Project Report 2014-03-19

This week the only thing of particular note that I’ve been working on has been different iterations of our game’s final room, or level. In pure practical terms it’s gone along like any other level I’ve designed, but its import must not be underestimated. Like a beginning, an experience must have an ending. A bad ending is one feeling just like any other part of the game, making the player not expecting there to be one and feeling unsatisfied when the credits roll. To prevent this one needs to take a close look at how the level communicates with the player, what challenges he or she faces and how it makes you feel having played through it to the end. At first I did a more or less identical setup to the earlier rooms but with a greater number of enemies:

Red dots are Warriors attacking the player aggressively; blue dots are Workers that remain neutral until the player damages them, causing them to become hostile. Careful aim and tactical thinking is therefore encouraged if the player wants to minimise risk of being overwhelmed and being unable to advance through the time pressured game fast enough.

While probably providing the player with a host of difficult encounters, in overall design it is too similar to the earlier levels to make the player understand that he’s come to final act of the game. I need to help the player understand that he has at least reached a different stage of the game in more ways than just another room. Making a large sign appear out of nowhere reading “FINAL LEVEL” would be a simpler option, but it would work against our desired aesthetic goal of making you unsure how much of the game is left to be played through. If the game isn’t putting any weight on the encounters beyond simple escalation, why should you?

One way to go about is to make the room simpler, consisting of only one open area to be interacted with. This way the player will get a sense of that he’s come to a very different place, which might indicate that he has reached the later stages of the game which might even help give a sense of accomplishment.

Another quick mock-up. As you can see it has a clearly distinct shape funnelling the player inwards to reach the end destination. As usual all encounters are mandatory, with the exception of the second encounter, as its aggro range does not overlap with the path leading onwards. This is to provide a slightly higher chance of success to player that may not have advanced as quickly as is optimal, enabling him to skip a large encounter and still be able to finish the game with the penalty of a reduced highscore. For the player brave or foolish enough to engage it should find himself in a hectic struggle as a large amount of Warriors are further reinforced. Any misfire will likely draw the ire of the Workers who will proceed to swarm the battle as well.

The more important point is that the map provides something distinctly new that should give the player a sense of that this is something else, and might be finally seeing the end of this long, stress-inducing tunnel. It is worth considering that at this point the player has fought time from deteriorating his healthbar to zero with no clear indication how close to the exit he is. If all comes together the way we intended it should give the player relief, but also a sense of caution over what might be lurking just ahead.

Björn Erik Berndtsson. Graphics and Game Design.