Game Art & Design

Floating Training Level

Introduction

I built a world that is immersive and fun. It has platform jumps that challenge the players parkour abilities while starting on stationary platforms, and then moving ones. My world is unique because it has a lot of coins. A lot of other people's levels only have a few for the player to collect, but I allow my player to find over 50 coins and 3 gems. It makes the player follow a more specific path because they will want to collect the coins that they see. It is fun to play because of this because there is always a new coin to collect along your path.

Floating Training Level overview

My original idea was to make the level not too challenging at the beginning, but get a little harder towards the end as you get used to the feel of the character. I also wanted to make this level easier because it was the first introductory level for the player. I didn't want to put the player in a near impossible situation at the beginning because that would turn them away. My idea remained the same as I worked and didn't change much as I was building. I thought that hiding the gems was the most fun because you could put them anywhere and see if the player could collect them. It was fun to let my creativity go wild and think of wild places they could go in the scene. The most difficult thing to create was the island movement animation because so many things had to be put in the right place for it to work. The blueprint tool was the most useful because it allowed a visual way to see how things were working in the code. I can't write very much code, so being able to make a game without that is very useful because that is what a game is based on.

I am most proud of the completion of the level because I learned how to use so many different things. I now understand the basics on how the blueprints function, how to create animations, how to allow the player to collect items (key, coins), and create a UI. All of these things were new to me, so learning all these things in the form of a game to show off to people makes me proud. I can see where I've come from and how that has changed my creation of the game. If I were to improve something if I had more time I would make the level harder. I made the level easy because it was the first thing I created, but it doesn't get much harder. This gets a little boring, and doesn't encourage replaying the game. It would give the player a more entertaining game, and give a snippet of what it could be like in later levels.

The Valley

Introduction

The valley is a world that is placed inside the valleys of mountains. The mountains act as barriers to guide to player throughout the levels of the game, without skipping or leaving the map. In this unit I added the landscape noted above, but also detailed certain areas of the game that would eventually become the start of levels. We also added a castle in the middle of the map that the character has to find a key in the village to get to. The village was also created in this unit, so that the castle didn't feel so out of place, and that the player has more immersion. My world is interesting to explore because of the night theme that I applied to it. Most of the worlds similar to this are in the day, so I made a world that was darker and had street lamps lead the way through the checkpoints of the game.

Valley Reflection

The parts of the world that I expanded on the most would probably be the decoration, and not just having a plain world. This was done by decorating the checkpoints instead of just leaving them alone, or adding foliage. The foliage was a big part of how the world came to life because it added so much texture and depth to the world. I think that learning how to make flickering lights and shadows and landscape building are two very important skills learned in this unit. The world building was very important because it set the foundation for what our world is going to look like, and without it the game wouldn't be playable. Making realistic lights is also important because I learned how to use many different part of the blueprints, and the lights can be used to help decorate the scene and make it more lively.

From unit 5 I am most proud of the fact that my world looks so detailed. I am happy with how I added the foliage and the decoration for the village, castle, and checkpoints. I am also excited that these things that I am happy with can be expanded upon in the next unit as we build the levels. The world looks a lot different than the end of unit 4 because the scene is more detailed, and has a lot of texture. In unit 4 the world consisted of different flat islands that were all the same. If I had more time I would want to improve the detail of the homes in the castle village. This is because I didn't have much time to add windows, decoration, and such.

Challenges

Introduction

The game now feels like an actual game now that there is gameplay. You can actually go through and play through all the levels and each of them have a unique challenge that the player has to complete. These challenges include the sweeper arm; a parkour challenge that you have to go through while dodging pendulums and blades that go around in a circle, boulder hill; where boulders are rolling down a hill, and you have to dodge them while getting up the hill. The other two are the timed village; where you have to get through an obstacle course in a certain amount of time and the guarded market; where there were towers that shoot at you when you get near them. These mechanics make the player experience the game better because there is a goal to meet, and something to do.

Challenges Reflection

The challenge that was the most difficult to build was the gaurded village reflection. This is because I had to spend an extra day to try to figure out what I did wrong. It thought that I had everything in the right places, but something was off, and not working. It wasn't spawning in the projectiles that would home in on the character. The problem was a simple fix that he briefly mentioned with a box that you needed to click for a certain setting. This one setting fixed the entire thing, and a spent all that time trying to figure out what was wrong in the code when there really wasn't anything. To balance difficulty to keep it fair I would make the jumps pretty easy for the most part with a few more difficult ones in the mix. This made the load more managambe, so that the player can have a challenge, but not be overwhelmed. This also makes the player want to keep playing because they know that they can beat the level, and that it isn't a waste of time. My favorite mechanic of the game is the rolling boulders. I like this mechanic so much because I think the challenge is unique, and that the balls having ability to know how to spawn an object from a location is very useful. If I had more time I would make the model to the imp in the towers that throw projectiles better. I don't like how low effort and low poly the character was. I would want to make it a little more complicated to fit with the vibe of the game better. 

UI and Cutscenes

Introduction

I learned that in order to tell a story of a level it is important to have a cutscenes. They show the player important scenes that would otherwise have to be imagined. It helps get the point across of a certain idea or show what is happening. I think that the music has the biggest influence on the emotion of the player because they will use it to associate with danger and safety. This will make people more calm and stressed in certain areas, which other things wouldn't be able to convey. If I could add one more cinematic element or audio piece I would add a loading screen when you finish a level. This would make the game feel more professional and be a cool way to showcase a part of the game in a picture format.

UI and Cutscenes Reflection

I learned that through visuals and sound you can affect the way a player feels in a certain area or how they feel about something else. You can use these things by quickening the pace of a music for a challenge to make it feel more stressful than it actually is. You can also use visuals like cutscenes to make a player exited to play the game. This is because they see what is going to come and want to get to it, so they play more and more. Both these things are used in ways to make the player have a certain experience when playing a game. A feature that enhances the play of the game is cutscenes. These can be used to make the player excited to play a game. It shows them what they could get to and explore, so they want to get to that point. This makes them feel emotional tied to the game because they are so invested in finishing what they started. A thing that I would add to make the game feel a little better would be footsteps of the player walking. This would add immersion to the game and make you feel like you are the one actually moving around in the scene.

Level Expansion Project

Concept Statement

The level I will be designing will involve the player to use a double jump to get from one place to another in the sky. There will be a rope that you can swing from. This fits into the existing game because it involves parquoring around from one place to another but with unique principles. It has the underlining principle of a lot of the levels in the game, but expands upon that to make it different. This will target player experience because they will get better at the movement in this game, but give them I challenge to see if they truly know how to use it. The player experience will be better because it isn't just repeating the same thing that has been done before in the previous levels.

Game Elements Breakdown

The main elements of the level were already listed above, so this is to expand upon that and describe how I will do it. The double jump will be similar to the other power ups that you can collect, where it runs on a timer and you run through it to get the power. The swing will be a little more complicated because I will need to find a way to have the player stick to a rod or rope type thing without falling off. The rod will have to be animated to swing like the pendulum in the sweeper arm challenge. These elements will be combined to complete the objective of being high in the sky and jumping from cliff to cliff. The challenge of this level is that you will need to time your jumps and swing from place to place at the right time. 

Ethics and Rating Justification

I would give this game and the level an E for everyone. I would give it this rating because it isn't made for just little kids and no one else can play it. It also doesn't have anything that would make it unsuitable to younger kids. The game isn't gory, and there is little violence aside from a cartoon character throwing bottles. This is why I think the game is suited for all people.

Map of Level

Cut Scene Story Board

Game Design Document

The players objective in the level that I'm designing to expand on the main game is about jumping and swinging from mountain to mountain. They will have to time the jumps accordingly to make it across certain jumps. To have this challenge succeed I will start by making the map with mountains or cliffs rising from the ground. To make it look really high I will add a fog effect either with something already included or with a particle emitter on the ground. The next step will be to apply some textures to the map to make it look mountainous and rocky. This will bring the map to life, and the next step will be to create the actual function of the level. I will create a double jump to place on various maintains to span gaps. I will then work on creating a vine and animate it to swing back and forth in a sequence. This will be used to cling onto and then jump off. To accomplish this task and make it look good I will need to find an asset for an animation for the character. This will be of the player swinging or hanging from a pole. After completing all the functions for the level I need to connect the UI so it goes to this level as you finish the previous one. I will also need to make a spot where you can see that you have collected the double jump boost, to make it easier to see if you have the powerup.