The NYU Game Center Showcase 2024
˚✦★⋆. ࿐࿔ .˚ *✦ ˚.˚ .✶ -͟͟͞☆
⟢Thesis
⟢Capstone
⟢Studio II
⟢Major Studio
⟢Mosaic
To Oasis
⊹ ࣪.⋆~⊹₊⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆✩࿐
For Capstone
To Oasis is a 3D rogue-lite, FPS game about traversing a hostile red desert. Plan expeditions into the dunes, combat against difficult foes and unravel the secrets buried within the sands.
To Oasis - Trailer
Interview:
✧In one or two sentences, what is your game about?
To Oasis is a 3D rogue-lite, FPS game set in an extremely hostile red desert infested with machines. As a “Runner”, the player must navigate dangerous terrain, battle mechanical monsters and bosses and unravel the secrets buried within the sands. Our game combines strategic planning with fast-paced combat, allowing players the opportunity to not only show off their skills in FPS combat, but also set themselves up for success with their build and loadout as they explore the dunes.
✧Were there darlings that you had to kill? What were they? Why was the decision made to remove them from the project, and what were the reasons that you like the darling so much?
During the very early stages of development, we had much grander visions. The biggest change was reducing the number of bosses from the originally planned ten to four then to just three in time for the showcase, and also significantly simplifying a complex crafting system.
Early on, we really wanted some way to ensure each gameplay experience was unique, so we set a goal to complete ten bosses within a year. Bosses were kind of the soul of our game and meant to be major climatic moments. We thought a lot of logic could be recycled after the creation of the first boss, however, we discovered that to keep things fresh, it was much better if the boss behavior was bespoke every instance. This doesn’t even account for the fact that each boss would need a new model, motion capture animations, textures and VFX. Even after realizing this, we settled on 4 bosses, including a final boss for the end of our showcase demo. We spent a significant amount of time on this last boss, it got all the way to having its behavior coded and textures readied. But it just wasn't feasible to continue working on this boss when there were parts of our game that still needed touch ups, like optimizing frame rate, cleaning up our tutorial or giving UI another pass. We ultimately ended up prioritizing more important things like these that would really negatively impact player experience within the first few minutes of playing.
Additionally, we had originally built a complex crafting system to serve as the means for players to acquire new weapons, skills, and weapon parts. This system was intended to add a significant strategic element to the game. However, given the huge number of skills and weapon modifications, configuring each item became a time-consuming task requiring extensive balancing, and our team was not large enough to handle this efficiently. We also realized that the system might be too complex for players to understand easily. So we opted for a compromise by implementing a "Research System" to replace the original crafting system, which also greatly simplified the initial concept.
✧Talk about your teammates! What was everyone’s role?
Our core team consists of seven full-time members. Alex, our lead game designer, and 2D artist, designed nearly all the game's levels, main systems, and metrics, including core systems like the Research System and Weapon Modification designs. Developers Tim and Allyson worked on the technical aspects; Tim developed the game's main systems and frameworks, while Allyson focused on the enemy AI and all weapons. Ryan, our best technical artist, created most of the game's VFX and environmental art. He produced a ton of unique VFXs for elements like skills and weapon modifications. Kelly, our UI artist, designed all the game's UI panels, producing interfaces that are both intuitive and attractive. Arnee, our 3D artist, modeled the environmental and enemy models, bringing a lot of realism to the game environment. And James helped manage all the audio of our game.
Beyond our core team, we were fortunate to have the support of several exceptional contributors. Joon, who is currently based in Korea, assisted with the enemy AI and VFX development. Eli is not only a developer who helped with AI development but is also the actor behind all our motion-captured animations. We are also especially grateful to Derek, whose expertise in firearms and modeling was vital in creating the detailed and realistic weapons that are the basis of our gameplay. Without excellent contributors like them, getting To Oasis to this stage would have been a much greater challenge.
play this game on itch.io
www.kromogames.com