Assigned Project – Sim Firefighter game
In the first couple weeks of our capstone class, we were tasked with finding a project we wanted to develop. I was given the Sim Firefighter game project as well as three of my other group members. We have made major progress since we were initially assigned the project.
What have we done?
Over the past couple weeks our group has made major strides towards our Senior Capstone project. We discussed what technology we wanted to use to create our game, the mechanical intricacies, and what the final goal of the project will be.
Technologies:
Through careful consideration and research our group has decided to develop our game in Unreal Engine 5. Why? Because Unreal Engine 5 is a powerful game development tool offering amazing experience for future employment. We believe that by developing our game in Unreal Engine 5 we can create a product that will strike the eyes of future employers giving us a better chance in the future.
Additionally, Unreal Engine 5 offers a multitude of free features/assets that will increase the speed of our workflow allowing us to create a better product. A major feature we will be using within our game development process is known as Houdini. Houdini will help promote a procedural workflow significantly reducing development time.
Mechanical Intricacies
While creating multiple designs: Preliminary designs, a requirement design, and our final team design, we have developed a concrete plan on how we want our game to work. A list below shows a basic rundown of how we want the game to function. As a person who likes surprises, I have hidden the details in an expandable menu.
Show game mechanics
- The game will consist of a tile-based terrain system. The terrain system will procedurally generate maps which include 2 different types of areas. Burnable and unburnable areas. Procedurally generating maps this way will create seemingly infinite replay ability.
- Using the tile-based system our game will simulate natural wildfire occurrences. Fires will start based on natural occurrences or human activity. Fires will spread to burnable tiles based on simulated algorithms such as wind, temperature, and humidity.
- The player’s goal is to fight these wildfires using a limited pool of resources. Players will be able to earn more resources by completing good actions (Stopping wildfires).
Final goal?
The final goal of our project is to develop a game that is fun but also educational. We want the game to be engaging enough to where players will want to play the game, if the game isn’t fun players likely won’t want to play it. We also want the game to be realistic enough to educate players on the true dangers of wildfires. Many people fight then and it’s important that we can help shed light on the bravery of those who fight them every day.
Future Outlook / Next Steps
I have a positive outlook on the future of this project. Our group communicates well by exchanging ideas freely and understanding “No one way is the right way”. We believe our project will truly make an impact on the understanding behind wildfires and help promote a positive community supporting those who fight them. Our next steps are to begin developing our game based on the plan we have developed.