Ghost Journey More Info

Level Designer, Audio + UI Engineer

Designed and implemented 3 main dashing levels along with multiple other levels.
Implemented all of the audio including spoken dialogue, sound effects and music.
Implemented Main Menu button functionality.

Design Process

The design process overall was fairly straightforward. Our design pillars were fluid movement, simplistic, and linear. We knew from the start that the jumping and dashing mechanics were going to be essential to the game, so we worked closely with the programmers during the design process to make sure that the movement felt fluid. The overall outline of the game's level structure had already been sketched out by our team lead so we followed that closely while designing the levels. I was constantly iterating during my design process, testing to see if the level design was fun and relatively challenging for the player.

Level Design

The prototype sketch that ended up being very similar to the design final game.
We decided to have 3 jumping levels and 3 dashing levels total.
The introduction levels would be the easiest levels and introduce the player to the jumping and dashing mechanics.

To the left, my first prototype sketch of what a possible dashing level was going to be.
After feedback from my other fellow designer and the team, I realized that the level was too vertical and the platforms were too small. These conditions did not fit our vision for the game as we wanted the player to move around a lot more without having to constantly make jumps to advance through the level. The ability to run across the map and the fluidity of the game was lost.

Updated Dashing Level 1 sketch
This was designed in a way to introduce the player to the dashing mechanic in the game.
The platforms are longer and give the player more space to move.

Updated Dashing Level 2 sketch
Spikes are introduced and the platforms are further apart, making the level more difficult.
The falling rocks didn't end up in the final game due to time constraints.

Implementation Process

The implementation process was challenging since the team was very busy throughout the quarter, which meant that deadlines had to be pushed back and certain goals had to be scrapped. I stepped up to shoulder some of the required tasks such as implementing dialogue, sound effects, music, and the main menu button functionality.

Implementing Dialogue and Audio

Designing and implementing dialogue it was a new experience for me, but my team had already laid the groundwork for the system. There was a box collider that would trigger the dialogue script. All I had to do was implement the spoken audio dialogue.
I wrote a Play Dialogue script that would play the audio source of the dialogue if the player triggered the collider.
I also implemented the dash sound effect of the player through the player movement code.

Reflection

This project was my most involved project yet, I learned more about UI and Audio implementation was well as level design. Since a portion of my team had other time commitments and couldn't work on the project, I helped out by taking on those responsibilities. I learned a lot these topics as a result.

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