With both of the mods completed, I would like to take some time to reflect on both the finished products, considering their quality, what I have learned through the process, as well as what could be added in the future.

Alone in the Woods

Overall, I am happy with how this project turned out. I put a lot of time into this mod and was able to do a full conversion of the original stub, replacing all of the assets with my own pixel art. I am most glad that I was able to replace the character’s animation cycles as the original player character’s look was very incongruous with the new look of the game. I like the aesthetic achieved, and if I were to develop this mod further I would add a larger variety of assets to keep the game visually intriguing and further develop my skills as a pixel artist.

I am proud of being able to add a whole new mechanic in the form of shooting, which can be used in multiple contexts such as shooting spiders or breaking logs in your way. I feel that this, coupled with pools of goo to avoid adds an extra layer of complexity to gameplay, making it more engaging than simply running and jumping.

Although very simple, the inclusion of an intro menu and end screen bookend the levels nicely. I feel that they make the game feel more professional, and I like their aesthetic as it fits in with the overall appearance of the game as a whole.

The implementation of a timer was novel and I am glad that it can give the player an option to challenge themselves if they wish to do so. However, I feel that I should have given the player more of an incentive to engage with this system, perhaps through the use of a leaderboard or medal system. I understand that these are quite complex systems, so in the future when I am more competent with Unity, this could be something to add.

I am disappointed that I was not able to add sound effects or music to the game as I feel that would have gone a long way to improve the atmosphere of the experience. Unfortunately I ran out of time to teach myself how to implement these features, but I will likely look into them in the future.

(Above) Figure 1: Alone in the Woods.

Canyon Rush

As a level design assignment, I am mostly happy with the finished result of my 3D mod, ‘Canyon Rush’. When creating it I carefully considered structuring and object placement, to create a flowing experience for the player.

I am glad that I combined both ProBuilder and terrain tools to create the 3D navigable space, as it taught me a lot about each toolset. They are both very versatile toolsets, allowing the user great control over what they want to create, and while I still have much to learn within them, this project has given me a good foundational understanding which I am excited to continue to develop.

I took great care over the placement and arrangement of assets throughout the level. My aim was to arrange them in a manner that provided lots of natural cover and blocked sightlines so that the player couldn’t exploit the shooting mechanics. I feel that I mostly achieved this, however, after some playtesting I have found a few locations where the player can avoid taking damage and still kill enemies. This is something that, if given more time, I would be able to iron out with more playtesting, however unfortunately I ran out of time within the project’s timeframe.

I would also ideally have liked to change the appearance of the mod some more, perhaps giving the arena new textures to make it more visually interesting than the default texturing it currently has. I also feel that the level’s terrain could do with a larger variety of texturing, as in the current state it appears very brown. I think that the level would look much more exciting with some moss or grass painted on to the terrain, to break up the colours slightly more.

(Above) Figure 2: Canyon Rush.

Conclusion

This GAM150 module has been highly beneficial to my development as a game designer, requiring me to become familiar with Unity and design theory. I feel that through the production of these two mods, I have learnt a great deal about the entire design process, in both a 2D platformer and 3D level design context. I look forward to carrying these skills forward into future projects throughout my academic career.

This final week has been quite full-on, as I have been trying to finish up both of my mods in time for the hand-in date, while completing various assignments for my other modules. I have made some significant additions and changes to both the 2D mod and 3D level design mod, and I am mostly happy with what I have achieved with each project.

Within the 3D mod, I have finally added a ‘boss fight’ arena area on top of the plateau at the end of the canyon (figs.1 & 2). Using ProBuilder, I created two cylinders stacked on top of each other, with ramps around the perimeter for the player to walk up. I also placed various walls in a symmetrical fashion, so that the player can take cover against the large turrets as they fight their way through the arena. I really enjoyed putting this area together and through this process I have learnt key features of the ProBuilder suite of tools such as edge loops, grid snapping, extruding faces, collapsing vertices and more. I also placed some small hover bots around the arena to keep the player moving, and give them a source of health as the engagement is quite challenging. Finally I scattered some smoke particle systems, (made in one of the Unity workshops) to add some visual intrigue to the area. On reflection, they do not add much to the encounter in this case, but I can easily see how a more advanced particle system could add drama and stakes to a fight.

(Above, left) Figure 1: A top-down view of the arena, created in ProBuilder. (Above, right) Figure 2: A closer look at the arena and enemy/cover placements.

I have also made a few visual changes to the 3D mod, changing the overall ‘game feel’. I started by changing the skybox to be less space-oriented and more in line with the overall aesthetic of the level. After looking for a while on the asset store, I found a great skybox (Pulsar Bytes, 2017) which, after placing in the scene, looks great, with lots of open space, giving the feel of being lost in a desert (fig.3). Following this, I changed the lighting to be more appropriate with the new sky. I made the colours slightly warmer and positioned the lighting to be more directly over the playspace.

(Above) Figure 3: The new skybox, with less of a sci-fi aesthetic.

Finally, I changed the win, lose and menu screens. I removed the background images, replacing them with the new skybox to more appropriately reflect the atmosphere of the level. Then, I changed the colour and font of the text, as well as adding a thin black outline to improve readability. The name has also been changed to ‘Canyon Rush’ (fig.4).

(Above) Figure 4: The new title, with a different font and background.

I have also made final additions to ‘Alone in the Woods’, my 2D platformer mod. The most significant change being the replacement of the player character with my own animations created in Aseprite (fig. 5). The process was relatively simple, involving replacing the key frames of each animation for the original character with my own sprites. I am really happy that I have been able to implement this change, as now every asset that is seen in the game has been created by me, making the mod a ‘total conversion’, with none of the original assets from the stub being seen in the finished product.

(Above) Figure 5: The sprite sheet for the new character’s running animation, made in Aseprite.

Next, with the help of an online tutorial (French, 2020), I added a simple timer to the top left of the screen (fig.6). Initially, it was a countdown timer, with the player having to reach the teddy bear at the end of the level before the timer reached zero, when the level would restart. After some playtesting, I found that this gave an unnecessary level of stress to the game, and did not add the level of challenge I thought it would – rather being a source of frustration. So instead, I have tweaked the code to count up from zero, meaning that the player can try to complete each level as quickly as possible if they choose to, but will not be punished for taking their time with each level. This makes the game a much more enjoyable experience in my opinion.

(Above) Figure 6: The timer, situated in the top-left of the screen. It is unobtrusive to the player but adds a layer of complexity for those who wish to challenge themselves.

References:

FRENCH, John. 2020. How to make a countdown timer in Unity (in minutes + seconds) [online]. Available:

Pulsar Bytes. 2017. ‘WorldSkies Free Skybox Pack | 2D Sky | Unity Asset Store’. Unity Asset Store [online]. Available at: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/2d/textures-materials/sky/worldskies-free-skybox-pack-86517 [accessed 12 December 2020].

 

 

‌