A vertical slice by
Jack Barber Dwight Gibson Dean Smith
3D Modeller, Rigger, and Animator
Level Designer
Environment Coder
Concept Originator
Mechanics Coder
Concept Artist
Graphic Designer
Sound Designer
What is Scum Run?
A game concept where you play as scum and you run through the level.
You are a lowly blob of scum trying to survive in the sewers, consuming any trash you come across. While travelling down one of the systems, you find your natural enemy: the Council of Rats. And they have a ton of garbage! They're not going to hand it over quietly, though. Looks like you'll just have to take it from them. It is survival of the fittest, after all...
Mechanics and Coding
Customisation
The customisation menu gives 10 different colours for the body and the outer and inner eye as well as 12 accessory options - including “None”. But how many combinations does that make?
12,000
???
character customisation combinations
103 × 12 =
A portion of the code used to make this possible.
Another portion of the code used to make this possible.
Scum - Of Sizes Both Big and Small
Grow and shrink between three different size states. Press “Q” to shrink and pick up scum globules to grow.
How Does the Player Work?
The player is built from a standard third person character base blueprint. The model is swapped and the capsule collision is shrunk. Custom animations are also applied through the use of an animation blueprint and blendspace.
We were going to include a slug as a second playable character but, due to the way I got the player collision for overlap events, this was difficult and therefore scrapped. The slug, however, is still present in-game.
How Does the Player Work?
TOP: Variables are set upon the level loading, namely max walk speed, jump velocity, gravity, health, score, and collectibles.
LEFT: Player shrinkage is achieved through setting Booleans and playing one of two transform tracks.
BOTTOM: If the player gets hit whatsoever, they die. If they are large, however, very few things are capable of hurting them.
How Does the Player Work?
TOP: Crates being damaged are dealt with on two sides but in identical manners. The player checks for collision and, if they are large, crates are damaged and the player can pass through. If not, nothing happens.
BOTTOM: When the player presses “BACKSPACE”, they pause the game and are presented with an option to resume play or exit the game. There was originally going to be an option to return to the title screen instead but this was scrapped due to a bug that made the game unplayable.
Crates - Blocking Victory
Crates, for some reason, are plentiful in the sewer. They can be used as platforms to reach higher places and cross gaps or they can be destroyed to unblock the path ahead.
How Do Crates Work?
Crate destruction is handled via a UE plugin, “Apex Destruction”. It allows for the creation of destructible meshes - duplicates of the original mesh that can be broken into several pieces. Using these meshes in blueprints that allow for damage inputs allows for destruction.
Destruction in the game is handled on two ends: the crate itself and the player. The code for both is essentially the same, just with the roles switched.
Rats - Hoarders of Garbage
Rats are everywhere in the sewers. While they are together in the form of a Council, some rats merely walk around randomly or in relatively straight lines. Some just stand there and look at you! Many questions remain of the Council - the most prevalent one being “Who or what is their leader?”
How Do Rats Work?
TOP: Movement is handled as the level begins. A max walk speed is set and the integrated AI moves to a random area within 4,000 UE units of its current location. If the walk speed is above zero and it’s actually walking, the walk animation and sound play.
BOTTOM: If the player isn’t large, the rat kills them. If they are, however, the rat is damaged, its collision removed so it cannot harm the player and a death animation plays. The corpse is removed after five seconds.
Trash Cans - The Holy Hoard
Trash cans contain a lot of garbage and, as such, are treasured among the garbage enthusiast communities. The Council has recently acquired a large amount of them - too much for any being to have.
How Do Trash Cans Work?
Trash cans cast to the player on component overlap and increase their score variable by 5,000 points and their “Trash Cans Collected” variable by one. It then destroys itself.
Scum Blobs - The Power of Destruction
Scum blobs can be found in several places around the sewer. It is unknown what these are made from or why they are jelly-like. When other scum comes into contact with it, they grow.
How Do Blobs Work?
Blobs cast to the player on component overlap. They play a sound and look for the player’s size, increasing their size via transform tracks, just as the player has when shrinking. They also grant 500 points before destroying themselves.
Trampolines - From Altitude On Upwards
Nobody knows why trampolines are in the sewer, nor why they are rat-sized or why they have this weird stench to them. Could this be the reason why the public has abandoned cleaning this sewer system?
How Do Trampolines Work?
On overlap, it casts to the player and launches them at a set velocity. Multiple blueprints can be made with different velocities.
How Does Everything Else Work?
RIGHT: Buttons all follow a simple template. If clicked, play a sound effect, delay for 0.3 seconds and do the function.
LEFT: Invisible walls are a cheat for getting players to follow specific paths or rules. This invisible wall can be destroyed if you’re large enough. Perfect for keeping crates in order. Removing this code makes the wall unbreakable. This can also be changed into a wall that protects from projectiles.
Concept Art
Concept Art 2
Concept Art 3
Menu Screens
UI
The UI shows the player how many trash cans they’ve collected, their current score, their time, and what mass size they’re currently at. The health bar appears at the boss fight, at the end of the level.
Sound Effects
Sounds were obtained from Freesound.org and edited in Audition. Reverb was added to almost all sounds, since sewers are echoey.
Water Death
Crate Destruction
Background Environment Sound
Jingles / Music
Sounds that I made from scratch using garageband
Decals
Added around the level to add more life.
Rigging, Animation and Character Modeling
Characters were modeled and rigged in Maya, using controllers to animate them. I made walking, idle and death animations for each rig, as well as jumping animations for the player rigs (the slug was scrapped unfortunately due to code issues).
Asset Creation
Every bit of geometry in the level was made in Maya. I made a variety of different decorative assets and platforms and used Unreal materials to texture them.
65 different level assets!
Level Design
Using these assets I made a single, long level. I made sure that there were multiple paths, mechanics and secrets - as well as a gradual increase in difficulty. I decorated it with details such as lights and custom particle systems.
Level Design
Mechanics
I also made a few mechanics such as rolling barrels and moving/rotating platforms, as well as a lot of general troubleshooting and material editing in Blueprint.
Hats!
I made a selection of hats for the character creator.
Game Design Doc
I wrote the game design document for the game. The original idea was a time trial 3D platformer where the player must complete the level under the time limit. We kept the timer, but removed the time trial part so the player can take as much time as they like.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HoAWoldMFgjqTuFnpEsBz5OOzL4MneOFxkQEoZChLc4/edit?usp=sharing