Introduction

Hello our most beloved clients, welcome to our barbershop, a devlog for Game Projects at DAE Howest. 

The surgeon barbers on this projects are:
👨🏻‍⚕️🪚  Lorenzo - Barber Artist 
🧑🏻‍⚕️🪚 Pablo - Barber Designer
👩🏻‍⚕️🪚 Revekka - Barber Programmer
👩🏼‍⚕️🪚 Ruta - Barber Artist

Our game is multiplayer comedy game of two terribly bad plague doctors who has no idea of medicine. Both will have to handle a medieval barber-shop, where they will have to heal people. For healing they'll have to follow an old medieval manuscript read by the other player to find out how to solve the sickness.

This first week the barbershop will open to show the first steps into this absurd development.  

For art we wanted to set the pipeline and investigate about an art style that could fusion a toon shader style with medieval drawing.

For programming the first goal was to set if it was possible to get a display with two different screens for the gameplay; or in case it was not possible, pivot the game design to adapt it to our possibilities. 

Art

Style

As said before we were looking for an art style that could fusion a toon shader style with medieval drawing. We started with trying out a black outline shader in Unreal to see if we could achieve it with a good performance:

Pipeline

The current pipeline will start with modeling and unwrapping in Maya, texturing in Substance painter and rigging and animating in Blender. 

Finally barber artist Ruta also investigated the best rendering for the project. Being this one deffered, you can read the explanation in the image. 

Programming

Unreal Engine 5 or Unity2022.3?

Unreal Engine seems to be the better option to develop the game because:

• It possess an advance toolkit for multiplayer games.
• It has a highest quality in graphics and environmental details. Also both artist have more experience in Unreal Engine, making the transition to other engines more expensive timewise.
• The expertise of our programmer is on C++, and not being very versatile in C#. Being the only programmer in the team, it conditions greatly the scope and advance of the project. Because of all that we found important to facilitate the work of the programmer.

The possibility to make a display with two screens will be highly decisive for one engine or another.

Design

Design has focused in develop the proposal and pivot the design in case the two screen set up wont be feasible. 

Develop

The core mechanic of the game is that you have to be told how to heal. Creating funny situations and chaos when trying to describe the symptoms or the healing process.

To create the need of dividing the work for healing efficiently, patients will have a life bar, the sooner you heal the more money you get.

We have develop different prototypes showing the book, the patioen, the herbs, other possible sickness, a possible gathering system and a possible mixing system.

Pivot

In case the two screen set up is not possible, we have pivot around the main design idea, looking for ways to make the game works. Between other possibilities we have ponder: 

1. The patient is always bleeding or with a fever and if you don't cover the bleeding or put a wet piece on the head, the life goes down faster
2. At the beginning the doctor has to clean the body, so the other one look for the sickness
3. Two patients that you have to heal, only one book.
4. You have to rub or hit or cut the infection or wound
5. You have a mix table in which you will have to combine ingredients to get lotions and healing material
6. You have to clean the table from time to time, as the table is full of things (empty flasks, dirt bandages,...)
7. That you have to focus to read the text (Because you wear the doctor mask)

Conclusions

Our biggest difficulty will be the two screen set up, while the art style looks quite solid for the moment. Is still early to be sure which engine we will use but we will decide that as soon as possible.

We think we have a very interesting mechanic and unique art style, that can end up in an incredible game. Some challenges are ahead and we trust in the capacities of the team to surpass them and become the best barber shop of the year! 

And that's all for now our most beloved clients, may sickness and plague bestow upon thee so we see each other again soon in our barber shop!🩻🩻