FREEZING
FRICTION
FAST-PACED THIRD PERSON SHOOTER where you SKATE and GRAPPLE through icy caverns to unleash fire on MASSIVE WORMS and their spawn.
CORE GAMEPLAY LOOP
GRAPPLE
SLASH & SHOOT
SLIDE
PILLARS
Mechanical Mastery
High Octane
Massive Enemy
MODULAR KIT
We had decided that it would be in our best efforts, to make a modular toolkit for this project, as it would simplify the pipeline between Level Designers & Artists, it would also increase the efficacy of both disciplines.
LEVEL INGREDIENTS
The original idea that I had realised, was that we could combine ice skates, with the elements of a skatepark. Such as bowls and ramps.
To maximise time among other things, we decided to thrash the idea of custom made skatepark elements and instead used the landscaping tools to create a landscape containing a variety of hills, and the primary hand placed assets would be pillars and stalagmites.
Constant communication between disciplines was required, as 3Cs were in a constant flux, sizes and assets had to be adjusted ever so slightly. This was of course also of the utmost importance due to iterations.
FINDING THE FUN
One of the most challenging parts of this project, was primarily the finding the juice and the fun, that players were looking for.
Playtests
As this project had originally started in a smaller group and in the previous block of the year, there already had been quite a few playtests and identification to what players had enjoyed the most about the game, which was the GRAPPLE as well as excelling yourself forward. Having playtest data inform the level, was a crucial stepping stone in this project.
Gym Experimentation
As the fun of the game, had been identified. I started going into my gym, and playing around with different setups, finding niche tricks or way thats the player could utilize the grapple. This also included adjusting the path of the primary enemy of the game, and to see what path players enjoyed depending on the kind of map.
Gyms
As the 3Cs and player mechanics were being designed and developed. It was up to me, to find the metrics and to see what was fun. To do this, I made a multitude of gyms, which allowed me to find the fun and ensure that the player experience was met.
Player Metrics
As this project had originally started in a smaller group and in the previous block of the year, there already had been quite a few playtests and identification to what players had enjoyed the most about the game, which was the GRAPPLE as well as excelling yourself forward. Having playtest data inform the level, was a crucial stepping stone in this project.
ADVANCED GAMEPLAY
Once the level was iterated enough, and had a more cohesive and defined experience. I started set-dressing with a variety of textures, as well as experimenting and applying lighting.
3 Step Process
Research
An integral part of the process was Research. Especially as Quake
Sketching
This was a beatiful step in the process. Sketching was useful in clarifying my intention as well as being able to quickly prototype on paper and adjust without going in-engine.
Iteration
Iteration was my core and best friend during the development process. Getting feedback every week, as well as giving feedback solidified my choices as well as allowed me to explore and adapt using pre-existing techniques and peers.
Closing Thoughts
This project being my 2nd Level Design project and it being one of the 1st projects where communication between disciplines was highlighted. Which I struggled the most with, especially informing the environment artists. It seemed easy on paper, but in practise, it is difficult to know what to tell the artists and give the green light to make a specific asset, as it might waste more time than expected. Fortunately, I had a very capable team, and I am incredibly proud of what we accomplished together.
My largest regret in this project, is to not have believed in myself more, and had kept too many possible maps in my gym instead of proposing a solution that would allow multiple maps in game, such as a timed sequence.