Gears of War

Marcus’ Quest

Download this level.

When I was looking to get back into design and out of production, I worked for a little while on a Gears of War test map. In the level I aimed to address Visuals, Complex Scripting, and Design (risk/reward/progress). The high level premise is based around a similar experience from Castlevania: Simon’s Quest where there is a perpetual day/night cycle and the player can expect different experiences in the same place depending on this cycle. There is a basic collect/economy concept through which the player is able to level up and ultimately progress to the conclusion of the mission.

The current status is a rough “First Playable” with a single “Beautiful Corner” intended to give a demonstration of one of the areas visually. The player is able to experience a tangible day/night cycle. During the day they are able to interact with a merchant type character and during the night they will encounter enemies and are able to collect the items necessary to purchase upgrades from the merchant. Once the player has upgraded enough a boss sequences is initiated (though not implemented to completion). That said, visuals haven’t been my strongest trait in quite some time so take the “beautiful corner” with a grain of salt. 

The necessary elements all exist to take the scripting/design and expand on it. I doubt I’ll ever finish it, but it was fun to put together.

If you wish to see the mission in the last state it was in, just download and load in Gears of War:

  • CTW_GearsOfWar_2008.zip
    • SP_CTW02_FirstPlayable02_P.war – The last update to the level. Contains gameplay ready scripting and a small visual test.
    • Revisions\SP_CTW01_Proto01_P.war – The very first prototype where I started experimenting with the basic gameplay elements.
    • Revisions\SP_CTW01_Proto02_P.war – Second prototype where all the basic scripting was in place and I was ready to start putting the elements into a space that could be played.
    • Revisions\SP_CTW02_FirstPlayable01_P.war – First pass at a playable (greybox only) space utilizing the elements from the prototype.

I must re-iterate that this was a work in progress, and is not intended to demonstrate final combat, polish, or intent. It does however provide an example of development progression, high concept translated into in game functionality that can be felt and iterated on, and organizational ability with scripting (Kismet).