The next step is building the design level, as once we have the
mechanics we must distribute them and make the different levels
to then build or produce the gameplay, the game experience.
So from all the mechanics, we must choose the ones
we want for each level and mix them, as I said
before, to get the experience we want to have in this concrete level.
To begin we must take into account that the scenario building is
extremely important especially because of the scale, the size.
The scenario size will obviously have its influence on the user's experience,
but also regarding the amount of art that must be done, in example,
or other aspects such as the movement speed, the exact
distance, everything must fit, maybe in the first prototypes
we realize we must modify the scenario's scale because it
is too big or too small, that's why these prototypes are made for.
While making the level design we must also take into account, as we saw
in the more theoretical part, it is very important to think which information
will be available for the player, which one won't,
which will he have to deduce; and the info we'll give him,
how will it be given, when, and how, will
it be through the interface or with another method.
Also having clear which events happen at a logics level and mostly
when adjusting the level thinking of how hard we are making it
and which ability level we are asking the player for, and this is closely related
to the concept of progression between the different levels.
Obviously we must take into account the level design
regarding the whole game, regarding how gameplay evolves during the
whole game and during all the levels.
Well, what we are going to do now is watching a basic scheme made with Photoshop,
which is the map of the level we have implemented in our prototype.
And here we will see our level's map, we will use the same
Photoshop layers to identify the different concepts,
the different mechanics that appear in the level.
Let's begin with the level structure,
as our level is divided in different rooms, here what we want to
highlight is that there are two zones with a different
height, which are these ones that are in this light gray color, which mean
a lower part or a hole, so in this zone there are some platforms through which
the character has to jump and pass through; all the blue zones
have the same height, they are at the same level.
Through the level, there are different doors which are these small lines
in black color and the player needs to pass through these doors;
all the doors are opened with a simple command, you press a button and they open,
they are simple doors, you simply need to press the button and they open,
there's no need to do anything special, except in the final door.
To open the final door we must solve a small and simple puzzle
in which we have to pick up different objects we will see now.
Using doors to divide rooms allows us to, on one side,
properly concrete the experience we want to give in each room,
and it also allows us to avoid that some enemies get into the room.
Sometimes we want to avoid it or sometimes we might even
want to force it. Why? To make it happen.
But in this case we don't want to, in this case we divide the rooms,
using these doors from which, as I said, only the last one won't be
open, the player will be able to open the other ones by simply pressing a button.
Our character will set off from this point,
this is its starting point, it will appear here when the level begins,
when we load the level and we have to go to the other extreme which is
the last door, we must get here and open this door.
To open the door we must pick up 3 keys, 3 cards,
3 objects that float on the scenario and we must get,
they are here, in these places, obviously the
player doesn't have a map so he will need a mi to explore and look for these cards.
From the beginning we must tell the player that he has to look for the cards,
it wouldn't be a recurrent mechanic during the game,
as in the different levels in which he has to open a closed door
he must look for different cars or keys to open it.
Apart from these elements
we have enemies; the different enemies through the level positioned like this
so that they are challenging and a menace to the player.
Obviously the level design is quite subjective,
one decides where he will put the enemies, at which specific point,
the amount and also even specifically variating its behavior in this
case is simply the same enemy because it's a very simple prototype,
and although it's true that some of these enemies have limited their behavior,
because there are some that move and some others that stand still in the same point.
Once we've seen this,
let's give it a quick look in Unity.
Enric Martí GòdiaAssociate Professor
Pere Nolla RodríguezFreelance y Colaborador docente
