Beard of Legend

MAYA || UNITY 3D Beard of Legend is a work in progress 2.5D platformer I am developing from the ground up. The game's protagonist is a mighty wizard with a long, magical beard. Tasked with retrieving a magical trinket for the king, the player will use the wizard’s beard to traverse and interact with the world around them. From swinging and jumping, to whip attacks and fireballs, the player must master many different “beard powers” to progress through the game. This project has been a huge learning experience. From concept and storyboarding I knew this is something I wanted to fully create. I began this journey working in Maya where I modeled, rigged and animated my characters. Once completed, I moved the models into Unity to begin the development of the game itself. This is my first time diving into Unity. I definitely could have started with an easier project, but I’m glad I didn’t. Through much trial and error, I have been teaching myself the ins and outs of game development. It has been a very challenging and rewarding project. I learn something new every day. Progress on the game has been steady. The current build of the game features things like character movement, beard abilities and interaction with the environment. There is also an opening cinematic for the game, which you can watch below. My long term goals for the project are to have it completed and published by the end of 2020.

The game is a 2.5D platformer, meaning the game and it's assets are created in 3D, but the player only sees the game from a 2D perspective. I created the game with a "low poly" style in mind, which gives the characters and environment their unique look.

Here is the initial animation package for the wizard I created in Maya (walk, jump, idle, attack). I created one long animation first, and later broke it up into individual actions in Unity. This made it easier to create transitions between each animation.

Wizard hut in the woods. Opening scene of the cinematic and establishing shot for the game.

Inside the wizard hut.

The wizard is being delivered a letter from the king. The king will ultimately ask the wizard for help retrieving a magical trinket.

Originally the wizard was going to be sleeping and wake up during the cinematic, as you can see in the cinematic itself, I went for a more exciting approach.

After the wizard reads the letter from the king he sets off on his adventure. Cinematic ends here, and game play starts on the next scene.

The wizard walking out of his hut will start the game. His journey to meet the king begins, and players are introduced to the game.

This is an example of the ability "Beard Swing." The wizard will use his beard to fight and interact with the objects around him. This is the main gimmick of the game.

Here shows off some of my ideas for a mana system in the game. The wizard will visit these hidden altars to gain different magic abilities (lightning, fireballs, ice fist, etc.).

Gobos are the main enemies in the game. Here I worked through a few different variants and attack styles.

This is a mock up of the first level boss fight. The bigger Gobo slams his ax loosening the boulders above. The player will be able to jump up and beard whip the boulders so they fall on the boss' head.

This is the storyboard I created for the project. It really helped me get started to lay the ideas out first. The storyboard also gives me something to reference as I create. This has been a very useful tool as I start working the fine detail into the game.

The wizard is mid "beard whip" in this photo. At this point in the project the player controller had been fully created. The player is able to walk, run, jump and attack. The goblins were just place holders at this point. Since then I have created the goblin AI allowing them recognize, chase and attack the player.

Scene from the opening cinematic (bottom of this page), where the goblins have invaded the wizard's hut. I had a lot of fun creating the items inside the hut. I feel like every wizardly item and magical knick-knack really add to the character of the hut.

High flyin' beard jump! The red box you see in some of these photos is just a test object for the goblin particle effect. You'll see that in the cinematic below.

The cinematic shown here will ultimately serve as the opening scene of the game. It still needs audio/ video work and a good title splash, but this is a good representation of the work I've put into this project thus far. Everything you see here was captured in game using Unity. Enjoy!

↑Back to Top