Unit 70 Level Design for Computer Games Static meshes and texturing

Since my level was created in terms of terrain and foliage, it was time to then create static meshes to populate my world with, i did this in maya and then dragged them to the center of the world and centered the pivot then exported this meant when importing them into unreal that they would have pivots on the meshes and not it different positions.

 Also created the textures in maya since my aesthetic and narrative points to the colorful low poly style that i wanted the level to look like to do this i simply added colored textures to faces, this meant i didn't need to do to much UV and saved a lot of time when in my production phase.

Unit 70 Level Design for Computer Games Evaluation

i have learned a lot from this unit in terms of level design and i have managed to implement some terms and uses of level design into my level just like some of the new modern games from industry, i have also learned what ludic means and can now implement ideas from this into my future development.

Taking this unit forward i will continue to implement these ideas throughout the remainder of my development and will continue to try focus everything i make into some kind of level design so im always making something that is of industry standard. In the next unit i can also do a lot more in terms of narrative fro my level with the use of cut scenes and rendering.

Level Design for Computer Games Ludic, Aesthetic, Technical and Narrative Design

To finish this unit  i had to research and make use of 4 key element in games design especially apparent in level design these were Ludic, Aesthetic, Technical and Narrative Design.

Ludic
this was difficult to research in a way since i had never heard about it and when it came to descriptions from dictionary and over places i found the answer to be cryptic and never quite get to what it means, but after many hours digging through the internet i found that the description was about subtle hints in game and level design which is used every where to either guide the player or change the players thinking in some way, like a form of subliminal messaging only with the goal of help the player achieve goals this can be used in many ways like faint lights in the distance or slight changes in coloured objects of the environment used to help guide the player on the path, this is prominent in most third person action games in which there is a climbing mechanic in almost all of them game the ledges you can use to climb will have a different shade of colour to show that they are there.

I have done this in my level making a fire visible on a far cliff that will always be visible to the player in some way basically draw them in like a moth to the flame, seeing some of interest high up will always make players have interest to discover the unknown especially if they know they can reach that location.

Aesthetic
in terms of Aesthetic design this simply means how the level looks or the style of art used, but this can also be key to directing players in terms of objectives and such even time of day can make big changes on a level, for example my level is at night so i can use things like fire and light to my advantages much easier than if it was day time in my level since its all set out doors this mean that i would be locked out of certain ways to direct the player depending on something so simple as the time of day.

Technical
Design is basically anything in the level that you actually do mechanics wise so this could be something like fighting enemies or moving blocks, these kind of mechanics plant in your mind a certain set of navigation queue's which can be different in every game but just fighting enemies means that if you see enemies somewhere that there must be something of interest there by making you navigate to that area, this one of the main corner stone to many games design which is something that is practised so much you dont even noticed its happening.

Narrative
When it comes to narrative in the level/game design this is anything directly influence by the story be this pieces of information in a conversation a mission objective or even a piece of extra lore to read, these are all things most modern games use narrative to aid in progression of the game and make them more immersive, in most case not having this is a death sentence for a game. in terms of narrative iv tried to do as much as i could with narrative in terms of the design of the level and the environment its self but this wont fully come into fruition until next unit when we focus on cutscenes and rendering which will further push the narrative in the level by giving some context to what kind of design im going for.

Unit 70 Level Design for Computer Games Foliage Editor

Once my terrain was created i then had to populate it it with some king of plant life or fauna, since my narrative design places my level on an island, to begin with this i initially hand placed my collection of trees and other plant life in the level  whcih i had created while making my static meshes for the level, which ill talk about in another blog post.

After this i had been told about a experimental way to add foliage to my terrain so decided to make a new land mass to try this on to compare the 2 different ways and see which one i ultimately wanted to use for my level,

to do this experimental i needed to create foliage types using my static mesh of trees and other plant life, once this was done i put it inside of the the foliage box that auto generates the the foliage over the landmass it covers and then simply initialise it, its an easy and straight forward tool for quick generation and has some tools to change the out come of the result but i think it lacks the ability to really perfect the placement unlike placing them yourselves. of course doing it in the auto generated way is quick and can give you some shoddy results in certain places which will render it useless, so i believe its fine for the use of backgrounds or decoration but for placing foliage in places the player will be exploring i think i would personally like some more control.

Unit 70 Level Design for Computer Games Terrain creation

When beginning my level design my main focus was to create a terrain that  fits with islands natural design, this meant i had the trouble of making my landscape/terrain look very natural while keeping game and level design in mind when it comes to its narrative and traversal.

My terrain started out flat with one end slightly stretched to a point this was to house the players beginning to create some feeling of narrative to the level since we have not learned and implemented cut scenes for narration yet.

In the opposite side from the player start i pulled the terrain vastly higher this was done to give a point for the player to focus on and head towards, like a s silent objective, i thought  of this while researching my level technical design and narration, this was then further implemented on by adding fire to the buildings on the cliff so they immediately stood out on the island.

Conclusion

To finish my block out id like to review what i did so to conclude, i believe my block out turned out very well and has given me a good stepping stone to get a really good quality level by the end of my year, i'm happy with the design iv picked as well as the aesthetic since it will help me finish the playable level easier especially being a 1 man team, in terms of my character i'm also happy but my boss may change to just another humanoid character.

As for things i didn't like i would if i could back make more assets for the block out because being able to glimpse at how it looks helps the design process a lot. As well as this i think i could of done alot more base functionality in my block out for previewing game play because you couldn't get a full fell for how it would play when finished, this is similar to the feedback received from my peer review.

All in all i think the block out came out well and i'm looking forward to fully developing it into my complete idea.

Functions

In terms of functions i have a lot planned for this level but for now i only have a basic matinee funtion in my level and an animation on a key press, a lot more are planned through throughout my level to give a great boost to gameplay.

for the simple matinee when you get close to a section on the map some rocks simply get the there simulate physics turned on and they roll down the mountain towards the path i did this to test some simple functionality for later development

the second is a simple rotation on a key press on the spit asset by the characters house i did this so i could see how player interactions would look in my level and find out how i can plan more and what ones i can do to make the level more interactive.

Peer Review

For my peer review i asked these questions of the person playing

1. how does the flow of my map feel in terms of directing the player were too go.

2. what kind of things could i do to fill the world game play wise which would also help narrative.

3.do you think think the map is too big or small.

Here are the answers i got from two peers

Peer 1

1. i like the flow of your map its simple to understand were you must go and gives you simple but effective directions, and i even like the fact theres two directions with different scenery on how to get to your destination, i think there could be more ways to block the player or maybe increase game play in the traveling since its a bit boring to walk across the island.

2. i think some kind of puzzles would go well into this kind of style game or even jumping challenges some way to fit the platformer theme.

3.I like the size of the map it feels a little small right now but i think once you get some gameplay elements in there it should slow the players down and make it feel less quick.

 Peer 2

1. I think what you have done with the two paths is interesting but i'm not sure about why you would have two separate paths to the same objective, but even so the flow is nice and everything seems like its pushing you on to the objective which is good.

2. you should add in some thing to create a sense of life on the island like people or maybe animals.

3. I think the sizing is fine maybe slightly bigger so it takes longer getting to the final section but other than that is great.

here are the changes i made for each question.

1. i took what was said to me and decided to change some thing up in block out to improve, for the first answer i decided not to change anything because traveling is gonna be changed once i get to the unit to add in game functionality like enemies and such to the level. this will mean there will be obstacles in the way to face when travelling across the island.

2.as for the second question it seemed to be about populating the level with game play in which i will be doing but again in a later unit.

3. they both thought my level was small so i decided to create more obstacle in the way to create a long journey with out having to resize my terrain this should help it feel bigger.

most of the changes i'm going to do are theory based for now and cannot do them until i get to a later unit but i believe i tried my best to answer these queries and try to improve my levels flow and design

Lighting and particle effects

When block out was finished in terms of assets and placement i then had to think about lighting, so decided to do a day night cycle since most of my game is outdoors it will look nice and fit with my theme, and has the potential to create some nice scenes of sunrises in the distance and sunsets. as well as this when i build the interiors when finishing the level i will need lighting then so for that i will keep it to simple point lights and maybe some custom torches with fire particle effects inside.

As for particle effects i have already added in a simple leaf falling particle i created to help give the forest sections abit more life and make them come alive.

As well as this i need to make some more corresponding particles for fire or embers for torches and decoration for the boss section.these can also double as lights for areas in which i will need them.

Blocking out fully

Now that my terrain is finished I began to place in some of my assets and also create place holders using simple blocks for now to finish off my blockout. I had previously created some assets earlier in the year using Maya so I decided to take initiative and use them inside my blockout for a better representation of my finished level.

As you can see from the models the style is very cartoon like and low poly in feel since I wanted to create something unique and challenge myself, I personally think that they came out very well and im happy with how they also look inside my blockout.

In the block out they are mainly used as environmental assets, none of what I have modelled are crucial to gameplay of the map so for these I simply used block as a rough estimate for the size of the asset to be created later by me this mixed with the finished assets I think does give a good representation of what my level should turn out like and also helps to create the flow I wanted in my map.

for the first part of the map i blockout a simple living space with blocked buildings to show my characters work station, as well as this i populated it with decoration meshes like crates and logs to help give it the feel i wanted. i then surrounded this are with trees and also used a fence mesh to show the bounds of the his property and give himself a pathway to walk through. i think this came out really well and is believable as a living place for a person and helps to be a nice place to start the game as you look at the rest of the island.

After this i simply placed palm trees down the flat side of the island leading into the ocean ans this going to be the beach, and at the end i created a small pier type building with a  small shack all created from blocks i will create these assets later. This gives nice open space for my level instead of the open forest sections im just worried about how it will transition into the forest. The small shack may be used for quests or maybe a small fishing minigame.

Next created the forest in the centre by just placing the different tree meshes i have down, these will be surrounding pond type are which will be hiding a set of ruins which is yet to be modeled, i created my own water shader for this which also has the same low poly look and feel.

lastly was the blocking out of my village most of this wont look as well as the rest of the island since its all building and i haven't modeled any of my building assets yet so they are all placeholders with basic shapes instead, i think gives a good idea of what it will look like when finished and also design wise it means the town overlooks the house you begin at and gives a sense of accomplishment since you can see where youve came from.

Beginning the Block Out

In the beginning of my block out process I started with a the terrain editor in unreal 4 to create my base level I did this because in my design plans I wanted an island I thought this would be the quickest way to achieve that goal as opposed to creating blocked environment for an organic level.

The terrain was created flat in the beginning I did this so I could get a grasp of the size before I began adding in height so I started to sculpt up to get some elevation on the level and begin forming my level.

While creating I kept in mind my design and tried to make a very linear path way across the island by masking the objective end raised higher to give the player a goal and help with the navigation, the rest was simply shaped to fit the aesthetic of an island which would be surround with water at a later date.

On the opposite side of the island from the raised section previously mentioned i created a starting point which would be a small isolated zone in which the characters house would be for the start of his adventure i did this so that upon starting the game the player would realise exactly where they are meant to be going and not just dropped into the wilderness with no idea.

in terms of looks for the terrain to give myself a simple idea of what it would look like to help the design process, i created a material for the terrain so i could paint straight onto the mesh with a variety of textures, for these i just set them as flat colours for now to give a rough idea of look.

Planning Process 2

 In terms of my whole level layout I also had to plan an idea to be planted into the game involving a character and fight some king of boss, for both of these I also made mood boards

https://uk.pinterest.com/harleypendleton/unit-76-boss/

In the first mood board as you can see this is my boss and my main focus was again keeping with the organic theme a rock Golem/monster of some king I wanted this so it could instill fear while fighting him and also allow him to be big in size to convey strength. The reason I went with rock is because I have decided to make his lair or arena in which the player will fight him in the volcano on the island. This will help create navigation through the island up to the final point in the heart of the volcano and will also allow me to do some things functionally that will fit with the design such as particle effects and environmental hazards while fighting the boss.

https://uk.pinterest.com/harleypendleton/unit-76-character/

As for my Character I wanted something like general human who would appear to be tiny in comparison to the boss sort of like a David versus Goliath kind of thing. I also wanted the character to fit the natural aesthetic of the level and so I came up with the idea of a lumber jack woodworker type character because they would fit design in terms of using natural resources and such as a means of living, this also gives him a base weapon in which he will be proficient with his trusty wood axe as his primary weapon, I was happy with this idea and will greater pursue it in the future.

Planning process 1

For my first stage of planning I began with a mood board to show my design and the look I’m going for with my level I made this in Pinterest to save time and have a better and clean layout with my mood board.

https://uk.pinterest.com/harleypendleton/low-poly-survival-game-inspiration/

As you can see I went with a design of a island surrounding I did this so I could cut off exploration and allow for better control of player direction to objectives, so the design was purposefully chosen to aid in navigation of the level. I also wanted this design because I wanted to challenge myself to make something more organic as opposed to the usual more modular cityscapes and such that I’m used to.

As you can see from my mood board as well I have chosen to go with a low poly design and look for my level. I chose this so that I could create a more cartoony style and expand my knowledge plus the models and textures would be simpler than that of a hyper realistic design, I did this so I can spend more time on actual game play aspects in future units to make my game fully playable. 

Introduction

For Our new unit we have been tasked with planning and creating a block out/map design for our level we have been working towards for this year, it must contain the basic flow of your level and give a rough idea of how it will look fortunately for me I had already take initiative earlier in the year and began to produce some basic models and objects for this unit.

As well as this I already planned for my aesthetic look and what I wanted for my level so the idea is already there I just need to plan for it now.