Mech Head Invasion

Using the skills I learned in the first five weeks of the project, I adapted them in my final project, Invasion. I created a level about saving a city from an alien infestation, to which the player must work to eliminate the leaders and their minions tactfully. In the first iteration of the level, I really had no idea what I wanted to do with it.

As I explored more of the engine, I created a game to which the player must defeat the aforementioned enemies and infiltrate an alien vessel in which a final boss awaits. I built the level upon this foundation and created the scene of a small portion of a city that had been ravaged by aliens. The goal of the game remained simple- kill the enemies, and get to the evac point.

However, after playing through the level, I was severely unsatisfied and reworked it to utilise platforms as vantage points, so the player could use them to attack enemies from afar. With use of these platforms, the player could stand a better chance against enemies and truly get to experience their weaponry. Further challenging myself, I worked to create a teleportation device that would teleport the player through a hold in a wall to advance to a new area. To make the level more intriguing, I altered my moving platforms so I could have ones that could move in different directions. I also used particle effects to create the illusion of a burning city. I attempted to make damage spots using the slime mesh, however the mesh would not inflict the desired damage so I used a recoloured water block to create this effect. This wasn't completely satisfying, but it comes close enough to the vision I had in mind. I wanted to keep the level simple, but still have some complexity. So the level became not only killing enemies to reach a common goal, but to eliminate specific enemies, destroy an enemy spawner, use vantage points to gain the advantage, and find a way into the alien mothership to defeat the final boss and their minions.

The project was frustrating, and at times I found myself having to set it aside, however I strived to complete it to the best of my ability and learn more about the engine whilst completing the task. Ultimately, I enjoyed the challenge, and had fun doing so. Looking forward, the things I learned throughout this project will further encourage me to make use of the engine as prior to this task, I didn't see much from the engine aside from thinking of it only as a bunch of numbers that made no sense, but upon inspection found it to be a more critical form of logic. I grew an appreciation for the engine, and this made completing the level much more interesting. It made me want to learn more, and toy with the engine to create something that I was interested in.