Creating A Level Design

Before creating a white block in Paper 2D (Unreal Engine 4's dedicated subsidiary for 2D side-scroller games) I sketched a design on paper. This allowed me to consider all of the elements I'd want to show to a player, less from a mechanical standpoint, more so that the player will get a chance to use every movement/attack option/power-up etc. and see everything that Russi would be capable of if this were a full game. 

Just based on the paper design, I estimate this as being about 5 minutes of gameplay, maybe 3 if you can zip through it without taking damage or going out of your way for collectables. 

This is like a demo of what the game could be, so I've compressed as much of the best stuff as I can into this level. I could have gotten away with a gallery type thing, just a straight line that shows animation after animation, mechanic after mechanic - but that's boring, I really wanted an authentic platformer experience and to cram in as much goodness (mechanics-wise) as I could! 

This is the white block, based on the drawings I did above. This shows platform, collectable and hazard placement. In-depth mechanics, enemies and other functionality will be added via Blueprints later, in collaboration with Curtis Pitman (blog link), to ensure it works as I visualise it to.

 

In this screenshot you can see the orange box which represents an enemy (of which there will be 3 types - standard, spiked and flying); the small glowing orbs that represent collectables (if you collect 100, you gain an extra life); the blue box which represents a breakable object that contains more of the aforementioned collectables and lastly the green platforms of varying heights which act as the primary movement option and namesake of the platformer genre. 

The gif above shows the red spikes which are a hazard to the player, if they touch those they'll lose health (I'm thinking it'll probably be like Sonic, where the player will lose collectables if they are hit, but they'll die if they have no collectables on them). There are also moving green platforms to add an extra challenge with timing jumps.

Dotted through the level are larger glowing orbs to represent where power-ups will be collected. I also made sure to lay the collectables out in challenging ways to encourage players to approach things in different ways. 

There is plenty of tweaking to be done with distancing and placement of platforms and objects in the world, especially once mechanics are implemented and values are adjusted to make the movement feel how I want it to, but this gives me a good basis for how the final level will be.

Concepts: Items and Fodder

The last bits of concept art I wanted in place before I started further development were any key items/power-ups and some cannon fodder enemies that would reside in Russi's world. 

Below the cut I will show the concepts for each of these things and explain what their functionality will be/what role they will play in the game.

Russi: Creating Movement Mechanics

To begin Semester 3, I have returned to the game design document I started working on last semester. I was able to fill in a lot of the blank spaces that were present beforehand, such as antagonist motives, the reason Russi is gathering the core collectables and art of the new characters. One thing that was a little basic was the controls/movement mechanics for Russi. 

At this point I decided (with a little advice) to check out the Super Smash Bros. video games and to think of a move-set for Russi in the same vein as this series. 

Super Smash Bros. is a platformer-fighting game primarily featuring Nintendo-owned characters. If you look at the controller and say "A and B are the attack buttons, X and Y are your jump buttons, Z is your grab and the control stick moves your character" the game seems quite simple (which, in it's most basic form, it is), but there is a surprising level of depth for competitive play - not including techniques such as shielding and rolling, there are about 20 different attacks/moves for each character that are a combination of the above buttons. 

Using the move-set above, I checked out the list on my game design document again and made some adjustments, giving Russi a plethora of abilities. Naturally I can't incorporate all of the above into a platform game since I want it to be very user friendly and too many moves could quickly become detrimental for a more casual audience. 

Semester 2: Body of Work

Today is the deadline for Semester 2, I have added my body of work below: my updated Learning Agreement, my Design Research 2 Essay and my Practical Work. 

Mock Promotional Poster

As a method of showcasing the characters I have designed this semester, and as practice for semester 3 (where I want to look into promotion some more) I created a mock promotional poster. This is my final piece for semester 2. 

Finalising The Antagonist Design

Following my last post about designing my antagonist character, I looked at the designs I had and played about with a few of them. The goal with my antagonist was to make a design that seems friendly at first, but implies something much more villainous. 

Learning Agreement Update & Wrapping Up Semester 2

As Semester 2 is drawing to a close and I have spoken with the tutors about the progress I've made this semester, I decided to reflect on my Learning Agreement. I have stuck fairly closely to what I proposed initially but I did make some minor alterations to the document based on feedback I have received.