Bongo the Clown Rat has finally arrived! He’s a bit late, but it’s not his fault — his legs are short and made for waddling, not sprinting.

In all seriousness, I’ve been having a very difficult time with the player controls; the default 3rd person controller hasn’t been playing nicely with my quadruped character, so when you see the weird things happening with Bongo, this is why. Currently this includes but is not limited to: the way he “levitates” up ramps instead of walking, his inability to jump as high as I would like him to be able to (long story, but basically if I allow him to jump any higher, he just floats off into space regardless of the gravity settings), and the fact that his character collider can only cover the front part of his body because the default 3rd person character controls are for humanoids, and he is much longer than he is tall. I fully intend to fix all these issues at some point (once I figure out how to…) but I needed to post this now for the sake of submitting the project. Also, he doesn’t have a jump animation at the time I am posting this… we’ll see what I can do to make that happen in the next 24 hours!

Playthrough/Walkthrough/Waddle-through:

Download Links:

Windows and Mac: ClownRat_Builds (Only Windows has been tested — my computer is not a Mac)

*I will be updating this folder with future versions — 12/19 is the version being submitted for class. Future iterations will include: fixes for the previously stated issues, more clutter objects and the ability to take them back to the rat house, circus posters and a rat family photo on the walls, and the ability to perform simple tricks!

Screenshots:

Description:

This project follows Bongo — a rat who performs as an early 1900s circus clown — as he explores the main tent after the crowds have gone for the day. It is a primarily exploration-based game, allowing the player to relax and enjoy viewing the world from a different perspective. Bongo’s small size allows him to travel to parts of the map otherwise inaccessible to humans: narrow, dark tunnels connect various parts of the tent to one another, as well as to his own rat house. The map comprises close to 50 unique assets, as most of my idea for assets were individual items that were only meant to appear once or twice. Bongo himself was modeled, rigged, and animated by hand in Zbrush and 3DS Max; as this term was my first time rigging a character, I am decently pleased with how it turned out.

Reflection:

I have definitely learned a lot about workflow and the importance of staying organized when trying to juggle (no pun intended) so many individual small components. I also feel I have gained a bit more confidence when it comes to 3D art; prior to this course, I don’t think I would have considered myself to be a 3D artist — just someone who happened to do 3D modeling in a few classes. Doing all the work for a project like this by myself has also made me realize what parts of the process I enjoy and might consider pursuing a job in, as well as the parts that I’m not so fond of. Lastly, I learned that I need to set up a stricter daytime work schedule for myself; when left to my own devices, I will end up getting dangerously close to just becoming nocturnal.

Credits:

Thank you to: Alex Colwell at WPI for the adorable background music, Caratcoin on eBay for the photo of a 1920s penny used to make the texture of the coins, ProAssets on the Unity Store for the skybox, and the dozens of creators on YouTube whose tutorials and advice prevented me from fully losing my marbles over this quadruped character.