BGP – Week 3

(Screenshot from a test level created by Jenny Grip)

During this week I began working on the level design together with Jenny, the producer and the second level designer in our team.

We divided up the level design work this week so that I focused mainly on level planning, while Jenny focused on working with Unity and building up test level areas for playtesting the mechanics.I also helped her out with the playtesting throughout the week since 2-player gameplay had been implemented into the game, and together we were able to give useful feedback to the programmers regarding object and player interaction and similar. While playtesting we also discussed puzzle ideas and ideas in general for the level design.

When it comes to the level planning, I was a bit unsure on how to begin and what to do at the start of the week. We hadn’t talked that much in the team about how we wanted the level layout and design, so I didn’t have a clear idea of what the levels would look like or connect together.

In hindsight, I realize that I should have talked with the other team members about it since it was something we had not discussed enough, but I think I was a bit too stressed at the moment that I decided to try and experiment to come up with something.

So to start somewhere, I began experimenting with the idea of creating a level within the silhouette of the terraforming vessel (based on a quick vessel design that I made) and began blocking out what areas of the ship would belong to what level/area. I also thought about how to create an interesting path that would lead the players through the ship from the start to the finish, and how to avoid making it feel too linear or predictable.

(A rough plan for the ship and the different areas/levels that we’ve planned for the game. I edited some of the Lead Artist Christoffer Svensson’s environmental paintings to help me visualize the different areas better.)

After have worked with this idea for a while, I realized that it was very limiting to design levels this way and got stuck. I talked with my team mates and a teacher about it, and I decided to focus on grid-based planning/design of levels and not think too much about the levels matching the ship layout.

Above is a test plan for the start of the Common Area level. It is merely an experiment that we’re quickly building up in Unity to test the size and scale of the level elements, and to get a sense of how much time it takes to play through the different sections so there won’t be any parts of the level that feels too long or too short. I will try to keep the level design and planning as simple as this from now on, since it makes the design process a lot faster and leaves a lot more room for adjustments.

For the next week I will continue planning and designing the first level, and hopefully we will have a good base for the level to playtest at the end of the week. I had some troubles with the level design this week but I think I have gotten a better grip of it now.

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