I finished up the levels for my 2D game mod this week. There are now five completable levels, each escalating in difficulty from the last . As well as this, there is a title and end screen. I am happy with how the levels look, and hope they are varied enough to keep the player engaged throughout the play time. When designing the levels I took great inspiration from the level designs of classic platformers such as Super Mario Bros. (1985) and Rayman (1995). Aside from wanting to replace the character with my own design in order to make this mod a ‘total conversion’ (something I will do as a stretch goal), I am mostly happy with the result of this mod. I am now able to give the FPS mod my full attention within this module.

Within the 3D mod, I have created a large piece of terrain for the player to progress through. Using the terrain tools, I sculpted a mountainous region, which will serve as natural barrier to the player so that they cannot escape the play space. I then went over them with ‘smooth height’ and ‘erosion’ tools to make them look more natural, and used the ‘lower terrain’ tool to carve out a winding canyon, leading to an open area with a plateau where the boss fight will be situated (figs. 1 & 2). Using the textures from the terrain asset pack I downloaded last week, I was able to add dirt to the ground level, and make the mountains look rocky, with the tallest having snow-caps. I like this effect as it makes the level feel more believable than it had previously.

(Above, left) Figure 1: The level’s topography, with textures painted on. (Above, right) Figure 2: A closer view of the plateau, from the canyon.

Moving on from this, I populated the canyon with the low-poly nature assets I downloaded last week, as well as positioning the enemies (figs. 3 & 4). I found this to be the most fun part – tailoring the player’s experience by guiding them through the level using the environment. I have strategically placed trees, logs and boulders to be used as cover and block lines of sight so that the player can’t exploit the enemy AI by shooting from too far away. I have also made sure to think carefully about environmental  storytelling when placing these objects. For instance, I make sure that there is a tree stump nearby each log to indicate where it once stood (fig. 5), and mushrooms grow in the shadowed sections of the level (fig. 6).

 

(Above, left) Figure 3: A closer look at the object placement, designed to add visual variety and gameplay gameplay functionality. (Above, right) Figure 4: A top-down look at the (mostly) populated level.

(Above, left) Figure 6: Mushrooms placed in shade beneath a log. (Above, right) Figure 6: A fallen log, lying below a tree stump.

I then populated the level with enemies, spacing them out in a logical way, and gradually increasing their concentration to raise the difficulty as the player advances. At first, I ran into some trouble with the AI travelling through objects. I was unsure of how to fix it but after some research (Unity, 2020) I found out it was to do with the something called ‘NavMesh’. I had to ‘bake’ all of the static objects into the NavMesh so that the enemies would know to go around them. Once I had done this they functioned perfectly.

Before fully jumping into designing this level, I watched an interesting GDC talk on level design (ref). It detailed some great points to keep in mind when aiming to create engaging levels, but there were two that I particularly followed – keeping ‘flow’ within the level and rewarding players for exploration.

The design of my level is essentially one large flowing corridor, leading into an open arena. This promotes forward momentum and gives the player little reason for backtracking, unless they missed an enemy. I like this as, coupled with the staggered collectibles, it gives the player a feeling of constant progression as they move through the level.

I have also placed certain pickups out of the way of this central corridor, rewarding the player for going off the beaten path. For instance, the launcher weapon is hidden behind the plateau, amongst some fallen boulders (fig.7). This gives the player a reward for being curious and taking the time to explore the level, especially as this weapon is effective in the final fight.

(Above) Figure 7: The hidden launcher weapon, situated behind the plateau.

Next week, I am going to create a structure with ProBuilder to sit atop the plateau, where teh boss fight will take player. I like the idea of a circular arena, with scattered pieces of cover and the enemies able to shoot down from above, to keep you moving.

References:

Rayman. 1995. Ubisoft Montpellier, Ubisoft.

Super Mario Bros. 1985. Nintendo.

TAYLOR, Dan and GDC. 2018. Ten Principles for Good Level Design [online talk]. Available at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNEe3KhMvXM&feature=emb_logo [accessed 23 November 2020].

UNITY. 2020. ‘NavMesh Baking.’ Unity Learn [online] Available at: learn.unity.com/tutorial/navmesh-baking#5f8fa452edbc2a3616f57157 [accessed 25 November 2020].