"Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive." —Elbert Hubbard
Game Designer |
A Pit of Despair | Alpha
Started | 5/23
Completed | 6/23
Est. Logged Time: 24hrs
Pre-Production
DESIGN CONCEPT
Genre: Survival | Time period: 1800 | Location: Earth | Inhabitants: None
Game Level Description
This is a game level where the player experiences surviving an infected wound they can succumb to in 12 minutes. In 3rd person they need to venture a misty section of a jungle, in 1st Person they need to brave the inside of a cave and when they climb their camera changes to a Platform Side Scroller. All to reach the campsite on the cliff they fell from.
CREATIVE VISION & LEVEL OUTLINE
Maps & Mood
In preparation to blockout the level I mapped out a design from the photo references of real world places for reference and inspiration for Texture, Lighting and Structure.
JUNGLE
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MISTY, SHADED, WILD
CAVE
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DANK, DARK, STONY
CLIFF
DRY, BRIGHT, SCENIC
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Environment Design
The level is design to have 3 paths that will reach the ending area from the starting area. They intertwine and have objectives that takes them throughout the entire level.
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Objectives
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1 Main Objective: Reach the Campsite
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1 Required Objective: Retrieve the Lighter to:
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Set Vines on fire
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Ignite Dynamite
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Blow up Wall
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Light Lantern
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Melt Statue
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2 Option Objectives
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Find Hidden Messages
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Locate Treasures
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Pre-Alpha
GAMEPLAY
Level Pacing
The idea was that whichever path the player decided to take, it should take them no more than 2 minutes to reach the end. Each path intertwines with another path so that the paths do not feel linear.
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Gameplay Mechanic IPM
Before building the level I created a chart to help guide how the level should be created. Although this isn't the final result it definitely assisted in blocking out the level. I did a similar chart for the Level mechanics.
GAMEPLAY MECHANICS
Lighter & Torch Combination
Burn dried bamboo sticks by setting it on fire with the torch mechanic. First light the torch if you have the flint and torch in your inventory and just standing next to the sticks with the torch lit will burn it down. The player will be introduced to if they choose path 2.
Lighter & Dynamite Combination
Blow up brick walls by using the dynamite mechanic. First light the dynamite and stand next to the brick wall and it auto-places itself. The player will be introduced to the dynamite inf they choose the 3rd path.
Lighter & Lantern & Door Combo
Open the Stone Door by lighting the lantern and standing next to the door. The player is introduced to this machinic if the choose the cave path
Hidden Message Boards
To see hidden messages on the boards the player just needs to light the lantern and stand next to the board. The player witnesses light reveal the message with the elevator mechanic in the temple and can use that knowledge to see other messages on boards through out the level.
Slowly depleting Stamina
The story goes Dr. Tenderfoot fell in the pit after getting bit from a snake. When she awoke the poison had taken affect and every so often she loses stamina. Certain plants can be consumed to replenish stamina or increase the poisonous effect.
LEVEL MECHANICS
Platform: Lava Flow & Elevator
The platform circles between the three sections of the cave giving the player a different path to get back to the surface. The platform moves along a spline. For the elevator the player use the rocks to reach the window however the lava itself is just as deadly as the flowing lava.
Physics: Swinging Vines & Pushing Bamboo
These vine are similar to the bamboo sticks being pushed aside. The differ in the fact that the swing back and forth. I intended this to make the player feel like they are forcing their way to an unintended path, but its all intended to find the secret path to the end.The green bamboo sticks are able to be pushed aside. This acts as some player facing information letting the player know they can go in that direction or if they've already travel through that route.
Player Inversion
Burn dried bamboo sticks by setting it on fire with the torch mechanic. First light the torch if you have the flint and torch in your inventory and just standing next to the sticks with the torch lit will burn it down. The player will be introduced to if they choose path 2.
Alpha
LEVEL DESIGN
Blockmesh Playthrough with Commentary (No Mechanics)
I did a playthrough demonstrating each path and where the intend end mechanics will go. Some mechanics mentioned in the video are not apart of the initial concept and in the end of the project other mechanics were added as flavor or to handle the win loss condition.
Landscaping
Though the gameplay area is small the the level itself appears that it has more to it. From within the cave there are scenic views of the volcano activity or the river flowing beyond the valley.
Architecture
The play area is confined to 70x70 meter cube and has elevation for the clifftop and depth for the cave.
Modular Assets
Created using Unreal Engines material graph I created a small Jungle Modular pack to utilized throughout the Jungle area. The material itself distorted the meshes for the jungle making the foliage look untamed. Improvising, I removed the material from the tree to use it as a petrified tree in the cave.
PLAYER FACING INFORMATION
Blockmesh Playthrough with Mechanics
Bare minimum display for simplicity everything the player needs to know and what is available to them is displayed right away. For Audio Feedback the mechanics reinforce their activation and can be heard in the full playthrough.
User Interface
Bare minimum display for simplicity everything the player needs to know and what is available to them is displayed right away. For Textual Feedback I used white letters outlined in black for contrast to share information with the player. Nothing urgent to make the player pay extra attention to the text. I didn't want the text to totally pull the player out of immersion. Inventory is just the 2 items because there is no bag in this project so the player only have their hands to hold items.
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Visual Feedback
I designed the level using different types of breadcrumbs to help guide the player. Subtly I created the hanging vines, water puddles, rocks with moss and flowers too direct the player without overtly telling them where to got. I do have some explicit signs telling the layer where they will be heading. The VFX I used for the mechanics reinforces that they are active like the torch flame the lanterns light and the dynamite sparks.
Postmortem
WHAT WENT WRONG
Climbing
The focus of this project was level and gameplay design. The technical design of it fell short at the climbing mechanic. It remains buggy as the project has come to a close due to the time limit placed on it. Climbing has become the technical design challenge I gave myself to overcome. The Animation and logic were both less than satisfactory to me.
WHAT WENT WELL
Playtest Results
Overall I wanted this level to be fun and unique. I wanted to get a "wow" out of my players and some crucial information about the difficulty of it. My goal on a scale of 1 - 5 is a 3. I even put in signs within the game with a quote from their test as a thank you for testing.
Design Doc/Credit
In the End
This was a good exercise to improve my Level Design and Gameplay design skills.
Game Designer |
Please email me if you are interested in collaborating. I look forward to working with you. Thanks for your time!
