Week 7 has been a dramatic increase in positivity for me. Developing the new level, Sunset Showdown, has been both entertaining and hugely productive. As of Friday (after 3 days work) the level is complete functionally, and can be played from start to finish. It is the hardest level (as it is the final one of our beta build) and other than collectible floppy disks, is ready for players to experience. I have had a few non-team members play through it, and have had a positive response.
This week I also rebalanced and finished the second level, ‘Falling Down’ to make sure it was ready for the artists to attack with their wonderful art brushes. The level was tweaked to make it much easier, as well as adding in both checkpoints and floppy disks throughout. I am pretty happy with how Falling Down functions, and am positive about its position within our overarching structure. I fixed some small issues with this level, as well as adding in the energy fence, which is now fully usable. The energy fence blocks the players’ way until it is deactivated, and usually will require players to use a crate on a pressure plate in order to proceed. There are both button-activated and plate-activated options within the game, to make sure that players understand how both of these concepts work. Making this level complete also energised my desire to complete the final level as well. In the meantime, we also created a bunch of new assets for the game. On my suggestion, Conrad and Scott between them created a wagon and a horse, as well as textures and other props. The massive prop injection into the scenes has made the game look a lot better already. Sunset Showdown, the final level, is something that came together in the first few days of week 7, which was hugely inspiring. The final level uses all of the mechanics present in the other levels, and presents quite a challenge. I am happy both with the level of challenge and the level of entertainment presented to the player. Some platforming and grappling parts in particular are more challenging than any of the other levels, and the requirement for player skill is somewhat higher. I still have to go through the level and add in new content (like the water towers) as well as tidy up some elements, but I am hugely positive about the result that I have reached with Sunset Showdown, as well as the bounce back from last week’s mediocrity. This week I have also tidied up my documentation, and am starting to log everything properly. The documentation in the group log that I created I have not been using as much as I should, so I have gone back and added in the tasks that I completed over the past week. The last few days that we have to work on the game will be productive and result in a title that we can be proud of, fortunately.
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I spent Week 6 entirely working on different concepts for new levels. On Monday, I decided that I would work towards a much larger level, with the goal of creating a much larger and open space for players to move around.
Initially I had a lot of problems with this, as I was unable to come up with a way of creating a level of such size that also felt like it was focused. I went through three different prototypes over the week, trying out different puzzles that never really seemed to fit. On Friday, I re-evaluated the focus that I had on making a much larger level, and decided that my approaches were largely a waste of time. The little progress that I had made had resulted in very little entertaining, playable content being produced. I was unhappy with my week 6, mostly because the work that I created was not entertaining or interesting at all, and felt largely like a waste of time. I am optimistic about the next week, as I have a plan in place to make sure that I am more productive and create something entertaining. Week 1 of the beta for me was spent developing two new levels. With the decision made to focus on the Wild West world, I developed an initial level (as a tutorial) that introduces jumping, movement, and button presses. This level will take maximum 30s - 1 minute for an experienced player, and is intended to serve as a very small introduction before players jump into the rest of the game. The second level I created was a mostly falling-platform level, entitled ‘Falling Down’. This level serves mostly as an introduction to the concept of falling platforms, and includes several different arrangements of these, including objects where the player is pushed off, when they have to jump from platform to platform, and where players have to move around the outside of a building, to climb to the top. I see this level as a natural escalation of the challenge of the game, so it is not intended to be approached after the previously mentioned tutorial level. With ‘Falling Down’, I wanted to experiment more with creating interesting platforming environments, and understanding the limits of the character. A secondary goal was to make a level a bit bigger than the previous levels, as I had not yet made a level that was actually large. The level took about 3 days total to create, - including drawing, implementation, and testing. In terms of components, it includes falling platforms, pushing blocks, a small vertical platforming section, repeated timed jumps, circular platforming, and a small amount of navigation in a larger area, that forces the player to jump between pillar-oriented platforms. The team’s response to the level was pretty positive again, but with a number of required changes to make as well. In the previous level that I created for the demo, the pushing blocks often infuriated players because of the timing. Mistiming the blocks meant that the level’s flow was much worse. I retooled how the pushing blocks worked, to allow them to chain off each other. I also created a trigger area to make sure that the blocks only start moving when the player gets close. This means that if the player wants to sprint through the level, it is facilitated by the design. Enabling fast runs means that I am able to make sure that everything can flow properly and feel really smooth to play. The level design sections I have experimented with thus far in other levels have been put in here (pushing blocks, jumping around a tower, etc.) and there are no grappling hooks. Next week I will go back and test the level, to make sure that things like jump spacing or timing are accurate. This level will most likely be the third or fourth level, and include mechanics and objectives for the player that will not be possible without first getting used to the grappling and jumping. I am happy with the current focus of the level, however it will require some tuning before I move on to the next level, as well as mechanical implementation (it requires buttons, as well as doors and switches) before the level can be completed aesthetically.
During week 4, I built yet another level. After spending so much time on the third level, I once again revisited what I should put as the main focus for the level - which came back to platforming. The enemy turrets in the level that I created, for example, were merely annoying rather than challenging. I think this was because I added them as an afterthought, rather than as a focal mechanic. So this week I started designing the level on paper first.
The above image is the final design of the level, after several different iterations. I went through several basic ideas, while also building on the mechanics that I had tested in the second level I had built. With this level, I wanted to test platforming and grappling proficiency above all else, as well as offer the player an opportunity to play around with the mechanics in a fairly open area. Extra mechanics (like making grappling hooks descend on button press) or moving blocks were introduced and added in order to vary up the different types of challenges. The level was changed back to a much more linear structure, with small sections of variance in moving left/right and up/down in order to progress (like button presses). I felt like a more linear structure would help my design skills improve faster, as I did not have to worry about players moving around unpredictably, and could offer a more responsive and interesting level. I put a lot of thought into designing this level, concepting several different stages until I felt they were appropriate. I am continuing to learn as much about level design as I can as fast as I can, and I feel like the result was a lot better than last week’s level. The initial response to it was very positive, and I continued building on it, adding some puzzles (though not as many as the previous level) and more platforming challenges. Using platforming alongside the grappling hooks proved to be a very entertaining component of the game, and required most of the team to attempt some sections in the level multiple times. Some of these issues were due to my inaccurate placement of grappling points and platforms, resulting in hard-to-complete jumps or movements that were impossible without getting used to mechanical quirks. The entire level layout and development took a few days, and then testing was required in order to get the level ‘feeling’ good. In preparation for the submission, however, we needed some extra, smaller levels. Both Dylan and Josh created smaller levels that showed off the other mechanics that we have in the game that I did not put into the levels. In week 5, I will again alter my approach somewhat as we enter beta phase. Rather than focusing on solely mechanics, there will also be a ‘theme’ to each level that connects to the world. The team discussion on Monday will involve deciding what the theme of the first world will be, and then the five levels that make up that world. From this point onward, level design will be more directed, with clear visions laid out for each level that is backed up in their design. Because we have the level select framework and the holo room complete, (mostly) implementing world-switching is the last main system to address. Week 3 During Week 3 I learnt a lot about level design. Over the 5 days, I completely redid the second level, focusing on a different type of approach. The original version of the first level was much more linear. It followed a straight path, requiring players to complete the puzzles in a linear fashion. I have changed my approach to level design for this type of level; mostly because of the way the grappling hook works. How the Grappling Hook influences level design philosophy The grappling hook is a movement ability. This means that the player will want to move around as much as possible, because the hook is an alternative to normal movement. Because grappling movement allows the player to move in a large circle, spaces have to be much larger. This meant that the original level that I designed felt underwhelming compared to the ultimate ‘grapple fantasy’ that the player could experience. Only progressing along a linear path means that the mechanic becomes severely underutilised. I have altered the approach in this level, to cater to the idea of moving around freely. Where the previous iteration started the player and forced them through a linear ‘gauntlet’, this approach is more open. The green cubes above indicate the presence of a goal, and the red colours are hazards. This colouration was added as part of making the area more open, as it indicates to players what the object on top of the platform is. The pattern will also likely be changed or altered to compensate for players who are unable to distinguish that particular colour. The block-red boxes indicate the presence of switches, and the player will need to hit these to progress. Originally ordered, the buttons have had required ordering removed as part of assisting the flow of play. Requiring players to hit buttons in a particular order is an interesting but ultimately tedious mechanic if done repeatedly.
Each of the puzzles has a particular focus; one introduces the player to the mechanics by requiring the player to move out of cover to hit the buttons before the turret shoots them. The second puzzle requires the player to swing between platforms hitting the buttons while a pair of turrets shoots at them. The third puzzle (and the final on the first stage of this level) is a platforming challenge that requires players to make accurate jumps to progress, and buttons ordered from bottom-to-top. There are two platforms on the second level; one introduces laser walls and the other requires players to grapple around a central object. Because this level will eventually become the first level of a world, multiple mechanics are introduced in this level that will be expanded in later levels. In particular, I have an idea for further development of a level focused around the ‘central object to swing around’ idea, with multiple mechanics used in tandem to make it even more interesting. Changing the design of the entire first level will come later on, but the iteration on top of the second level has been successful thus far. The level feels more open and entertaining to play now, rather than a linear trudge. While the level can be completed extremely quickly, there will likely be additional puzzles added to flesh out the content further. During week two, we worked on a decent amount of new mechanics - like the glider - and also built another level. I built the second level with a focus on grappling, the new enemies (turrets) and ancillary mechanics (doors + buttons and lasers) I structured the level in a simple style, iterating on the mechanics that are presented to the player to make sure they learn them in a particular order. The main mechanic of this level is the turrets themselves, as it will be the first time that they are presented to the player. To introduce the turrets properly, I decided that they should first be presented to the player in a linear, somewhat safe fashion. The addition of the range limiter to the turrets means that players will be able to see the active range of the turret and play around it. This means that the player will be able to clearly see the threat of the turret, as it is completely visible. Level 2 also includes mechanics like ‘the chimney’ - a downward fall through a boxy area filled with lasers, multiple grapple points ‘chained together’, and areas that will most likely need to be fully expanded during the testing period. Level 2 is now at the same stage as level 1, and both will likely be revisited this week as we ramp up our testing, transitioning from just testing mechanics towards a focus on testing levels. This week we also further developed our character controller, due to a few issues that we had. Firstly, I created a test environment with four differing friction values on different surfaces, then created boxes with those same values to jump between repeatedly, for players to get used to. We then got members of the development team to test the colours, as well as others from outside our group. The consensus was that values between 0.6 and 0.8 friction feel ‘far better’ than lower friction values. These values will be implemented (along with other adjustments to values regarding jump height) together in preparation for our level testing in the future. Playtesting was the way we finished our week. We got a small group (read: 3) of people to test the gliding mechanics, as well as our jumping mechanics. The feedback was overall very positive, something that we were relieved about. Week 3 should involve getting the levels ready for playtesting, as well as making sure that every mechanic is polished and works well. We have some cursory bugfixing to do for the game, to make sure that random issues do not pop up in our progression to the beta version of the game. This week was all about change. After we all returned from our lengthy break, we immediately began scoping for the next stage - Alpha build. While we were happy with the version of Klepto that we submitted, we knew that we needed to make a number of changes moving forward. The goals that we were outlining revolved around creating environments for players to move around - levels with more freedom and the ability to move around the map. These ideas were ultimately rejected, in favour of a much more linear design. From now on, the levels in Klepto will be designed to be much more linear, and built around a central mechanic (like falling platforms, or timers). Each level will have a few collectibles, which will be used elsewhere in the game. We have a few ideas for systems like this - like playable minigames or cosmetic benefits for players. The types of mechanics we will focus on will mostly relate to platforming, which feels like the best direction to move in for us. This week, we have also been doing work on the character controller. The controller now feels much more reliable when it comes to jumping - when the player is moving and jumps, the distance that the character jumps is much more in line with reasonable level design, in terms of space. Previously, the jump was far too large for levels, making design difficult in terms of tuning how quickly the player could move through the level. The goal for the end of this week is to have two levels fully playable (not artistically complete) and able to be tweaked and adjusted. This is so that we are able to fully test mechanics properly, to make sure that everything about the controller feels smooth. |
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September 2017
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