City Hero Defense, 2009

The main purpose of this project was to get more exposure to using a game engine (that others developed). Before 2009, my experience with game development included:
* using level editors and game mod tools (with minimal scripting)
* writing 2D gfx and GUI based games
* writing games and graphics demos from scratch using C++ and OpenGL/DirectX
* GPU modeling of shader instructions and graphics pipeline (draw calls) (for GPU drivers and hardware tests)

So initially the idea was just an excuse to try out some game engines. I played with (OGRE, Irrlicht, and Unity) before I finally decided to run with Torque 3D.

As for the game design, I had inspiration from Desktop Tower Defense (tower defense), Left 4 Dead (four protagonists), and Savage (cross genre). The concept was that you have four heroes doing a tower defense game of defending a city from attackers (such as zombies). You can play with 1-4 players (maybe more if we allow a monsters team like in Left 4 Dead). Initially (to keep the scope small), the focus was on a one-player mode where you change between the heroes using F1 F2 F3 F4. When a hero is not controlled by the player, a simple AI takes over. There were four heroes and each hero was inspired by a different genre and had different controls. FPS. Third person melee. Diablo style action-rpg. RTS.

The final version after the last video (below) was a bit farther but still a prototype with placeholder art. I at least implemented the essential mechanics and it was good experience working with Torque 3D. I got familiar with things like... Add a feature to the engine C++ code then use it in TorqueScript. Integrate custom assets. Map editing then use TorqueScript for AI and controls. Implement camera/control systems, HUD, path-following, simple AI. In 2016 when I started using UE4, my Torque 3D experience was relevant (it also made me appreciate UE4 more). There's a chance I might resurrect City Hero Defense using UE4 but as of 2016/11 I'm focusing my hobby project energy on UE4 HeroQuest.

Here's my garage games posts with some concept art and 3d models screen shots - link and link. I also setup a private phpBB (private). The concept art and 3d models were created by a recruits/contributors (not me).

The following video shows the four hero camera/control system (F1 F2 F3 F4). I had to edit engine code for mouse-click to intersect ray with terrain.

The following video shows zombies following a path defined by editing the map.

The following video shows more interactions. Custom model animations. Select robot, move robot, robot deploy and fire lasers (at nearest zombie).