Attempt at a Blank Slate

We've been looking into the next stages of development for our game now. Further conceptions are still undergoing primarily from Artur, while we try to get the game off the ground in UDK. A task I felt like looking into and getting up that we wanted this year, is having a custom User Interface working when you start the game. This in itself also requires the game to have been started from the actual UDK Game, not the Editor as the Editor does not allow a player to change maps, which is actually how the User Interface would work.

This is what I got so far from reading and watching a few tutorials online. With this, I can clearly see now how we would go about adding a custom HUD, but its still a bit less clear how to make this the main menu screen as intended; this will require more research. 

The interface was created in Adobe Flash CS4 using ActionScript 2.0. ActionScript 3.0 is apparently
  not supported yet, but this was not a problem for what I want to do for this. This test contains 1 working button to load a different map when clicked, as well as a custom cursor which can be seen in the top part of the gun here (red arrow).

The Map Layout

We knew where we wanted to set the level and so we thought the best way to emulate how the land should look was to find a suitable area on google maps and use it as a base for our level to be designed around.

To do this we took a screenshot of the area and painted the existing houses out in order to give ourselves a blank canvas.

We then took a top-down 3d render of a building concept that Artur had been working on and used it to plan out where the building would sit on the land.

We then planned out the garden area based on research of the type of villa we wanted to emulate and created an authentic but original design, tailored for the type of gameplay we wanted to create.

In conjunction with the past research into 1950's high-life fashion, development of the standard "civilian" characters begun. As this process started, more research was done on very specific areas such as shoes, hand-hags and peruses.

These both are created from fashion found in various sources, and mixed together to create new ideas while keeping in touch with the time and style required.

Cat Burglars

‘Cat Burglars’ (working title) immerses the player into the glamorous world of 1950s high life. Influenced by Hollywood cinema of the time, the game is set in various luxurious settings across the world, at exclusive events, only frequented by the highest profile guests.

The game centers on an elite group of thieves, notorious for their ability to steal the most valuable items without leaving a whisker of evidence. Known by their victims as ‘The Cats’, they earn their riches by raiding dinner parties, openings, balls, casinos and any other event where money and jewels will be present. By living the highlife whilst covering up their secretive ulterior motives, they remain in the highest social circles, trusted by those who feed the cats without even knowing it.

In an attempt to quell the surge in burglaries, private security has been brought in to guard the properties of the rich and famous. Yet the cats still hunt, waiting for the purrfect moment to pounce.

Cary Grant in 'To Catch a Thief' (1955)

Character Concepts

Concept art for the game is pretty much an opened case. We all agreed for the visual style of the final product, however we are still working over the details.



Characters:


We have started with initial sketches and silhouettes of three main characters. Yakuza girl, High class Russian businessman( most probably mafia member), and British gentleman. Names of those characters are yet uncertain.













Russian mafia member


We were concidering to make this character as hudge broad shoulder muscle man who carries little russian dolls with knock out gas. Hudge man and little dolls would have been great contrast and surprise for the opposite player. We were looking for typical Russian face, with criminal accent. Finally we have decided to make him an elderly man with the sense of class.