Zachary Richardson
Animator, Programmer, Teacher, & Game Designer
Red Tide
This project was the first of two capstone projects I was apart of during my time with The University of Central Florida. This game was designed as a wave based survival experience. The premise behind the game was the idea mutated sea creatures have taken over and the player is trying to survive until his allies can arrive for evacuation. In the game the player must survive for three waves of sea creatures, each more difficult than the last. The player has access to different weapons and power ups, that change the experience for each play through. My role in the game was as a Producer and 3D Artist.
Weapons
I was the primary weapon designer and weapon modeler for the game. I had a hand in all of the player weapons and their in game roles. The pearl shooter rifle(left) and the chum bucket shotgun (bottom left) were both my children. Below, you can see an early design for a flamethrower as well. The flamethrower was eventually dropped and the SmoreHammer replaced it as the secret unlockable, as it was the name of our team.
Producing - Enemies
I also served as a producer for the game helping with team communication and design direction for the game. So while I did not model the enemies, I did help with the enemy design ideas and their use cases. We wanted the mutated sea creatures to be ridiculous. The idea was to have the player sweating from the difficulty and laughing about the craziness at the same time. The arm of the shark explain when they can walk, while the shrimp have an area of Effect canon playing on the mantis shrimp that stuns its enemies with a sonic boom in real life. While the puffer fish is also an exaggeration of a puffer fish. I also did some of the voice over for the game.
Modeling Props
I also worked as a modeler for the project making several parts of the warf and props in the level. Props from left to right are: the gate and pillars, the out houses and barrels, The shack and dock, and smaller props and graffiti.
Game Play
Regular - Game Play
Smore Hammer - Game Play
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