probably never get around to it for FMP, but it's still a feature I should think a bit about, if nothing else, just for the evaluation at the end.

Reference:
lethal-company.fandom.com. (n.d.). Lethal Company Wiki. [online] Available at: https://lethal-company.fandom.com/wiki/Lethal_Company_Wiki.

Ship Interior

Ship Exterior

About the Game
Content Warning was one of the first predecessors to the incredibly successful Lethal Company, and it did not disappoint. As soon as the game hit the Steam market, it instantly exploded in popularity, partially due to Lethal having a large player count a few months ago, but also because when initially released, it was priced for free. It followed a very similar premise with its own spin: travel to a place (the Old World), film good scary content, return to the ship (called Diving Bell) with the camera, get home and upload your content to SpöökTube for profit through ads on your video. Not having to worry about rendering lots of scrap by using a camera is already great for performance, but also an awesome gameplay feature. Being able to watch back all the chaos later on video is a great feature for people who don't want to record their footage, and to get the best parts. Not only this, but the game adds an extra layer of customisation by allowing players to create their own face using ASCII characters, and I personally prefer the safe island that you live on compared to Lethal's ship in space.

How I Could Use It
I think the main thing I'm going to be taking from the game is actually some inspiration from the starting area. I think it would be cool to have a similar, happy starting place, and then you go into whatever thing the ship pod thingy would be to get plugged into a different world. Now thinking about it, I could instead have them act like programs on a computer or something, but I don't think the power idea that I had works too well, unless it's something like the power of the computer or something. Additionally, this would also probably move away from the arcade machine aesthetic, so I'll just have to come up with a game world you start in that acts like the safe world.

The other idea somewhat stems from the video recorder feature and how you can look back on your video. I think instead of this, I could make it automatically record, and then you can watch yourself play from a 3rd person perspective, either just from looking outside of a machine, or gameify it and make it look like you're meant to be in the game. As an example, I'll use Pacman. So, I could just add a camera that faces outside of the machine that you're trapped in, but that would get all of the 3D assets that I would be using, making it look a little weird, but it does give the game my own spin on the originals. On the other hand, I could make something that tracks your position and actions and creates a video of it. Maybe I can add a 2D sprite that moves along somewhere, following you along a different axis, so it makes it look like, in "real life", you're baked into the original game. The second option sounds cooler, but I don't have the time or knowledge to make something like that, so if I choose this game idea, then I may have to go with the first. Either way, at the end, maybe you could watch back your playthrough, or certain parts of it, just like how you can with SpöökTube in Content Warning.

Reference:
Fandom.com. (2024). Content Warning Wiki. [online] Available at: https://content-warning.fandom.com/wiki/Content_Warning_Wiki.

Map Bird's-Eye View

Selfie Camera View

About the Game
Repo is the last game I'm going to be talking about, and could be considered to have had a greater popularity, not only due to having the highest all-time peak, but also because it's still pulling much higher numbers than both Lethal Company and Content Warning. Thus far in 2026, roughly 8,000 people are playing Lethal, a bit under 2,000 for Content Warning, compared to a fairly consistent 40,000+ for Repo. Although it's come out later, it has successfully kept its popularity, something Content Warning lost pretty quickly after the initial hype.

Moving on from the success, Repo is a perfect mix of both horror and comedy, since its physics system in particular increases the number of funny moments compared to the other games. In Repo, you have these kinds of checkpoints that are called extraction point quotas. Each time you travel to new locations, the quota increases, just like in the other games. If you encounter enemies and die, you lose. If you don't meet the quota, you cannot leave and therefore lose. This game can be so much more intense because of that, since you can't just leave for a safe place at any time, meaning you have to finish your job. However, the scary elements are heavily contrasted with the comedy aspects that the game pulls by having the player characters be a memorable robot that has hilarious animations for talking and moving around. Additionally, physics can be very fun to play around with, especially when you pick up your friends and launch them in the direction of a monster. Moreover, it can get annoying when you accidentally keep damaging objects, but that's where the challenge comes in, and it adds a sense of skill. Overall, Repo is a great predecessor to Lethal Company, and is often looked to be one of, if not the best, types of these games due to being so unique in its own way, which is obviously something I'd want to replicate.

How I Could Use It
Repo has a lot of distinct features, but one of the main ones, when you think of the game, has to be the physics. For me, there are certain aspects that I think I could bring into this game idea. The first has to be how you move around and interact with items. I think it's a genius mechanic that hasn't been explored enough. I'm still not quite sure what I would be collecting in my game, but having some kind of physics surrounding it would be awesome. The other thing that kind of fits into this section is the player model, also known as the semibots. The mouth talking animation is a revolutionary addition that has inspired many new developers to add their own way, and it makes some situations unnecessarily hilarious. Moreover, the movement feels quite realistic, which is a nice touch for an arcade game like this.

I think the only other feature I feel would fit best in the game idea I have is the extraction points. I think having more than one spanning the map is a great way to force players to search a lot deeper, and then needing to get back to the truck whilst avoiding any enemies in the way adds to a great bit of tension. Being able to revive friends this way is also great, and means you don't need to worry about losing them for a whole round, since when you get further into the game, one person dying early on makes everything so much harder for everyone else.

Reference:
Fandom.com. (2025). Repo Wiki. [online] Available at: https://repo-2025horror.fandom.com/wiki/Repo_Wiki.

Transporting Valuable

Player Semibot

About the Movie
This strange, retro game-inspired movie appears to me to be more of a nostalgic path for previous gamers during the era of these games, but the theme and style seem to be more appealing to the younger audience. You start by watching an arcade game world championship, where the final two contestants battle it out. Eventually, it ends, and a video highlight from the championship gets launched into space inside a time capsule. Later on, aliens find it and take it as a declaration of war, so they invade Earth. Now grown up, everyone from the arcade championship and more are brought together to be the protectors of Earth, having to beat all of the games once and for all. It is later found out that the winner cheated, so he begins to feel guilty and useless at a really important time. In the end, through the power of friendship or whatever, they come back together to have one final game of Donkey Kong or something to finally beat the aliens. They fix any damage to Earth and leave peacefully; everyone lives happily ever after.

How I Could Use It
Although I really enjoyed the movie as a young kid, I do agree the storyline is a bit goofy looking back at it now, but I still think it's one of the best "game" movies so far. For me, there isn't a whole lot of content that I'd like to take as inspiration, aside from how the enemies might look. The fact that they are all made out of squares for pixels looks awesome and would require minimal texturing. However, on the other hand, I have no idea how I'd go about making a cubic model. In a program like Blender, there are plugins that people have made, and there are far more online tutorials for it. Now, I assume 3DS Max has some quick way to transform a model into a cubic form quickly and without taking ages by placing every block, but if there is, it will take a lot more research to find out how. I have found ways to make Unity display a pixelated view, which could work, but I feel like that would make it feel more PlayStation-style than arcade, though maybe it's a good idea to mix them. Either way, I think the way the game characters are displayed in the movie looks awesome, and I'd love to try to replicate that.

References:
IMDb. (2026). Pixels (2015) - Plot - IMDb. [online] Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2120120/plotsummary/ [Accessed 11 Mar. 2026].
Mali Makes Games (2025). Unity 3D PIXELATED Rendering in 2025 | Updated Tutorial (3D Pixel Art). [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4b812pMxDc [Accessed 11 Mar. 2026].

Pacman Infront of Ghost Cars

Q*Bert Speaking

About the Game
Unfortunately, I haven't played this game, so I don't know much about it, and information about the game's story appears to be quite limited. From what I can gather, you are attempting to play a game, but there is a program trying to prevent you from doing so. Everything seems relatively harmless, since it's trying to get you to stop doing stuff and leave, but later on, an evil programming bug appears and gets both you and the one trying to prevent you from playing the game. You get lost in multiple dimensions, left needing to help some random characters, before ending up defeating the glitch, and I guess just moving on with your day.

How I Could Use It
This game is mostly a good inspiration for how the game works. Reviews state how compelling the story is and how the developer has put in some great puzzles. I think for my idea of this game, the main aspect of how you get transferred from game to game is a great idea. I think the story is something I'd really have to think about since that would be the main aspect of the game, but then change the theme of the game slightly to instead be inspired by retro arcade games. I could even make it somewhat seem like you are in some sort of a coma from being electrocuted, and you are in desperate need to quickly complete each level as you progress, since you keep losing pieces of your memory or something. The story and reasoning would be something I would dive more into if this is the game path I eventually choose to go down, but I think the idea I currently have is pretty solid.

References:
Steampowered.com. (2020). There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension on Steam. [online] Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1240210/There_Is_No_Game_Wrong_Dimension/#app_reviews_hash [Accessed 11 Mar. 2026].
to, C. (2026). There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension. [online] There Is No Game Wiki. Available at: https://thereisnogame.fandom.com/wiki/There_Is_No_Game:_Wrong_Dimension [Accessed 11 Mar. 2026].

Title Screen

Sherlock Holmes Dimension

About the Game
Finally, we have Arcade Paradise, which I thought was a great game to take inspiration from for how arcades are laid out and how the game is styled. In this game, you are playing as someone who has taken over a rundown laundromat business in hopes of making it big by expanding into an arcade. Not only is this an awesome simulator where you juggle between work at the two different businesses, but you also have the option to play on the arcade machines you buy, and with over 35 additional games to choose from, you have a lot of gameplay to be had. Not only is the number of games great, but the better part is that you can even play some with friends, either cooperatively or competitively.

How I Could Use It
For this game, I thought it was best initially just for the design, since I'd probably want to follow down a more realistic path to the kind of graphics most games get nowadays. However, the more I think about it, the more I think trying to replicate the PS1's graphical state is better and would fit into the retro theme even better. So, my compromise is to model everything basically how they look in Arcade Paradise, but add a pixelated effect to the camera to make it look like you're playing something more retro. I'd then hope for it to look something like the PlayStation 1's Driver, but with bright neon lights and vivid colours. Inside the games that you play, I'd then want to try and keep the game's original style, but use the more 3D stuff like in the Pixels movie.

References:
Steampowered.com. (2026). Arcade Paradise on Steam. [online] Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1388870/Arcade_Paradise/ [Accessed 11 Mar. 2026].

Tall Room View

Low Room View & Pool Table

About the Game
Super Mario Kart is the first Mario Kart racing game in the series. You can play as one of eight characters from the Super Mario series and a wide variety of tracks to drive on, testing your skills and luck, in many ways against the AI. Not only is there the regular races against AI, but you can also play multiplayer to race against other players. Alongside the well-known racing, there is also a battle mode. In this Mario Kart game, in particular, it is just a simple game mode where you have a certain number of lives represented by balloons. You can throw shells and bananas to trip up your opponents and make them lose balloons, until you are the only one left with any. Overall, this is a great kart game to start the Mario Kart series, and the graphics are perfect for a retro-style inspired game, especially for the simplicity of level design.

How I Could Use It
So, as I've already talked about it a bit, my main inspiration for a game like this would be the old pixelated graphical display. Not only does this game have a very small amount of decor surrounding the track, meaning I wouldn't need to design much of the scenery, but the graphics are incredibly simple, with most objects just having a few colours for some basic shading. I think this would be fairly easy to replicate in Unity, and I'd probably still go down the route of adding an overlay for the camera to make everything pixelated, but it would make the process a lot easier.

Aside from the graphical considerations, I also like the idea of different game modes, power-ups, and additional boosts, which I will now go into. For the game modes, like the battle, obviously, I'd have to make up my own mode or come up with a way to change theirs into my own, but it's still a cool idea to add more content to the game aside from just the regular driving and racing. Secondly, power-ups are a cool idea to add, especially for the racing. It adds a lot more suspense and tension, but also takes away from the skill aspect in a way since you could get really lucky with powerups to help you win. Either way, it's definitely something to consider adding since I think it would be awesome. Finally, what I mean by additional boosts is stuff like how you can get a speed boost by drifting and hitting a certain button when jumping over a bump. It's these things that make you think about how you can be quicker, and also why you shouldn't do it all the time, since they could throw you off the track if you gain too much speed.

References:
Kart, M. (2017). Super Mario Kart. [online] Mario Kart Racing Wiki. Available at: https://mariokart.fandom.com/wiki/Super_Mario_Kart.

Box Art Cover

Cup Award Ceremony

About the Game
This indie game is perfect to base my project on, as it has a lot of content that I could try to replicate, as well as the art style I'm most likely to go with. Sunrise GP is a relaxing, classic racer with racing, online time trial leaderboards, car tuning, and a vast range of vehicle customisation. Races get incredibly competitive against the AI as you learn the tracks, and later leave them in your dust. The cartoon-style complements the beautiful lighting greatly and matches the retro feel the game was trying to replicate. Aside from a bit more content to be had in the game, you also have a built-in photo mode where you can get an image from some picturesque spots in the game.

How I Could Use It
As I've already stated, this style is what I'm most likely to do. The low-poly vehicles and decor with simple textures are exactly the kind of style I need with the limited time, and as long as I spend a bit of time on the lighting, it can look really good. Diving a bit more into what's more unique, we have the vehicle customisation, which is really cool. It reminds me of GTA's customisation, where you select and buy a variety of different parts to fit your car to your preferences. I love how much variety there is in this game, and the various cars give you a lot of customising opportunities.

The other thing I really like about this game is how it plays. When driving around, I found the controls a lot easier to pick up compared to other racing games, but there is still an aspect of skill involved if you want to go for some of the fastest times. Not only this, but as advertised, there is a fair amount of vehicle tuning you can do to your vehicles to make them fit your driving style a bit more and help you reach those top times on the leaderboard. Overall, this game has a great base that I would happily use as inspiration, just changing the vehicles and graphics to something that represents the PlayStation 1 a bit more to make it even more retro-themed.

References:
Steampowered.com. (2026). Sunrise GP on Steam. [online] Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2670800/Sunrise_GP/ [Accessed 12 Mar. 2026].

Vehicle Customisation

Racing with HUD

About the Game
I think Burnout Paradise is a perfect game to get some inspiration from for some additional features I could include in my game. To start, this game allows you to drive around a beautiful city called Paradise City. Alongside being able to play a lot of races around the map, you can also set certain records all around the map, such as speed. However, the game mostly revolves around launching, spinning, and smashing into other cars to benefit yourself. You can do it against friends and randoms online, or just do everything against the AI players, which are actually pretty competitive while you are learning the game. Discover many jumps, stunts, and shortcuts placed around the map, while unlocking new vehicles and customisation along the way.

How I Could Use It
Although this game looks awesome, and having a living, thriving city is one of its main components, that is something I just can't get done in the time. However, some things I would like to bring across into my own project would have to be the missions and additional content that you can find around the map. It increases the amount of gameplay to be had, but also allows players to chill out and do something a bit easier from time to time. Something like adding top speed challenges would be a cool thing to add, maybe as well as some police chase modes. Obviously, all of this would mean I'd need some kind of large, open-world city to drive around in, but this might not be too bad to make if I were just doing everything really simply.

Additionally, I think making vehicle customisation, cleaning, and more specific places around the map, like fuel stations, is a great way to make everything feel more immersive. For example, certain stations you drive through will refill your boost level, and others will paint your car a random colour. It's a great way to not only get players driving around the map for certain reasons, but also helps them remember the map through points of interest everywhere.

References:
Steampowered.com. (2026). Save 75% on BurnoutTM Paradise Remastered on Steam. [online] Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1238080/Burnout_Paradise_Remastered/ [Accessed 16 Mar. 2026].

Section of City

Car Wrecked

To start the fourth week, I wanted to create a design for the physical tokens you will use to buy time in-game. I thought this was something pretty simple to start on, especially since I already had an idea for what they'd look like through the CreditCore company logo I made the previous week.

To begin, I thought I should probably get a few reference images to base my token on. I thought that, although these have a lot more on them, they seemed like the best references for what I was imagining I was going to make. They also have nice textures on them, so I can refer back to them again when I go into Substance Painter to texture.

Bitcoin Reference

[1]

Game Coin Reference

[2]

Once I had my reference images, I jumped into 3DS Max and began the modelling process. For size reference, I searched online for the pound coin dimensions and just rounded them up a bit, so it's a bit larger, probably more similar to the 50p coin, just with rounder sides. I also thought it would be cool to keep the same number of sides as the logo, which was partly done for the flat edges on the sides, because 20 segments is a perfect, low-poly circle. Unfortunately, I did forget to rotate the square C in the centre of the coin to be exactly the same as the logo, but it's something I can very easily change for the logo in Photoshop later.

Now, the majority of this model was incredibly simple, just making some cap segments when creating the coin cylinder base, extruding some faces to make them inset, and rounding the edges a bit with the chamfer tool. However, the main challenge came when trying to implement the cubic C in the centre. The easiest way would've probably just been making the C, and then attaching it to the coin base. However, I don't like simple, so obviously I made it more difficult, and probably less optimised, than it needed to be. The C creation stemmed from making a plane and making it into a single, hollowed and outlined square. I then copied it around to make the shape, before making the coin a Pro Boolean element and picking out the shapes. For some reason, this time around just removed the whole model, so I had to select outline or something, which just added the segments in on the face. I then selected all of the required faces and extruded them upward slightly. As you can see, the edges are still projected on top, which adds quite a few more polys, but I can't be asked to fix it, so it works well enough. To finish, I mirrored it to the bottom, used the quick unwrap tool (because it's so small and has little detail) and exported the model.

Credit Token Model in 3DS Max

Inside Substance Painter, I brought in the model, baked the mesh, and found this basic metal material with a bunch of colour presets for various materials. I decided I'd want three different types of credit token for various time, so I chose a bronze, silver and gold texture and exported the images. I think overall, they look pretty good for just a lesson and a bit's work. I probably won't use them loads, but it's still useful to have, even if I decide to just use them as decoration.

Credit Token Bronze Texture in Substance Painter

Credit Token Silver Texture in Substance Painter

Your name (by default) is Chris Fedit, and you have been invited to the technological company CreditCore to test their new equipment. Being a software engineer yourself and someone who is always posting about the good old days on retro consoles and arcades, you've finally been noticed by someone who wants to give you the experience of a lifetime.

Upon arrival, you are greeted by some friendly members of staff who take you to the main office to begin your trip. Once there, you meet the man at the centre of it all, Nathan Korr. In contrast to the staff, his welcome is fairly aloof, but you barely notice as you scan the technology eagerly. Korr notices your enthusiasm and comments on how they were looking for someone like you. He explains that they've required some new testers for their latest breakthrough, simulation operators to be specific. As informed, it is not a free test, but you have come prepared.

After a quick look around the area, you are brought to a room where a lady goes over your tasks and risks, and it's where you realise this is nothing like you could've imagined. You blank out for the majority of the talk, but thankfully, she hands you an information pamphlet, which you can read while you get ready: Brand new technology. Virtual reality-based experience. Neural connections.

You freeze up. Neural connections!? You keep reading; the headset you wear transmits specific brainwave patterns directly to your brain, making you see and feel things that aren't actually there. With the blackout goggles, everything disappears, and you "see" almost as a virtual reality headset does, but your brain is the system. Waves transmitted to the brain are controlled by the Core, which is what the headset is connected to. The Core gets connected to other systems that store certain console data, which is what tells the Core what waves to transmit.

Now the experience of costing a large sum of money is beginning to make sense. Since this technological advancement requires a lot of power to run, it becomes incredibly expensive over time, meaning it would put the company into bankruptcy if the events were free. However, it's not like you just run out of money, for there are valuable virtual artefacts found within, themed around the system the Core is connected to. You then get to choose what you do with the money: spend it on more time in the simulation, or purchase equipment through the company's Loadout Terminal.

Finally, you get to some of the worst parts. For starters, if all operators aren't back at the Connection Point when the timer hits zero or before, your mind gets trapped in limbo, and your body becomes paralysed (this is where the whole game would reset, like how you restart in Lethal Company). You realise why this isn't stated on the front cover, and clearly you should've read the full invitation. Lastly, you are advised to avoid encounters with entities within the simulation; otherwise, the connection may be damaged, costing you invaluable time. You stare, in a mix of excitement and terror, an absolute blank stare.

Can you become rich whilst having a bewildering experience, or will you lose your sanity and soul to this devious company?

The Core is the main piece of technology that connects both the simulation operators' headsets and Retro Data Systems. The Core processes data sent from an RDS, translates it into usable neural-virtual data, and transmits it to any simulation headsets connected. It sort of acts like the middleman between a computer and a monitor. The computer has useful data, but it needs to display it on a screen that everyone can understand. This is just a lot more complex and also creates the simulation.

Retro Data Systems

A retro data system, or RDS for short, is the hardware where the archived firmware and software are reconstructed. It stores whatever data was inside the retro consoles, handhelds and other machines, as well as a list of popular titles produced for the original devices. For example, there is an RDS for the PlayStation 1, which includes all of the firmware that was included in that. Additionally, there is a variety of software data, which includes games from the console, such as Resident Evil, Driver, and Final Fantasy 7. The RDS has had all of this archived data put directly onto the system, which can then be displayed and configured through its terminal screen. The terminal screen is a touchscreen display that is built into a large, arcade cabinet-like structure, themed around the system it has had installed. Accessing it is necessary to select which game (themed map) you'd like to play, as well as checking what state each of the games are in. This would work like how Lethal Company has weather for maps. From time to time, the games will have various issues. Two ideas that I could include would be sped-up time and a glitching screen, making your life a little harder with everything you do. I know I should add some kind of positive effects to give you an incentive to play the games with issues, but I'd probably just keep it to negatives, since it will force you to purchase new games, so you are less likely to play a game with problems. Additionally, with games, I think I'll keep the items the same across all within one RDS. However, the rarity of specific items may get increased/decreased depending on the game selected. For example, you would be more likely to get the game disc for the game you're playing, compared to others. On other devices that include additional equipment, they could become more common in games that support them. The only example I can think of at the moment is the Nintendo Wii, even though it isn't quite yet retro. They have the regular remote and nunchuck, but remote holders, such as a table tennis bat, for a game like Wii Sports, could be more common in the Wii Sports world. This is just a vague example, but a fairly good idea, I think. Also, before I move on to the Core, something like an arcade machine obviously doesn't have lots of accessories, so I might instead try to focus on items from said games that you play.

The Core

Next up, the Core is the main piece of equipment that brings the whole project together. As already explained, it basically creates a link between an RDS and one or more simulation headsets. The functionality is something I'll get to in a bit, but I first want to talk about the connections. The Core connects to an RDS via a hypersonic type-2 (HS2) cable, which the player will be able to plug into whatever system they'd like to run. The headsets are plugged into their own slot of the Core using a hypersonic type-3 (HS3) cable. The Core and RDS must also have their own electrical input through plugging in a hypersonic type-1 (HS1) cable. The systems completely power themselves, whereas the Core must power the headsets, as well as itself. For the electricity, all that is needed for a large amount of renewable power is a massive wind tunnel-like room, with electricity being syphoned through an electrically charged metal coil. Specific power cubes can then be connected to provide an outlet. CreditCore has manufactured its own cables for maximum efficiency, safety, and convenience, allowing the whole ecosystem of their products to effortlessly connect together without much of a problem. Functionally, the Core is very simple; however, it requires substantial resources to operate as intended. The cost of time is actually due to the degradation of the equipment during use. This is also why there is a time limit of (TBD) minutes, since otherwise everything would fail, and you'd be stuck either way. Credit cost is equivalent to the cost of the components that need replacing after every trip, so basically just becomes stability time. The Core mostly consists of a server rack design; however, it includes an interactive screen for technicians to monitor hardware wear, as well as other things. Additionally, it houses the large brain component, which is where any data from an RDS gets translated and sent to all of the headset slots with one connected. I'm still considering my options for how I want the Core to look. I know I want the server rack sort of design; however, I don't know if I want to make the screen built-in, or if I make it a separate, free-standing keypad and screen/laptop design. Now that I'm thinking about it, I could keep it built-in, and do this kind of free-standing design for the shop that I will get around to later on.

Simulation Headsets

Finally, I have to dive a little deeper into how the headsets work and look. For starters, as has already been explained, they are connected to the Core via a wire, which powers and transfers all necessary data directly to the headset(s). They look and act similarly to how the more commonly known VR headsets do; however, they are obviously more advanced, because instead of displaying a screen really close to your eyes, specific waves are sent to the brain, making you sense lots of things that aren't actually there. Not only is this revolutionary for the lack of graphical loss, due to the limit just being your brain's capacity, but it also doesn't strain the eyes over a long period of time since there isn't any kind of screen included. For reference, it would look a bit like a more advanced Bigscreen VR headset, with more pads that rest on your head, which are used to send waves to different parts very accurately. It's a fairly weighty product; however, you can't really notice when you are immersed in the experience.

Retro Console Storage Cabinet Shelf Example

[4]

Server Rack Example

[6]

Keypad Example

[7]

PS1 and PSOne

[5]

Bigscreen Beyond 2 VR Headset

[8]

Whilst you're in the simulation, you are technically paying for your time since the Core's components degrade substantially over time, meaning parts need to constantly get replaced. Although there is a maximum amount of safe time you can purchase, after your allocated time runs out, the Core can implode at any moment, meaning time management is vital to ensure the player's safety and ability to continue onto more experiences. When the player(s) enter the simulation, their brains will also display an overlay-like timer that is linked to the Core's estimated component lifespan. This will start at whatever percentage it has been filled up to with credits, and will decrease from there. When outside of the simulation, you will be able to check the status of the Core by looking at the screen on the rack, which will show the percentage. To increase the status bar, purchasing tokens and inserting them into a slot on the Core will increase the lifespan since it uses them for any repairs.

Timer Countdown Reference 1

[10]

Timer Countdown Reference 2

[11]

At the start of the game, you will be playing inside the safe area, known as the facility. Here, I won't be going into too much detail when I design it, because it's a fairly useless area, but I need it to look like a high-tech place that a company like CreditCore, making what they make, might look like in the real world. I feel the main place you can explore will just be the main office where their employees are working at computers. They will be pretty plain, probably just a monochrome coloured room and furniture with some expensive computer equipment to fill the area. I know, ideally, especially thinking back to the logo, I should add some colour, but I don't really know how. These office facility places, like I'm thinking of, don't have a whole lot of life in them, but maybe I could try and change that. For starters, it's basically a game development company, and others don't usually have incredibly boring interiors. Additionally, I could design the room(s) around the games you will be playing, for example, Mario has a lot of interior design opportunities. Moreover, I'm thinking that the room could even be changed with lights. What is mean is maybe the walls are LED screen walls that change based on the game you have selected for the Core. Obviously, I probably won't be able to do this in the time because firstly, I have no idea how I'd even make the display effect look good and as if it were a display and not just a flat wall. Secondly, it will take a lot of work to make a variety of designs for the walls. I also thought I could do animated walls, but I have no idea where to even begin for that. I would assume I just need to add a video player in the scene and put it really close to the wall to give off the effect, but again, I just don't have the time, so I'll probably just make the whole room quite boring in the game I make, but in a fully completed product, the office in particular would look so cool.

Office with Colour

[13]

Modern Office Design

[14]

LED Screen Walls

[15]

I then also thought I'd have a quick look at what I want the green screen room to look like. I think the image I found is probably what resembles my idea best, since the walls will be completely green, whereas the ceiling and floor won't be. This is because I will want something to be left for you to return to in the game world when you walk off. This room will basically act as a spawn point and also be where you find the item chute to deposit items. I am imagining the non-green-screen part of the floor being circular, and a square-shaped ceiling with lights. These are what will also be visible in the game world, giving you an obvious, out-of-place area to return to. It acts like the Lethal Company ship or the lift in Content Warning, but instead of transporting you somewhere, the green-screen walls are filtered out by the headset, creating a fake environment around it. For the entrance to this room, it will just be a regular door, but painted green or with something green on the inside, so as not to ruin the immersion. Finally, the room will obviously include the Core, but also the simulation headsets and the platform that the players must stand on to enter the simulation. I'm still a little undecided on how I will introduce the item chute, but I might just make the Core somehow become it when you enter the simulation. The platform you stand on is important for a few reasons. For starters, it acts as the thing that keeps your body upright and safe in the real-world while you're in the simulation. However, it also acts as the way to get out, since all players must be on their platform and do something in order to leave when they want. If the time runs out and not all simulation operators are on their platform, everyone loses connection. When all operators are going into the simulation, anybody not going in (just CreditCore employees for the story, since all players must leave at the same time) shouldn't be in the simulation room. Anything inside will be brought through into the simulation, and people may mess it up; however, this is how a large arsenal of items can be brought in.

After doing this, I also went and created a floor plan that I imagined CreditCore to have, including most of the stuff that I'd need, as well as some of the story aspects, such as the large wind tunnel room. Obviously, they aren't fully decorated, mostly since the tool is annoying to work with, but also because I've spent quite a bit of time using the tool, and I should be focusing on other research more, so I needed to finish it with limited details, but still, I think it looks decent for the first concept design of the office.

Green Screen Room Setup Example

[16]

Omni Motion VR Platform

[17]

As well as the office and simulation rooms, I obviously will have to have a little look into what I want the shop to look and play like. My floor plan for now shows it as being a fairly large room, but this was just to fill the area to the side. In reality, I might end up making it smaller, since I don't need a whole lot of space for the idea of the shop. My idea, you ask? Well, I'm still thinking of keeping the digital screen that you are able to look around on. However, I'm thinking that the products should arrive in a Donkey Kong barrel, dropped in through a hatch either in the roof or the wall. Clearly, I haven't thought much of how it works, but I'm going to go down the route that it gets picked up from a big storage room and moved here on a conveyor belt. I haven't made the room yet on the floor plan, but I think it would fit in somewhere above the shop, and maybe loop around the top of the RDS and simulation rooms, and maybe the door entrance to the storage is accessed inside the wind tunnel room. It sounds like a bit of a weird design, and I think it's clear I'm not an architect, but for what I'm making, I won't make those two rooms available to enter anyway, so it'll just be some game magic. However, I think the conveyor into a hatch or window of some kind in the room fits fairly well. The other thing I'd have to think about is why you can't just go and get any items from the storage. I think the reason is that you're not necessarily buying the item, but more so the code. What I mean is that every barrel will have a code or something that keeps it locked. Therefore, to get the item, you need to purchase the code that unlocks it. I don't particularly want to make the player actually remember and input the code every time, so I'll just make an animation of some kind that quickly unlocks it, but I think it's my best idea. Then, once you're done with the barrel, they can just be chucked in some kind of disposal bin to keep the room clear. All of this should be explained in a walk-through at the start of the game, where you may get a free item of some kind to help, but you are also told how you need to carefully manage your money, since otherwise you won't have enough to buy time. All of this is something I need to think a bit more about, but I think it's a decent starting base I can go off of.

Digital Touchscreen Kiosk Shop Example

[18]

Barrel on Conveyor Belt

[19]

Next up, I needed to get a solidified idea for the item chute, which is where you insert items to get money. As I've previously explained, I would want this to basically visually replace the Core in the simulation, making it look a bit different, but still keeping the same sort of size, so you can interpret the chute as being the Core in the "real" world. For the design, I was thinking it would look somewhat similar to the cashout station you can find in The Finals. It's probably not going to be a bright yellow colour, but I do want it to have that kind of chute hatch design. I've attached another image of how I want it to be more like a flap, and maybe have it be similar to how, in R.E.P.O., you are able to interact with a lot of things using the physics. I think this would be really cool; however, I'm unsure how easy this would be to make without wasting a load of time, so temporarily, I might just remove the flap altogether.

Additionally, I will have to take into consideration the size of items that you can find around the map. The reason for this is that the hole can only be so big, but if certain items are too large to fit, I'll either need to think of a different way to use them, or I'll need to shrink the item or increase the hole size. Either way, for the most part, it should be alright, but it's good that I've thought ahead, just in case this happens to be a problem I encounter while making the game.

Chute Flap Idea

[21]

For comparative games, I have a whole bunch that I can reference. For starters, I obviously have to talk a little about Lethal Company. It's the main inspiration for this whole project idea, and it has provided such a great amount of fun in the past, which would be great to try and replicate in some way. I still think that the monsters you find in the game are one of the things that make it so unique, since the variation really forces you to learn every little bit about the game instead of the way for dealing with them all being the same. What I mean by this is that for something like the Eyeless Dogs, you just have to stay quiet. However, something more well-known to the game is the Bracken, which is a little more in-depth for people who haven't heard of it. Also known as the Flowerman, the Bracken stalks players, trying to get behind them to snap their necks. If spotted, they will enter a retreat phase, where they run far from the player as quickly as possible. If stared at for too long, they may get angered and chase you down instead for a certain amount of time. It's this level of detail put into a game that makes it interesting, something that I would ideally like to replicate, but instead will depend on the amount of knowledge you have of certain retro games. I will be trying to make the entities have a similar feeling to the real game, meaning you have to use the skills from them in this to beat it.

As well as a lot of other Lethal Company-style games, such as Content Warning and R.E.P.O. (both of which I've already talked about), I am also going to be taking some inspiration from Arcade Paradise, primarily for the style. Although the gameplay is also something pretty cool, I'm fairly sure they've just recreated some old retro games in their own style, as well as changing the story and stuff, so I can't really take inspiration from them, since I'm using actual retro games and bringing them into 3D worlds you explore. Therefore, the main aspects I will be taking are the designs I can put into rooms, such as the flooring, lights and a bunch of other stuff. I think the game looks really cool, and feels quite realistic to an old arcade, not that I really know what it feels like to go to one, but still, good for reference.

Lethal Company - Monsters & Story

[23]

The maps that you will be playing on are the main focal points of the game, since I need to make especially older players feel some nostalgia, whilst also not making levels feel too repetitive and boring. I'd really like to have two or three maps complete, allowing you to purchase and experience a few different environments, as well as providing an example for how the rest of the game would play and how you would progress. My initial thought was to have one console or system set up, such as the PS1, and all the maps I create are referenced from the games originally being released, or the most well-known titles, on these specific devices. However, I am now thinking that if I get around to making multiple maps, I can instead make one for each system, so a game map for the PS1, Gameboy, arcade machine, etc. Moreover, this allows me to show further how a fully released, or at least a more developed product, would look. This gives a bit more functionality to the Core, allowing you to actually change the connection to a different RDS for a reason, instead of it just not working when you do it. It also allows me to experiment with some more designs of the RDS, and maybe even give me more opportunities to make some UI menus, which is not only what I like to do, but I could experiment with some new ideas if I'm going down the route of how certain systems already work. For example, for the PS1, I could make the RDS work similarly to how the main menu works for that console.

How I'm going to style the maps is a little different. For example, Pac-Man, which is one of the games I'm heavily considering to use, would just be a maze map where Pac-Man and some ghosts are constantly moving around the area. Not only is it a perfect game for nostalgic reasons, but it's the perfect one to ease you in gradually. It would be based on an arcade machine system. A game like Super Mario 64 is another great one, and for that, I might instead base it on the interior design of one or more buildings. I think one of the most memorable is Princess Peach's Castle, which was apparently a hub world. This would, obviously, be based on the Nintendo 64 system. Finally, Tetris was a game that I had thought about making a world for. Although first made on [27] an Elektronika 60 computer, I would instead go for the Game Boy release that is more recognisable, both game and system. This is probably going to be my most challenging game world, because what can I really do for the world, other than make blocks fall from the sky randomly? I would guess that they could be the danger, so you'd just always have to watch out for them dropping on top of you, but other than that, I'll have to make structures just out of the Tetris blocks. On the bright side, this should be a fairly basic map to create, with very limited items, but it's going to take some thinking about. I may instead have this be the first game you unlock, but I don't know if that's too boring and if it'll lose user retention too fast.

For this project, I think my goal is to have 2 or 3 different games that you can explore. Originally, I was thinking of making the games you play unique from the original titles from specific systems. What I mean by this is only using games that were first released on the console or other device you have selected. However, I think I can move away from this and instead make a game for any system, just reusing certain maps while altering the map loot pool. However, I won't really have any use for this in my FMP because I won't have enough time to create that many maps, so it'll just be a stretch goal to re-add maps to different systems. One idea for how I could change games based on the system is how they look. For example, if I take my previous idea for Tetris being one of the games I make, I could use the old Game Boy green look for the Game Boy system, and the more well-known, coloured version for something like the arcade machine system. This would hopefully be fairly easy to implement into my game, since all I'd need to do is change some textures around, as well as what items can spawn in. Then, I'll have completed 3 games, but have provided at least 4 purchasable ones with some more variety, and of course, nostalgia.

Pac-Man 3D Map Example

[25]

Super Mario 64 Princess Peach Castle

[26]

As well as the game maps, I am going to have to think about the entities you will encounter in your journeys. Here, I will go through the three main maps I will most probably be creating for my FMP. For starters, we have Pac-Man, which, as already talked about, will include Pac-Man and some ghosts. I feel like the ghosts should have a respawn timer of some kind, or I should make the map relatively large and put quite a few around that have their own surveillance areas to prevent you from eliminating them all straight away. With regards to Pac-Man, I think he should be the main character of the area, resulting in him becoming the most difficult to deal with. My idea for some items in the game is that you can find Power Pellets that you can either save and deposit into the item chute for a fairly large sum of money, or you could eat them if you're around ghosts, giving you the ability to eat them for a short period of time. Additionally, you might be able to find the regular Pac-Dots around the level that you can turn into money. However, there could be a few things I could implement to make it more difficult to collect lots of them. For starters, maybe Pac-Man is also looking for them, so he will gradually eat them all. Moreover, maybe if you have them in your inventory, Pac-Man will be alerted to your rough location, meaning you should dispose of them quickly to prevent him from being able to easily find you. To eliminate him, maybe there's a specific item in the store that you can buy, which will temporarily stop him. I feel like he shouldn't ever be completely gone, so there's always going to be some kind of threat lurking around corners, but at least this would give you some time.

Moving on to a game like Super Mario 64, it would obviously be awesome to almost recreate the game maps entirely, but I definitely won't have the time. Instead, I feel like I should add just a little bit of each map into their designated doors inside the castle. On top of that, the entities inside each room could be exactly like what they are in the actual game. However, in Super Mario 64, they drop a coin every time you eliminate one. I wouldn't want something like that, because otherwise, you could very easily get infinite money in my game. Instead, I'll probably just have them drop nothing, but keep respawning. That might be similar to what I have in my Pac-Man game, because I don't want everything to be easily eliminatable, and then you have nothing left to worry about. I think having the main boss similar to Pac-Man is probably a good idea, too, but you won't need any special tool to help you. Instead, I'll have to try to implement the movement and mechanics that are inside of SM64. Not only should something similar just be possible anyway, but an action like body slamming yourself into the ground is a feature I'd love to see in more games.

Finally, Tetris. This is going to be a tough game to implement separate entities into because the game doesn't really have them normally. My thought process behind it is that while you are going around trying to find items, some blocks come alive as a living entity, rather than just being a solid block falling from the sky. If you get too close to these blocks, they will wake up and begin chasing you. I think it would be cool if they sort of acted like a mix between the Bracken and Coil Head (basically a weeping angel) from Lethal Company. By default, they will just stalk you if you are within a certain radius. However, looking anywhere near them will cause them to flee and hide. They try to stay hidden by blending in with the environment, but I feel that it's probably better if they don't attack if you get too close, especially since I plan on having a few roaming around. I think they should be fairly opportunistic, creeping up behind you quite fast. A video I watched a while back actually includes this very feature as the main aspect of the game. In this video, [29] the developer has challenged himself to create a horror game using a random asset pack. He chooses to create a horror game that has a similar gameplay idea to that of Pumpkin Panic, a game I researched a lot about during my first year of FMP. The idea is simple: grow pumpkins, sell them for money, but beware of any suspicious pumpkins. He then did quite a bit of programming, trying to get the AI just how he wanted. Initially, they just moved slowly towards him when he was facing away, stopped if you looked in their direction, and jump attack you if they were close enough. However, the game got repetitive and easy, so he made some changes in the way they worked. For starters, they would try to run out of sight if you turn around, making you constantly more confused about their whereabouts. Not only that, but they just acted a lot smarter, instead of the basic "move towards player and attack". Although the YouTube developer wasn't using Unity, it must be possible to replicate some sort of AI like that, and he apparently did the whole game in 24 hours, so I should be able to get something similar in the weeks I have, even though I have a lack of experience.

Before I finish, I should probably discuss what I want the entities to look like. Although I'll get a bit more into that later, I'm just going to do a basic, low-poly model for them. Hopefully, when I later add some kind of pixelation effect, it'll sell the game's graphics as retro style instead of something more modern. I am hoping they look somewhat similar to old PS1 characters, mixed with a bit of the pixel art style seen in arcade games in particular.

3D Pixelated Pac-Man

[30]

Some SM64 Enemies

[31]

I plan to add saving if I include certain in-game cosmetics/character customisation. Settings is another thing that I should probably save, but at least I've done a little bit of saving before, so the basics, like settings, shouldn't be too difficult. On the other hand, I should probably try to incorporate some level saving, so you don't have to start over from the beginning every time you open the game. There should be some sort of game save. Lethal Company has one that fits pretty perfectly, so I might see if I could do something similar.

Adding cheats, basically dev tools, is something I always like to include in games, but I might try and go a step further this time by including one that listens for a specific keycode that you must enter to unlock them. After doing so, it might then reveal a button that you can press in the settings to open a menu or command line that you can use for certain things like giving yourself money, spawning items or enemies, etc.

Assets are something I would usually try to do myself, but given the time I have and the amount of work I've set myself, I don't particularly think I can model, texture and create every little thing myself. There are some fairly unique things that I will have to make, such as the Core, Headsets, and RDS, but I will try to use asset packs as often as possible to fill areas with a bunch of decor and furniture that I just don't see the point in modelling.

For the menus, I really want to sell the old retro aesthetic. I think the best way for that is by including the old way of making a title screen by having the logo for the game, a fairly basic flat background, and a few menu options you can select. The arrow at the side is probably the best way of giving off an old retro vibe, so I feel like I definitely need to include that in some way. I don't really have many ideas, apart from changing the sprite depending on whether it's selected or not. I might try to make the menus usable either using the mouse or keyboard, but I also want to try and avoid spending too much time creating the UI, since that's what I've done a lot of times before.

Modern, Retro Style Main Menu

[36]

For the settings, I will want to try and keep it minimal, also feeding into the retro aesthetic. There shouldn't be too many settings, and I'll try to get the majority of them on one page, and maybe a second for the controls. I still haven't played around with graphics in a game, so it'll probably just be audio and maybe some additional settings like FOV, sensitivity, etc.

Control Settings Example

[38]

To start the first week of production, I decided it would be a good idea to begin putting the map together. Although I like to spend a fairly long time on things like this, I think I just need to get something rough down and not worry too much about how it looks, since it's not the main aspect of the game, and I have a lot more important things I should be focusing on. I have brought in a few asset packs to help me fill the area with what I want, and I think it's going well. For now, I'm just going to focus on the main areas you'd be able to access. If I have some time in the future, I may make the toilets, wind tunnel room, storage room, etc. For now, though, I will just be making the entrance, main area, shop, RDS room, and the simulation room.

As I am now writing this, it is Wednesday, and I have done quite a bit of work regarding the main hub world build. So far, I have the entrance, office and toilets all detailed, as well as the rest of the building mapped out, ready for any additional detailing. I will be doing work on pretty much every room now, except the wind tunnel room. I decided to furnish the toilets because it was vital for the correct sizing of the floor plan. Now that everything else has been mapped out, I pretty much just have to furnish it, starting with modelling the RDS.

Alongside this, I have also now got an up-and-running player controller. You may have thought I would do this myself, but I have since decided to get one from the Unity Asset Store. I chose: Modular First Person Controller, because it had a few features I was really interested in, and had a fairly cheap price point. Obviously, free is always better, and I could've done one myself, using what I have already made in previous projects. However, I wanted a simple way to drag and drop something that would already work. Moreover, getting something that is really well made will be vital for creating one myself at some point.

Now, the reason I went for specific, paid, character controller instead of a few others may be what you're wondering, especially since others are free and this one also hasn't been around for long and only has a few reviews. Well, I did this because the few reviews anyway seem very good, and the whole listing looks very professional. However, the primary reason is due to the fact that it makes the camera move around naturally, which is neat, but it also provides an easy way to make walking sounds. On top of this, it also has the movement features I would basically want, which is perfect. There may be other ways to do these things, maybe a selection of free assets, but something that does all of this in one is far better temporarily for this short project.

Entrance Room

Office Room

Male Toilets

Female Toilets

Mapped Out Starting Area

The Retro Data System is something that I'm going to need quite a few of to put around, ideally with various textures to show off the varying systems that you would be able to access in the game. For the demo sort of thing I'm making, I will stick to getting the base model and bare texture, as well as some themed textures with specific decals on, representing the specific system it represents, such as the PS1, Gameboy, etc. Being a company product, I will also have to try to implement some sort of logo. Usually, I would try my best to do this by modelling it straight into the actual model. However, this time around, I will be a bit smarter and instead just use an image of some kind, hopefully made to look like it's meant to be there. It's quite a large model that I need to make, but all I need is something fairly simple with a screen that looks like you can interact with it. Ideally, I want to try to make the screen look like an old CRT screen, used in computers and arcade machines in the past, but that might be a bit difficult, especially since I will want it to display something, and I have no idea how to do that when I get into Unity.

In the end, this week came to an end a bit sooner than I would've liked, and so I didn't fully get around to completing the model and texture for the RDS. I think th e model is pretty much completed, so all I have to do now is unwrap it, bring it into Substance Painter for texturing, and then export it all into the Unity project.

RDS Model Base Model with Premade Segments

After finishing the model for the RDS in week eight, it was time for me to unwrap it and bring it into Substance Painter for texturing. You might be wondering why I'm going through the effort of unwrapping it, since low-poly models usually consist of just one flat colour, meaning I wouldn't need to worry about the unwrap, since there would be no details. Well, the reason is that I will later be making custom decals for the various RDS machines, depending on the system they are running. The minimum I'll be adding is text, but I ideally want to create really nice-looking things to cover the machine, such as games and other things you could play on it. Either way, I knew I needed to take a bit of time to properly unwrap this model, so I did. Luckily, the majority of the model was incredibly straightforward to unwrap, so it didn't take too long. I then used the pack tool to resize and fit everything in the area, and I'm done with that for now. I quickly brought it into Substance Painter, gave it a Baked Lighting Material layer as the base colour, and left it at that. For now, it looks perfectly good enough, and later on, it'll look even better.

Model Unwrapped (NOT using quick unwrap)

For the next part, I wanted to start on the plugs. This is going to primarily be to connect a specific RDS to the Core, but I first needed some models. I started off getting a reference image for the plug that I found best met my idea. After that, I started modelling. My idea was similar to the Type I plug, used in certain countries like Australia, China, etc. It includes three pins, two of which are angled. I quite liked that design, but wanted something more basic, symmetrical, so I thought a square one with angled prongs on each corner was a cool idea. I made it by making segments, so I had four sections. I then inset each one separately by the same amount so there was a small square in the middle of each quadrant. Finally, I made one side slightly more elongated and rotated them each by 25° toward the centre. I then had a really cool-looking design.

Next, I needed to make a plug socket that I could put anywhere as a place where you could insert the plug. For this, I knew I was going to be using the ProBoolean Compound Object, but I first needed the base object. For this, I just made a simple cuboid primitive at the size I wanted, and made sure the plug would be able to get inserted and not stick out the end. Once done, I aligned a copy of the plug (not the actual plug because it deletes the object when picking) with the cuboid. With the socket object selected, I then chose the compound object: ProBoolean, and then pressed Start Picking. I could then click on the copy plug object, and it basically made a perfect mould for the plug inside the socket block. Also, yes, I did want the border around the prongs. In my mind, these act as an additional safety feature to not only stop them from being damaged, since they are more vulnerable, but also to help keep the plug inside the socket.

For both of these models, I have only used the quick unwrap tool because I know I'm just adding a colour material to the whole thing. I don't even really think I need to unwrap them, but I have, just in case. I made sure to then create different materials for each model in the 3DS Max file, and they were ready for action in the Unity project.

Plug Reference Image

[41]

Custom (HS2) Plug Design

Plug Socket Reference Image

[42]

Now that I had the plug, I could make The Core work alongside the RDS. I began by getting up the reference image that I had found during pre-production of a server rack model. I then started thinking about what I'd want it to look like in comparison to the example model. Eventually, I decided that I would have just four data cores on the top part, which would act as the link between the core and the headsets. I then wanted an area for a laptop asset to sit, so I used the RDS model I already made for reference, so I roughly knew the minimum size it would have to be.

With that, I began the modelling phase by starting with a cuboid primitive, just like I did with the RDS. I then created some segments with the editable poly connect tool for where I would need to do some adjusting. I then began extruding faces, chamfering the top corners, and adding some ledges for the cores to sit on, and the model was pretty much complete. Below the big area under where the laptop would sit, I left a large flat area so I could put the company logo on the front. Since this is basically the mechanism that makes everything work, I thought it made sense to be the first thing I put the logo on, and make it nice and big.

After this model was complete, I just had to make a basic shape for the data cores, make sure they were positioned correctly, and I was pretty much done with the model. I did, obviously, have to unwrap the models, but this was fairly simple. Again, I did the main model (The Core) pretty much all by myself, except for a few of the smallest faces, since it was just a bit faster to quick unwrap them.

After I brought this model into Unity, I was actually thinking about making a wire with physics that I could drop along the floor, so you could properly see where each end of the plug was, and it would move around when picked up. However, this never really went to plan, since I bought an asset from the Unity Asset Store, but it is very in-depth, and I didn't really understand how to get it working, and kept having issues. I also concluded it wouldn't work, since I wanted one end of the wire to be inside the RDS room, connected to one of the RDS. On the other end, it would be connected to The Core. Makes sense, until you realise that a door and a wall are blocking the way for the wire. Now, I could've adjusted the walls so there was a little gap for the wire to travel through, or just removed the door, but ideally, I needed it to be like it is because it's the green screen room. I think, ideally, I should've added a small room in between them in some way, but I decided against all that and just went wireless. To me, it makes sense because surely a company with this much technology would have some way of transferring data without a physical wire getting in the way.

Now, this isn't to say I won't try to include a wire at some point in this project, maybe there's a power lead you need to plug into an RDS to, well, power it. There are a few ways I can do it, and I may end up using it quite a bit, but I'll need to sit down in some spare time and properly figure it out. I'll also make sure it's all within a room, so there won't be any walls or doors in the way.

The Core Model

Simulation Headset Data Cores

For this project, I wasn't really interested in making a nice-looking menu with lots of features, so I decided against spending lots of time on it and just having some basic controls, a pause screen, and the usual quit button. I'm thinking I'll probably end up adding a help section that players can flick through if they need some help getting into the action, but for the most part, what I've made now will be it.

The code is very minimal. I've attached two screenshots of what I changed in Awake(), since I created a new PlayerInputActions that I would be able to use to listen if the Escape key is pressed, which would then open the menu. I believe this worked; however, I also wanted to disable the movement controls by swapping the enabled action maps around, but it wasn't working. After doing a bit of debugging, I found that the issue was that I had created a new PlayerInputActions variable, whereas I needed to reference the one created in the player controller script so I could change that one in particular. This turned out to be very simple, since it already had an instance of itself, so I just had to make an edit to that one line of code, basically referencing the variable from the controller script. After that, it worked perfectly.

So, I basically have a completed menu. Upon pressing escape, it stops all inputs so you can't look around or move; only press escape again to just close the menu or use the mouse to interact with the buttons. The settings menu, which I've since updated to be called controls, just displays all of the keybinds you have access to. It's not great looking or ideal in any other way, since you can't rebind controls, but I think it fits its purpose well enough. If you press Escape while in this menu, it will close it and will reopen this page whenever you press Escape again. I don't know if I like that, or if I'd rather it act like a back key, but it fits the purpose well enough, so I'm leaving it.

Creating a new, separate PlayerInputAction

Grabbing the PlayerInputAction from movement script

Main Pause Screen

Before the week ended, I needed to get some things together which would act as the stations you would go to in order to enter the simulation. Again, this is something unique in my mind, so I modelled both the table and headset myself.

To start, I began modelling the table. I started with an 8-sided cylinder, since I wanted it to be low-poly, as well as equal all the way around. For the base, I just extruded some parts of it and sized down some vertices to get this interesting look. It looks more like a flower than the base of a table, but it's still nice. I next made the actual table part on the top, which I made quite deep, as well as using the chamfer tool a bit to get these nice, bevelled edges. Finally, I made the connector, which consisted of another cylinder made to fit inside the flat part on the base that I made. For both cylinders, making a straight edge as I've done was fairly simple, by just removing some verts and connecting others at specific times. 3DS Max throws a tantrum if you do it in a specific order, but I eventually got it all to work fine.

After finishing the table, it was time for the headset. For the glasses part of it, I was mostly taking inspiration from the Bigscreen Beyond 2, and I think it came out looking nice. I've made this using a bit more of a high-poly way of working to really get some of the details, and so it doesn't look like a blocky mess, but I think that's alright. I started with just a basic, cuboid primitive like usual, and began manipulating it with the editable poly tools. For the most part, I was using the connect tool to create segment lines in the places that I wanted to change stuff, and then I was using the chamfer tool to make things look smoother and more defined. On the top and sides, I inset a face and extruded it in certain ways to get these little blocks that would act as the part holding the straps onto the headset.

In the end, this is all I got around to doing this week, but I think I've still made a good start, since I've probably done the most finicky parts.

Headset Table Model

After having Monday off, I was already feeling the pressure from this week, since I didn't get around to doing anything due to work and other tasks. However, on Tuesday, I quickly finished the modelling and texturing, and I shouldn't have to do any of that for a little bit now.

To start, I began working on the actual headset straps, since I had made the points on the glasses where they would connect, similarly to how the connector is placed for the table. The straps were by far the easiest part of the headset, since it was just a cuboid stretched out, with some segments in between so I could add the curved part, and then I made a little square at the end and deleted the centre faces. After bridging the edges together, I have a little hole in the strap which looks like it's connected to the headset. After being pleased with the top strap, I made the left side strap by just creating a copy and adjusting the curves slightly. Until the backpiece was done, however, I didn't want to do the other side, since I may change the strap placement. The back piece was pretty simple, since I just made a flat but wide cylinder primitive and inset the inside face by a bit. I then grabbed the top edge, as well as one other on either side, and moved them outward a bit. This then gave it a more rounded look, but also gave me a little more room to include some more of the extruded shapes where the straps could connect. I then adjusted the placement of the top and side straps, and it was all but finished. The last thing I needed to do was make a copy of the side strap, rotate it, and place it on the other side. Easier said than done, though, because rotations were not perfect, so it never lined up properly. In the end, I thought about using a mirror tool, which worked perfectly, so I just had to line it up, and the model is complete.

Now, for unwrapping, I just did the quick, automatic one for both of these, since I'm not adding any crazy detail. I did want to add the company logo onto the headset, but this was very simple, since the back headrest had a flat face which I could use. After doing all of the unwrapping, I set the headset and table up how I'd want it to look, and I think it came out very nicely.

There was one little issue I came across, though. After unwrapping the models, I assigned all objects of the table to one material, and all straps to another of their own. When I brought the table into Substance for texturing, it was clear I couldn't do this with the material I intend on using for every model I create. This is because it's not just a flat, one-colour material; it adds some specific shading and outline to objects to make them look a little nicer. I assume this material is meant to be used with other, higher-quality ones, but for my low-poly design, it works perfectly. Clearly, though, having the UV unwraps layered on top of each other messes it up, so I went and gave the table and headset straps separate materials in 3DS Max, and that has fixed the issue. The main reason I wanted to do this was that some asset packs, like some of the decor ones I've been using, include one material that gives a variety of different colours for multiple models. I assume they do it a bit of a different way and also make it so the unwraps are tiny so they fit in specific areas where different colours are, but I don't want to get too deep into that right now, and what I have works fine.

Finished Simulation Headset Model

Rough Idea of Colours & Position

All 3 Model Unwraps on One Material

After finishing the simulation room in the main world, it was finally time to create the first game simulation world: Pac-Man. For this, I'm going to try to make the design as close as possible to what the original game was like, particularly the colours and layout.

So far, I've made the starting room that is basically where players can go to exit the simulation, or where the item deposit will be found. It might look a little odd with the old ceiling and light from the "real" world simulation room, but that's intended, since these are the few things that aren't green, basically meaning the players still see them. Moreover, the Core will be replaced by the item chute station, so it's not the same but looks very similar.

After getting the home room made, I next wanted to path out the entire map. I found a very useful image that displayed the generation tiles of the main 6 Pac-Man games, which was very helpful for me to figure out how I should make it look. In the end, I decided a square would be 3x3 in size, which I then used to create the whole map. As you can see from the main walkable route image, the map was already coming together, but I still needed to add the walls. I would also need to fill in the area around the paths and walls, since otherwise there'd be a lot of holes. I eventually decided that the best way around this was to just make a massive floor that I would put ever so slightly lower or higher than the main path, so they aren't clipping into each other, but also so it isn't that obvious.

In the end, for the walls, I decided to go for big blocky models, which is definitely better than making walls out of multiple thin outlines, since there are significantly fewer models in the scene, and it looks a lot nicer from above. Now, although the map looks great and is very accurate to the original game, I will unfortunately need to leave a core gameplay mechanic out, which is the teleporting sides. While making the map, I had a few ideas about what I could do. One of these was to just forget about it altogether and either cut the paths out of the map or just leave them there. I was just going to leave them there, since I didn't want to spend time doing other things, but I might instead use them as spawning places for Pac-Man and the ghosts. My other idea was to have either the other game maps connect to the original via these routes, or for there to be some randomly generated map outside. This also got me thinking about making the actual map completely randomly generated, but I felt like it needed to have the original map for the game to be somewhat authentic. My best idea is to have some randomly generated content through these paths. For now, I don't know how to do that and don't want to spend the time. A full implementation would be ideal, but even then, game maps should be as close to the original games as possible, so my actual game idea should limit the map to only be as big as the original. I feel like if I ever want to revisit this kind of game idea, I should do a similar thing to what I'm doing now, and just make each game better. This is especially important because a lot of games from retro systems are going to be really hard to remake in this kind of game genre.

Either way, once the map was done, I started work on the chute station. For this, I quickly hopped back into 3DS Max and made a copy of the Core's model. I then removed the top part that I made for the data cores, and replaced it with a flat face. For the middle part, I kept the inset design, since I wanted that for the "chute" part. However, I added a door and button at the front so players could open it up, put items inside, and then close it, which would convert them into credits after a short period of time. The mechanic of the items getting turned into credits is something I want to think about a bit more, since I don't want the players to be able to convert all their items instantly, as I think there should be a set time it takes for the chute station to work. This will force players to find and gather as many items as they can in as little time as possible, really focusing on how the players need to spend their time wisely. The time mechanic is something that I should be getting on with as soon as possible, especially since that's basically the death mechanic, something I haven't yet thought about implementing. I also need to do the AI and item spawning for the map, things I don't even have models for yet, so I better get to work.

First look at the Pac-Man World

Pac-Man Maze Generation Tiles

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Fully Mapped Out Main Walkable Route

Finished Pac-Man Base Map

And finally, it's about time I show off some of my scripts. I'm not going to go into explaining what each one does, since I have commented on all of them, but I do think it's important to show off what I've been up to and why the previous week looked like I had no work. I have also moved over to a different way of getting images for the scripts, since I have found an online tool that makes code look nice and converts it into images: [47] Carbon. This has allowed me to attach nice-looking images of my code to my blog. The main downside is that if I keep them a smaller size, the text is barely readable. I could make it thinner, so less text is on each line, but I don't like the way that looks too much, and it makes them incredibly long. Luckily, collapsible groups make images as large as can be, so it doesn't affect me much.

To start, we have the menu script, which is primarily used for showing and hiding the menu that pops up when you press the Escape key. Since about half the script is just initialising stuff, it's pretty simple code actually, just showing/hiding the UI, and switching between the Player and UI input maps. Since the last time I used the Input Manager, I had to do a whole lot more code, so using a PlayerInputActions component, compared to whatever thing I was using before, is so much simpler and easier for me to understand. I also have two methods designed to be used as button OnClick events on the UI.

Next created was the scene controller, which has recently seen a few changes. To put it simply, you can reference it from any other script to load new scenes. The main feature I needed this for, however, was the ability to have some simple animations, making the transitions a little more slick. Ideally, I wanted them to relate to the headsets, so if you're "putting them on", a bar comes down from the top of the screen, and vice versa if you're "taking them off". When the headset is on, it will instead fade in or out. I feel like this is the best way to get the green screen headset idea across, and it all seems to work pretty well. Some of the things I needed to add/change recently were Start() and some logic in between animations. In Start(), I simply added a LoadScene, since I found that using my original logic, upon loading back into the main world, there would be duplicate players and a bunch of other stuff that should be DontDestroyOnLoad. To fix this, I made it so the game starts in an all-but-empty scene, just including the DontDestroyOnLoad stuff. For the animation stuff, I was having some lag issues, which I really wanted solved. For some reason, whenever I switched scenes, specifically from Pac-Man back to the main world, it would lag, causing the scene to switch, and then both animations would play together and be really choppy, not smooth at all. Well, after quite a lot of researching and watching ways of doing it, I came across a video explaining the different ways of stopping in a coroutine, one of which is WaitUntil(). This then got me thinking: if I used animation events to change a boolean variable to true or false, I could make the transition play exactly when I wanted it to, and only start loading the scene after it finished. That worked perfectly, which pretty much solved my issue. Before finding this out, I was in conversation with ChatGPT, which gave me the code for waiting until after the scene change operation to play the next animation, but it did not think of the animation events; that was all me. Finally, at the end of this script, I did add some movement variable changes, so in the simulation, you're a bit quicker. I may adjust this in the future, but for Pac-Man, it works pretty well.

After that, I had decided that I wanted to work on some of the actual gameplay aspects. Obviously, I had an asset pack that let me interact with stuff like the plug and socket, but then I needed it to do something when it was plugged in. To put it simply, when the plug is inserted into the socket, SocketInput() runs. When it's taken out, SocketOutput() runs. I feel like I made this act like the plug not only connects the RDS to the Core, but also powers the RDS, which isn't exactly what I was going for. Ideally, I should have two plugs, one for the power and one for the RDS connection. Either way, I don't want to overcomplicate it too much, and at least the idea is there. So, if I ever wanted to build upon a mechanic like this, I have something that is mostly complete. In addition to the socket, when you enter the area, you can interact with the RDS, changing the game selected that you will be playing. Even though I've made the game selection work, for now, it's obsolete because I will probably only get one map done, being Pac-Man. At the end of production, I may try to add a couple of really basic maps you can travel to, at least showcasing the idea, but it's going to be pretty pointless if there isn't any content inside.

Up next, being the second longest script so far, is the Core controller. Overall, it may look like quite an in-depth script. However, in reality it's mostly pretty simple stuff, except for the player count updater. I wanted this so every time you enter a simulation, all players are kept in the same room, and nobody can get left behind or anything. This also links to how the actual simulation gameplay will work: since nobody can individually die in the game, you are left to ensure all members of the party survive and don't damage the connection to the point where the connection throttles and you lose the game. This same mechanic is applied to leaving the simulation, meaning you may have to risk everything just to get one player back to the safe room in time. A little more toward the end of production, I plan on adding some visual feedback to the player if they cannot leave for this reason or another. Currently, if a player tries to start the game when there isn't a system/game selected, or if not all players in the game are ready with a headset, it may be a bit confusing. Now, I do plan on adding a basic "help" menu for if I release this game, since people may find that easier than watching me play, but I should also add some way to understand what is wrong so players know what they need to do to play and do other things.

The next two scripts are pretty short, so I'm going to keep the overviews short too. The first one is the headset area script, which is basically put on an empty game object which has a box collider with OnTrigger enabled. This means that whenever the player enters this collider, it will play OnTrigger, so basically what I have in a couple of other scripts. The main thing with this one, though, is that it interacts with the Core controller script, letting it know when a player is standing inside a specific headset area. Since there are four headsets in the game by default, each area will have been assigned either 0, 1, 2 or 3 because it's an array I use in the Core controller, and that starts from 0. It then also just hides the model of the headset a player is occupying.

The DontDestroyOnLoad script is incredibly basic. I have made this so I can put the script on any object I want to keep between switching scenes. This is great for something like UI, since I don't have scripts on every object I want to constantly be using throughout the game. I assume there is no better way to do this other than what I've done.

Now, the longest script thus far actually goes to the Chute controller, and it works similarly to that of the Core controller, with a few differences. To be fair, it is pretty much the same, just a bit more text to change, and a few variable names have been changed to better identify them. Leaving the simulation is mostly the same as starting the game with the Core, needing all players to be standing at a headset. The primary difference being that the animation that plays when a scene change occurs is instead the fade first, because the headset is "turning off" and then you take it off.

Considering the Chute script is basically the same as the Core script, you can safely assume the headset area script is pretty much the same as the simulation one, with one difference being that the model for the headset not disappearing. I think the idea for returning is good, but I should've done something else for the model of the table and headset, a bit like what I did between the Core and Chute. Either way, the main aspect of it is there.

Finally, we have another very short script, this time for changing a boolean. Since I was having some issues with the scene animation lagging, as already discussed, I decided to have a boolean value get changed depending on whether the close animation had played. Since the scene controller script was on a parent object of the animated UI, I just made this simple script that references it, and then I can make the SetTrue() and SetFalse() play using an animation event. And finally, we get to the end of my programming so far in this project. I can almost guarantee that there'll be more before the end, so I'll try to remember to attach any additional scripts, as well as updates to the current ones.

Menu UI Show/Hide Script & Quit Button

Scene Animation and Loader Controller Script

Retro Data System Socket and Game Controller Script

The Core Display, RDS Connection and Game Start Controller Script

"Real" World Headset Area Script

DontDestroyOnLoad Script

Chute Display and Simulation Controller Script

Simulation Headset Area Script

Finally, I am showing off some of the gameplay that I made. For starters, here we have the RDS working as intended. As you can see at the start, the screen is off because the plug isn't in the socket. You are able to pick up the plug and wave it around with physics, which not only looks cool, but works pretty well too. Unfortunately, you can see one of the issues I'm still having with compatibility between the character controller and interaction assets, because for some reason, you have to be looking at the plug in a specific way sometimes to grab it. I don't fully understand what the character controller is doing that makes all of this not work quite so right, but at least it's somewhat playable..?

Either way, once you do get a hold of the plug, you are able to move it near the socket, and it will go right inside. Quite a neat feature if I do say so myself. Once it's in, the monitor screen turns on, and you can press the left mouse button to switch the selected game. The main reason I didn't make it E is that you might not be able to pick the plug up if it was, since the interact keybind for that is E.

Overall, the RDS works pretty well for what I need it for, and I'm happy with how it turned out. Obviously, some animations would've made it better, and if it wasn't all quite so plain, but it's good enough.

Up next on my list was the Core. Since I had got the RDS working, it just made sense to have the Core next on my list of things to do, since the RDS connects to it if they have the plug plugged into their socket.

Getting this up and working was pretty simple since I had pretty much done all the hard work when I made the RDS, and then it's just copying everything across. For the Core, again you have a screen, but this time, it's showing you what RDS you're connected to, as well as the game selected. Although I didn't show off how it worked in the video, there is also the headset player count on the bottom, which updates when a player occupies a headset.

In the video, you get to see the few varying things the Core displays depending on the game selected, as well as if an RDS is connected. At the end, I did show off how, if you remove the plug, it displays "No Connection" for the system and "No Selection" for the game. All of this together works as intended, and I didn't really have any issues with it either; just remembering to assign variables in the inspector before testing is my main problem, I believe.

Finally, we have the scene transitions. As already discussed in the script section, I was having some lag issues, especially when going from the Pac-Man world back to the main world. Unfortunately, I didn't get any video footage of it, but it probably wouldn't have been too noticeable anyway with the low FPS of GIFs.

Either way, here you can see the final transitions and how starting and stopping the simulation works. I think it looks super cool how it kind of looks like you are putting on the headset, and then the fade is like the headset turning on and off, making the green screen area come to life. The illusion of the green screen idea is really working, in my opinion, and works how I imagined it.

Alongside that, I also interacted with the chute station, where you can see that you are able to open and close the door on the front by "pushing" the button. When I come to add items, I will be able to place them inside, and when the door is closed with some inside, it will convert them into credits. Still very much in development, but the idea is coming along well

To finish off this week, I wanted to start making the model for Pac-Man and the ghosts, which I would need to put into the Pac-Man game simulation. For this week, I only had enough time to start Pac-Man, but it's something at least.

My first idea was to get a sphere and at least play around with the settings until I had something I liked, before cutting it up using the editable poly tools. However, after creating the base sphere primitive, I found that there were some settings I could use to try in order to make the mouth, being slice from and to tools. This allowed me to pretty much start and end the sphere from different places which gives me this really cool model for Pac-Man. However, after doing this, I realised that I wouldn't be able to animate this, so I'd have to come up with something else.

In the end, I think I'm going to settle with two hemispheres for Pac-Man, since this way, I can just make them rotate into each other to make it look like the mouth is opening and closing. At the moment, I'm having a little issue where there is some clipping, but I think I might be able to fix it either by making the top sphere slightly larger or by increasing the poly count. Ideally, I don't want the objects to be too high-poly, but that's definitely going to be the easiest way.

Original Pac-Man Design - Slice From & To

Pac-Man Top Hemisphere