Whirlpool
Previously known as "project elemental"
Whirlpool is an Isometric action role playing game with a cartoon aesthetic and a gameplay focus on positioning and avoiding telegraphed attacks. Developed as a university project and produced within 2 semesters, we believed we achieved our final vision successfully.
Director/Programmer
Programmer
Writer/Texture Artist
Environment/UI Artist
Character Artist
Nathan Bowman
Jack Mayor (Jackawaka)
Garry Andres Andrade
Paddy Kenny
Ann Bailey
Procedural generation
We decided to add procedural generation to the world to make it feel more natural and provide additional content. We specifically ensured that it was deterministic, and the constraints can be altered by designers to create the perfect experience for the player.
The Overworld's level layout was hand made, however this level has been procedurally populated with vegetation and details. Every tree, rock or grass tuft has been altered procedurally to reduce repetition.
Placed within the overworld's landscape are portals, these portals teleport the player to procedurally generated dungeons. These dungeons are populated with enemy groups that gradually increase in difficulty. We created dungeons as an optional side area for the player to explore at their own leisure, whether it be to gain more loot in combat, or to enjoy the environment.
Inventory And Loot
One of the main reward systems within Whirlpool is the loot system. Upon death, enemies drop procedurally generated loot that is composed of a prefix, set name and suffix. Each of these elements modify what type of stats are gained from equipping that item. In addition to this, the world and loot scales with the player's level, pulling from a percentage based table.
In addition to changing the stats of the player, we wanted to emphasize customization. As such, every piece of armour visually changes the character when equipped. Each armour set has its own theme to fit in with the world.
The image below shows an unarmoured player compared to a player with a chest piece, leggings and head piece.
