Cat Wizard vs the Dwarves

Created for a collaboration module in my final year, Cat Wizard vs the Dwarves is a first person fantasy dungeon shooter. Delve into the dwarven dungeons as a lone cat wizard, you must explore, traverse, collect, loot, enchant, fight and overcome! Wield the elements! Infuse your weapons with their power! Slay the dwarven king!

Itch.io link: https://lukemanga.itch.io/group-29-cat-wizard-vs-dwarves

Why this project

A fantasy themed first person shooter was an idea I pitched to the group, as a means of creating something that felt unique, sticking to Unreal Engine's strengths and having a project that tied into my hobby of Dungeons and Dragons (albeit in a loose way). The original pitch was to have gameplay similar to the original Doom, and I think the idea of having a familiar gameplay format with a fresh thematic twist was part of why this idea evolved into its final product.

What I learned

My role within this project was Senior Tech, requiring me to exercise both team management (in my communications with the Junior Tech team) and project management (as I communicated with the other Seniors on how the progress of the project was going). This project was also my first attempt at an enemy AI system, through which I made dynamic enemies that also have a randomised bravery system which could cause them to flee in fear if they became too damaged.

What I enjoyed

The element of this project that I enjoyed the most was the collaboration element. Having other people to bounce and iterate ideas off of advanced our development process. This also allowed us to see the project progress at a faster rate, whether in regards to the mechanics, level assets or character models. I also enjoyed designing and then overseeing the creation of the weapons and spells, along with their elemental variants.

Critical Review

There are two main things that I would have liked to amend, but couldn't due to time constraints. The first was that I was unable to implement the official cat player character model. This meant the final game only had two meshed paws which were intended as stand ins, as apposed to a meshed/ animated pair of paws. The second thing was I would have liked to have made the wall running/ jumping mechanic more prominent in the final level/ playthrough. Although implemented, there aren't really any areas that show off the mechanic.