Lewis Wray MA Games Design

When I began my new project, the first gameplay mechanic I attempted to make was a first person weapon firing. From my knowledge of shooter games, I knew that I could choose from two main categories of firing: Hitscan: As soon as the player presses the fire input, the target in their crosshairs is hit instantly. Projectile: When the fire input is pressed, a projectile is fired from the weapon, travelling in the direction of the destination in the crosshairs. To investigate this, I looked into the game Overwatch, as I knew there were some hitscan weapons and some projectile weapons and I wanted to look into exactly how it worked. Below is an example of the firing system for the character Baptiste, who has a hitscan fire to deal damage to enemies and a projectile fire to heal teammates. What this video shows is that, for both hitscan and projectile fire, the shot reaches its target, regardless of whether it logically looks to the player like it should. If the player stands behind a wall,...

18th April 2025 I have begun this project by experimenting with first person shooter mechanics and creating a weapon that can fire hitscan bullets (hit the target instantly) and projectiles (travel to the target then hit). The hitscan shots take a specific trajectory from the muzzle of the weapon to the crosshair in the player's eyeline, so the bullets hit locations that feel consistent for the player. Projectiles consist of a collision actor to determine what is hit, and an effect actor, that creates a visual of the projectile moving for the player to see. The collider moves along the crosshair, while the visual moves from the muzzle of the weapon to the destination. The hitscan shots output the hit object in the top left corner so the player can see what they have hit with the shot, as my intention is to add damage functionality. The projectiles move more slowly and explode upon impact. 1st May 2025 Once I had the basic shooting mechanics in place, I could focus on some interesti...

Project Outline This project is an exploration into player feedback and player reward in game mechanics. I have explored this by creating mechanics in Unreal Engine, imagining how they might be used in a game, and how a player might feel when using them. This exploration progressed into player reward in puzzle scenarios, which links into my current area of research. I looked into how visuals can create a language that the player will learn to understand while playing the game, and will guide them through problem solving in the game.  Project Context My semester 1 project was a core puzzle game, meaning the game was centred on a central puzzle mechanic and expanded from that point. I wanted to explore a mechanic that was more of a peripheral puzzle that exists as side quests to the main gameplay. Many popular game series have main gameplay mechanics with puzzles along the way, such as Batman Arkham, Resident Evil, and Tomb Raider. As these types of games are extremely popular and (a...

What Went Well I believe that one of my strongest skills in games design is the creative brainstorming of new and interesting mechanics. This project involved a great deal of coming up with new ideas as it existed in a few different forms over its duration, each with different mechanics for different purposes. Unlike my semester 1 project, I did not begin this one with a clear idea of a game I wanted to make in mind. My approach instead was to experiment with creating different mechanics and see if any felt as though a game could be built around them or at least include them. This method meant I had to come up with many different ideas for gameplay mechanics, even if just to briefly practise creating something. Another successful aspect of this project was my quick execution of gameplay mechanics I had a clear idea for. There were some points during development when I had an idea for a mechanic and knew exactly what I wanted it look like, what it could be used for, and how it should fe...

Set in a Victorian London style world. The key difference is that a new, sustainable energy source has been discovered that revolutionised the world amidst the industrial revolution. This energy source is swarms of glowing insects that give off energy via a highly efficient energy exchange. They have been engineered to die and reproduce at consistent rates, meaning swarms provide energy functionally indefinitely. The government or some big corporation controls these insects and provide energy to the world using them. They have control over all energy usage in the world.  The player is an inventor that has created a gauntlet that can control theses insects, allowing them to interact with the objects in the world that use it.  There could be an ability the player can use that highlights these object to them, like detective vision in Batman Arkham, instinct in Hitman, and dark vision in Dishonored. This ability could darken the world but highlight the energy within objects, allow...

This project saw its conclusion with a demonstration of the game mechanics I had made in the form of a level: This level communicates how the basic mechanics of the game work and how they could be used in different scenarios, mainly solving puzzles in some way but they would be good as the starting point of a larger game with other aspects of gameplay. Here are some ways the mechanics could be adapted into a completed game, had I had more time to invest into the project. Stealth mechanics Many of the games I researched for this project have stealth mechanics, including Dishonored, Bioshock, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. I believe the game I created could lend itself well to this type of gameplay. An example of how the mechanics could be used in favour of stealth is through light manipulation; the player can use the energy draining power to take energy from a fuse box in a room or building, shutting off the lights and allowing the player to pass by unnoticed until a guard noti...