Last Resort

Introduction

About this project

Last Resort was developed over the course of 1 academic year by a team of 29 students at the Breda University of Applied Sciences. The team consists of 10 artists, 9 designers, 8 programmers and 2 producers. The project is based off of a creative brief provided by teaching staff who functioned as stakeholders, which the team used to create a tangible proof of concept in the first 8 weeks. This concept was then turned into a full product over the remainder of the academic year. 

Design

Last Resort takes the hectic, shoot-'em-up gunplay of titles like Killing Floor 2 and combines it with gamemodes such as King of the Hill, Domination and Search and Destroy. Players are tasked with defending a point for a certain amount of time and conquering several smaller points in the process. Factoring in aspects of the roguelike genre, players can change their loadout during runs to one-up their firepower.

Players move from one level to the other through the use of the elevator, located in the back of each level. The elevator only opens when players have completed their objective. It is in here that players can change their loadout. Levels consist of two parts: first, the Corridor, which is the outer part of the level and which is consistent across all levels. Secondly, the Reception, Club or Dining level, which changes each time the player enters the elevator. 

Characters

As we developed Last Resort we went through major changes as to what the enemies should look like. While we started off with designs based off various different types of animals, such as snakes, moles and insects, the character artists eventually homed in on the innate alienness of insects and developed a variety of designs based on these, opting for quadrupeds instead of hexapeds to make the designs distinct. 

Our mascotte, the Carrier, is a quadrupedal insectoid which uses the large blades attached to its front limbs to slash away at the player. The bioluminescent organ on its back is an eggsack which players may shoot to prevent the spawning of Pests, highlighted further down below. We wanted to make the enemies look like they all belonged to the same ecosystem, which is why we developed two versions of the same creature. The Carrier is the female version; the Grunt, displayed below, is the male version. 

The Grunt is, as mentioned above, the male counterpart to the Carrier. While losing the eggsack on its back, the Grunt gets other traits in return: a horn on its head based off the Hercules beetle, longer pincers and larger frills on the back of its head. Inside the game, this enemy functions as the bulk as the horde, being large in number but without any special abilities to throw the player off-guard. 

The Spitter is unique amongst other enemies in that it is the only enemy which can attack the player from afar, functioning as a grenadier. Although fewer in numbers than the other enemies, the Spitter is still a major threat thanks to its ability to harass the player from afar. The spitter's design is much more slender than the other enemies to highlight its frailty, and its tail and back are based on carnivorous flora. Its small pincers highlight the concept of 'strong from a distance, weak up close'.

The last enemy in Last Resort is the Pest. As suggested by its name, the Pest is a small, low-damage, frail enemy, although for what it lacks in strength, it makes up in numbers. Pests will attempt to overrun the players with sheer numbers. Aside from spawning from regular spawnpoints, Pests will also spawn if the players fail to shoot a Carrier's eggsack before killing it. Pests will attempt to leap at the player from a short distance to quickly close the gap between them and the player. 

Character models seen above are concepted by Jimi Weijers and modelled by Bram Teunissen. Renders by Bram Teunissen.

Moving from enemies to player characters, the players will find themselves putting on the outfits of the Resort's staff, whose task it is to regain control of the hotel and to drive back the enemies. While we created concepts for four seperate player character models, we found ourselves only creating two due to time constraints. The player character models we opted to create are the bellhop, as seen above, and the manager, displayed further below. 

The Bellhop is modelled after classic bellhop outfits, but with a twist. The jacket's collar is larger, putting extra emphasis on the colder, harsher Mars environment. The geometric shapes on the back of the character's jacket add a bit of art-deco to the outfit as a whole, and to allow the bellhop to breathe in low-oxygen environments, Lastly, thick leather cloves protect the bellhop against the cold. 

Concept, model & render by Ardian Vrijenhoek.

The Waiter takes the classic black & white tuxedo and mixes it up with shades of cedar and chocolate. The Waiter's prosthetic right arm makes the whole design assymetrical and decorations on the coat add a little bit of flair. The pattern on the back of the Waiter's coat tie both character designs into one coherent package. 

Concept by Ardian Vrijenhoek, model & render by Margaux Hocquet.

Rigging & Animation

Rig & video by Frank Datema, animations by Iris Teparić, model by Bram Teunissen. 

The riggers were presented with an especially interesting challenge; instead of bipedal rigs, the rigs we required were quadrupedal, with the addition of two extra limbs for the blades. In the showcase above you can see both the rigs and animation which make the character model really come to life. 

Animators were able to use motion-capture to produce the bulk of the animations for both player characters. Animations were initially recorded for the Bellhop character and then later readjusted to fit the proportions of the Waiter. The animations for the enemy models, however, could not be motion captured and therefor had to be keyframed by hand. To really make the enemy models feel hostile and dangerous the animators put extra emphasis on the jitter and rapid, sudden movement of their limbs.

Rigs & videos by Lisa Vugts, models by Bram Teunissen. 

Weapons

The assault rifle is many a player's weapon of choice. Offering a high rate of fire, medium magazine size and damage, the assault rifle is a reliable choice when things get heated. For Last Resort's AR we opted for a white, black and orange colour scheme which gives the weapon a 'prototype' look, and the bullet hologram between the carrying handle and the receiver gives it a more futuristic look. 

The shotgun is ideal for players who like to get up close and personal. For Last Resort, we opted for a futuristic take on the classic pump-action shotgun design, with the stock and shoulder guard being based on the Argus shotgun from Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 & 4. This shotgun too features a black, white and orange colour scheme and makes use of holograms on the side of the receiver to give it a futuristic look.

Often overlooked, the handgun is your sidearm in Last Resort. Being a secondary firearm, players will only use this weapon if they have run out of ammunition on their primary weapon, which means the handgun needs to be small, lightweight and easy to store. Note the honeycomb structure in the grip of each weapon which suggests that the grip has been 3D-printed. 

Perhaps the most bizarre looking weapon here, the grenade launcher is for players who like big explosions and big damage. An added front grip at the end of the barrel suggests weight, and with the large drum magazine and holographic visor give the weapon more of a stocky feel. 

Concepts, models & renders by Ruben Schellekens. 

Weapon Rigs

This is a demonstration of the rigs for the assault rifle and shotgun models, which allowed our animators to have total control over animations such as reloading, shooting and equipping or unequipping the weapon. 

Video and rigs by Frank Datema, models by Ruben Schellekens. 

Props & Environment

For the furniture that we use throughout the game's environment, we tried to go for a futuristic, organic style. We also wanted to implement LEDs into these designs, as seen in images above. 

Concepts, designs & renders by Martin Knedla. 

The Team

Art

Ruben Schellekens: Lead | Prop Artist
Cameron Woad: Animator
Iris Teparić: Animator
Frank Datema: Rigger | Lighting Artist
Lisa Vugts: Rigger | Prop Arist
Ardian Vrijenhoek: Character Artist | Environment Artist | Lighting
Bram Teunissen: Character Artist | Environment Artist | UI Artist
Jimi Weijers: Character Artist | Environment Artist | Concepting Artist
Margaux Hocquet: Character Artist | Environment Artist
Martin Knedla: Texture Artist | Environment Artist

Programming

Adriaan Koorevaar: Lead | Generalist Programmer
Federico Dell'Aquila: Lead | AI Programmer | Generalist Programmer
Viktor Vasilev: Generalist Programmer
Martin Schenkel: AI Programmer
Sander Lemmen: AI Programmer
Dragomir Mitev: Gameplay Programmer 
Angelo Anthony Rettob: Network Programmer
Jules Evers: Network Programmer

Design

Sasha Lewis: Lead | Level Designer
Yuli Ognyanov: Lead | Game Designer
Mika van Heeswijk: Lead (Concepting & Production phases) | Game Designer | UI Designer
Maksim Yildirim: Game Designer
Victor Gonzalez: Game Designer
Danny Kirindongo: Level Designer
Felice Reumkens: Level Designer
Quinn Roosenburg: Level Designer

Audio

Cas van Hout

Production

Nicole de Jong
Thomas Cijsouw

Outsource

Kim Horn: Rigger | First-person rigs
Samuel Habekotte: Rigger | Rigging tool
Peter Prickarz: Technical Artist | Wall spline tool
Joshua Rizzo: Technical Artist | VFX
Erwin Smeenge: Technical Artist | VFX