My Game

Planning a Comprehensive Game Level Design

Genres and Themes

My game will be a Top Down Shooter game set in a frozen derelict of a once-grand city.

The player must make their way through a concrete maze, with their only protection being the campfires dotted around the map.

The game will be relatively linear with the exception of branched paths in some buildings.

Target Audience

My game is to be marketed towards teenage casual gamers. I will need to build the game around this. The game should feature simple mechanics that are easily understood. The level should start off easy, introducing the player to the mechanics before throwing them into the deep end.

Mechanics

Player

The player will be able to run, and throw snowballs to attack

The attack will be used to kill smaller enemies

Bigger and stronger enemies will need to be killed in different ways

There are two ways the player can die

By being hit by enemies
By freezing to death

To avoid freezing the player will need to reach campfires within a small amount of time

The player will fire the snowball at the mouse position

The snowball must be recharged by holding down a button, during this time the player will be unable to move. If the player moves the charge is cancelled.

World

The biggest focus of this game is that the world is your enemy. This is represented in my game literally in the sense that the weather is constantly killing you.

There will be a handful of enemy types, most enemies can be killed directly by the player, however some may need to be drawn towards a campfire to be killed
The player will need to reach an Obelisk that will give them insight into what has happened. They will then need to backtrack through the level as the building begins to collapse
As the player's timer gets low, the screen will appear to freeze over and blur.
As the building collapses another timer is created that counts down to the building caving in.

Level Progression

The player will progress by reaching statues at the end of each level. These statues will tell the player a piece of the story. They will then need to backtrack through the level on a timer as the building collapses

Challenges

Some Puzzles will involve killing a large enemy to get a key, that must then be taken to a locked door. Most users will be able to easily understand this mechanic, as soon as they see a door with a lock symbol they will understand that they need a key to get past
Some Rooms will be filled with enemies that try to stop the player from progressing. The enemies will simply chase the player on sight, making it obvious to the player that the enemy sees them as a target
Upon talking to the Obelisk, a timer will be set, more and more enemies will spawn as the player attempts to flee, hoping to prevent their escape.

This part of the level should invoke tension in the player, making for an exhilarating end of the level

The enemies can make use of simple pathfinding algorithms, meaning less complex code is required to get the enemy to chase the player in a top down setting.

Rewards

The only reward that the player will have is survival, the player will be granted temporary reprieve with campfires, as well as health pickups that can be dropped from enemies. The campfires will protect them from the cold while health pickups will heal any damage taken from enemies.

Having a simple reward with a clear impact on the player's survivability will make the player want to seek them out for an overall improvement in survivability. They can also act as pointers, directing the player towards the end of the level, or leading them to a secret area. Using a clear reward will help casual players understand it's value.

They are also appropriate for the top down format as I can make use of radiuses to display the area of the campfire's effect, making it much easier for the player to see which areas of the map feature a campfire

Wireframe of the Level

This is a simple wireframe of a level in my game.
Each room is represented by a transparent box with walls
There are campfires dotted around the map, these will allow the player to recover from freezing
The blue doors are ones that the player can instantly walk through
The red doors require a key to be opened
The Grey door will open once you speak to the obelisk
The Red Circles are Enemies
The yellow squares are keys that can be used to unlock doors

This level design features challenges that are appropriate for my target audience. The player will have to kill monsters to protect themselves, and hurry to the nearest campfire when their health is low. There isn't a lot of violence, and while the enemies will look somewhat morbid, there is nothing necessarily graphic or scary about them.

Over time this will become more difficult as enemies will become more frequent, and there will be a greater distance between campfires, these obstacles are easy to understand but can create some extremely tense and challenging experiences, where time management is key. Having simple obstacles in my game will allow casual gamers to understand them easily and find enjoyment in overcoming them, while still being challenging enough to make the player feel as if they have achieved something by overcoming them.

This wireframe portrays a map that is fairly open ended, promoting exploration while still being easily-traversed. This is great for casual gamers as they can get lost in the world, but can easily find their way back to the correct path.

My game's sole reward is the campfires dotted around the map, reaching each campfire will feel like an achievement as the player knows they are making progress by discovering a new one. Finding more makes traversing the map easier for the player. Having a reward that explicitly makes the player's life easier makes this great for casual gamers as they know that they can run back and heal if they have recently discovered a campfire.

Below is a labeled design layout of the level, providing more detail on how the game's difficulty will increase over time.

How does this fit the genre?

Having clearly laid out rooms separated by corridors is a layout that should feel familiar to most player, as many top-down shooters feature this dungeon-like design. rooms are varying in size, however they are all similar shapes. Top down shooters make use of this layout as it provides clear areas to place enemies and rewards, while featuring a clear path from beginning to end, with room for exploration in between.

How does this fit the target audience?

Having a small gap between the first and second campfire will allow the player to discover the timer mechanic without risking a quick and unfair death. Enemies are introduced in a large room with a lot of room to maneuver. The player will be able to avoid the majority of obstacles this way. This is fitting for casual audiences as it will provide a shallow learning curve before the mechanics are put into place in more risky scenarios.

Wireframe of the UI

My HUD is very simple, featuring a wheel counter that ticks down until the player either reaches a fire or dies. It also features a healthbar, which the player will be able to replenish over time, if this runs out the player will die.

NEXT STEPS: I need to create a list of all the assets that I need for my game. This will include:

Sprites
Animations
SFX
Music
Backgrounds
Tilesets

Assets To-Do list:

Sprites:

Player /
Enemy /
Setpieces (campfire,Obelisk)
keys
doors
GUI
Projectile /

Animations:

Player walk /
Player idle /
Player Attack?
Enemy walk

SFX

walking?
attack
player hit
enemy hit
death
Obelisk Speech sound?
Enemy Idle Sounds

Music

In Game

Backgrounds:

World Background Tile set

Game over background

Below is the asset table for my game, it features all the assets I created as well as any sourced assets, including the licenses involved.

[Scroll through to see the full document]

Created Assets

Below is the development table of my game. The table is broken down into sections, the name of the component, the node (behavior) used, the code that interacts with said node, and an explanation of the node. Scroll down for full document

Development Table

Over time the level becomes more difficult, featuring enemies guarding the campfires and ending with a large group of enemies in a small room, preventing the player from reaching the campfire.

If the player is skilled enough, they can make use of the ricochet mechanic in which snowballs will bounce off of one enemy, extending it's lifetime. The player can chain these together to clear an entire room of enemies if they aim it perfectly.

My final Product

I developed a finished level with a clear beginning and end as well as an easy-to-digest path to the end. The level got more challenging as it progressed.

The level starts by introducing the player to the campfire mechanic, having them walk through an empty room. During this time they should see that their timer is ticking down, and realize that they need to stand in the campfire to replenish it.

Then they will reach the first room with enemies. This room is noticeably larger than the rest of the rooms in the game, allowing the player to avoid the enemies while they learn the shoot mechanic.

How does my game suit the genre

My game's controls and map layout are highly reminiscent of other games in the genre, meaning they should be familiar with fans of the genre. Using the mouse to aim around the screen has been a tried-and-true control scheme for the majority of top-down shooters, making it fit in amongst other games in the genre. What makes my game stand out is the unique life system, making use of a timer rather than a traditional heart system, and using safe zones to heal rather than pickups.

How does my game suit the target audience

My game is fitting for the target audience as it uses less saturated colors, giving the character a more muted and hostile atmosphere to adventure in. Through this my game feels less childish without breaching any gaps that would impact the certification of my game. The control scheme is easy to grasp making it more easy for the player to grasp.

How my assets fit the theme

My game is a Top down shooter with the theme of surviving extinction. it is set in a world that has frozen over and the player must fight through the hoards of morbid creatures to survive with the ever-present threat of freezing to death

Player - The player is a person wearing a large coat with a hood. This design is fitting for the theme as it conveys that the character is attempting to fight off the cold

Background - The background in my game is completely dark, which fits the tone of the game by creating a feeling of mystery, the player may wonder what is down there, which is revealed later in the game

Collectibles - Rather than traditional collectables, the player finds campfires to restore their meter. I believed that including abundant collectables would bring down the tone of the game as it would feel less empty and desolated

Enemy - The main enemies are small, unknown creatures covered in black fur. I considered this design to be appropriate as they don't look like anything that can be found in the real world, meaning they must have had something to do with the disaster that led the player to where they are now.

Terrain - My game's terrain is covered in snow, the walls are made of cold, blue bricks topped with snow. This gives the idea that the player is exploring long-abandoned buildings looking for others.

Test Log and Evaluation

The document below shows post-development testing, feedback from various users, as well as an evaluation of the product and how I could improve in the future. Scroll down for full document

Test Log

Strengths

My game features a player that can move in four directions with the Arrow Keys, and shoot by aiming with the mouse, a control scheme that is easy to understand for casual gamers.

Weaknesses

My game does not feature the end-of-level menu, I was too heavily focused on other elements to implement this mechanic. During further development I would add this, activating when the player reaches the last campfire.

One of my test users believed that the timer was too generous. In further development I would tweak the timer until it felt urgent enough without being too difficult for causal audiences.

Comprehensive Game Design

Assets:

My assets are designed to fit around the theme of a cold, hostile environment. The character wears a hood, which will suggest to the audience that they are attempting to fight of the cold.

They also use snowballs as a weapon, this is an appropriate weapon for the game as it is set in a snowy environment, making these weapons an easy option. This also plays to give the audience an insight to the character's personality and backstory, having absolutely nothing to defend themselves thus being resourceful and using the natural resources around them as a weapon

Level Design:

My game has a smooth difficulty curve as the player is given all of the mechanics to begin with and can test them freely before entering any challenging territory.

The environment is fitting for the theme, the use of cold colors makes it seem more hostile and harsh. This signifies to the user that their main goal should be to survive in this harsh environment.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse