Eindopdracht - 3D Blockout & Level Design Document

For this level design doc I (Bram Jonkers, main programmer of Team Beam) will make a level design document and 3D Blockout for one of the levels of our DFS game, Raining Worms.

The Final 3D Unity and Exe Blockout can be download on the following address:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B8yyV1KqH1siWWZkOGlaRm94OWc&usp=sharing

A screenshot of the 3D Blockout, of which the download link can be found above. And which is the 3D blockout that has been made as a result of this design document.

A screenshot of one of the more fleshed out versions of the level this document is about, to help show the comedic/ light look we were going for, and to show some of the ways of steering throug lines, contrast, color and such which will be explained in more detail later on. And also to just sketch a general scene of what I'm trying to describe in this document.

Level Abstract

Player Info:

The player plays the game as a worm, giving them a hard to control small and fragile character to be responsible for and to guide through the level. The controls for the character are purposively very difficult, but they are fair enough that the player can learn to at least decently move around the levels with a bit of practice.

Objective(s):

Our original game is focused around completing a certain amount of (separate) random tasks/ challenges to eventually reach the end goal of finding another worm to be with, since the player starts all alone we thought for this to be a good ending to strive for.
Since the game is split into these smaller levels, for this design we will only be focusing on one of these, in this case the platforming level will be used. The goal of this particular level is to navigate the character to a certain ‘goal’ point (being another worm (his date)), from which the player can progress to the next level. This level serves the purpose to test the player's controls of the game mechanics and teach him new sides and ways of using these mechanics (being that of trying to move a worm, which naturally isn’t a very easy thing to do), the level ends when the player has mastered his mechanics so far that he is capable of traversing through an obstacle course.

Location:

The Location/ Setting of the level is that of a bar. It has basic decorative aspects like a bar, bottles, a bartender, glasses, chairs and such. The platforming parts are done using object that fit into this theme, for example the platforms are playing cards and poker tables and poker chips. The bar is pretty big, so the player has enough space to move around in, the colors are a bit of a standard casino/ bar setting (red rug, red and blue playing cards, green felted tables, black and green chips), mostly focused around red, green, blue, black and white (and flat versions of these colors). The objects in the bar will have different odd scaling to allow for proper platforming using them and to add a sense of humor to it. The bar will also be filled with props (mostly extra poker chips and bottles/ glasses) that can be thrown around to further

Gameplay Elements:

There are a couple of available Gameplay Elements in the level. Firstly the main character itself, with its attached movement-scheme as the game's main mechanic. Apart from the main character the level is also filled with a few types of other objects. The first type are decorative static objects, some objects are purely there for the aesthetic value and setting the mood of the level. Secondly the Important Platforming elements, these are mostly static, and are the objects the player has to climb on, over and jump from to complete his goal. Some of these objects can be moved by the player to allow for the creation of new paths/ alternate routes. And lastly there are the Interactable Objects, throughout the level there are a lot off extra objects which the player can mess around with, knock over, climb on, etc. to both give the player a bit more freedom in what he does and allowing him to do other things than purely completing the level, as well as being used to steer the player through the course without them really realizing it (you can think of them as Coins in the Mario games).

Environmental Info:

As mentioned above the location will be that of our platforming level, which is:
The fairly large inside of a bar (a Prospect space), filled with a lot of platforms and locations which seem like places to go but are not available yet ((Secondary) Refuge Spaces), furthermore the bar contains lots of things to climb on and play around with (making it somewhat of an Intimate Space). We chose for the open intimate space because this helps make the player feel a bit more tiny and helpless, which helps to make the player connect a bit more with his tiny worm character, but we also made sure to keep it an intimate space with lots of things to interact with, so the player can learn to be a bit more free and shift his perspective to a more free worm, who can move wherever he wants to go, and however he wants to go there. The goal of the location is a big bar stool in the corner of the room, on which his date is located.

Themes:

The theme of the level is very light and humoristic, as is the Theme of our game in general. We want to make sure that at all times the player can just play around in the level and that the guiding through the level is done through the use of fun elements/ interactables. The bar setting we chose is part of our grander Theme as well, firstly it has been chosen for it's out of place-ness for the worms, really helping in creating an abstract and more humoristic feel (the setting of our game in general is the worm finding a girl and going on a date with her, and the bar area is their meetup place, so it has mostly been chosen for story emphasis/ narration). The scene is filled with odd-scaled/sized objects to also break from reality a bit more and help in the humoristic and abstract side as well.

Level Constructs

Boundaries:

The player starts the level on the inside of the bar (just behind the door). The bar is a big square building and the only exit of it, the door you just came in through, has been blocked off, meaning the areas boundaries are the walls, floor and roof of the bar itself. Within the bar the player is allowed to go everywhere (apart from inside of objects), which is why we allowed the character to crawl under and over all things and places, and making sure there are paths to any place in the bar.

Begin & End:

The begin of the level is when the worm has just entered the bar, he is standing on the ground in front of the door. The end of the level is when the worm has reached his date, she is located on top of a high platform on the other side of the bar, meaning a course will have to be traversed to reach her, and once the player is on top of the platform with her the level ends.

Goals:

The main goal of the level is reaching the end platform. This can be divided in smaller subgoals, there are 3 smaller platforms which need ot be traversed to, and which will have sort of checkpoints in the sense that after having reached them the player can unlock a shortcut to them, to make sure the player does not lose all of his progress over every single mistake. Part of the goals is also to find certain objects within the stage (cards) which you can use to unlock the next area of it (namely by turning them into platforms you can climb on).

Challenges:

The challenge of this level is mostly based around really learning and understanding your controls. The level of the game before this one mostly encouraged the player to just do whatever they wanted and encouraged moving a bit unprecise and extreme, to allow the player to get a general grasp of the controls without having to worry too much about the details. The next level of the game is one where the player has to be able to use the controls to their full extend. So for this level we want the challenge to be to prepare the player for whats to come, teaching them how to effectively use their controls and what possibilities they have with them. This will involve using the controls to move over narrow platforms, climb onto ledges, cross gaps and making tiny jumps/ falls. As the purpose of this level is to teach this there will be enough checkpoints and leniency and such to make sure the challenge of this level isn't perfection, but just a proper understanding and comprehension of the controls.

Rewards:

There are several forms of rewards in the level. Firstly there is the main reward of getting a glimpse of and reaching you date for the first time in the game, as she is what you are striving to reach as the main goal of the game itself. For the rest the level will have a couple of smaller rewards in the form of checkpoints to reward the player for reaching certain stages/ places within the level. And there will be general rewards in the form of destructables that can be knocked around when following the correct route (like coins in the Mario series).

Failure Handling:

As mentioned above the failure handling is done through the way of making the player restart either the complete level or from their last checkpoint depending on how far they got before losing. We chose for this so that the player will still be somewhat punished for failing, but not too much as the focus is still placed on learning the controls so in that case not having mastered them yet should not be something the player gets punished too much for.

Level User Experience

Guidelines:

Fun Factor:

The Fun Factor lies in the comedic style of the level, being filled with lots of destructables/ items that can be knocked over the player's fun lies mostly in messing around whiles't learning his control, meaning the general focus should be on a more light and comedical theme.

Ergonomics:

As the level is somewhat of an Introduction level special care has to be taken into making sure the obstacles- platforms are introduced in a logical order (and increasing in difficulty). The goal of the obstacle course should be clear so some extra emphasis should be put onto displaying the goal and the path to get there on beforehand of starting the level, for example by using a fly-by camera and some kind of god-rays/ extra lighting surrounding the female worm.

Level Flow:

The general flow of the level will be:

• Intro cutscene plays
• Camera fly-by showing the level/ course to take
• The player moves through the level
• The player reaches the first part of the obstacle course
• The player keeps trying until he reaches the first checkpoint
• The player has now reached the second part of the obstacle course
• The player goes through the second part and reaches the second checkpoint
• The player starts on the final part of the course
• The player reaches his goal
• Outro cutscene plays

Rhythm:

As the movement mechanics of the player already somewhat enforce a certain kind of rhythm to play through them, we want to make sure this comes through in the level design as well, making sure that the obstacles provide a proper sense of rhythm to the movement of the player as well, to also help ease the player into the concept a bit more.

Difficulty:

As mentioned above we want an increase in difficulty in between the segments of the level, getting increasingly more difficult as the player reaches the end goal. Furthermore in general we do want the difficulty to be fairly high, but with no real/ very big pressure of failing. Because we want to give the player the time to fully master his controls before going on to the next level of the game, we want to make sure (especially in the final segment of this level) the difficulty is pretty high and should definitely take a few tries to get through, whilst making sure the player doesn't get too frustrated by adding things like checkpoints and extra rewards for reaching certain places.

Wow Factor:

The Wow Factor we are striving for is kind of the same as our Fun Factor, we want the player to feel enjoyment in overcoming their difficult controls and especially in this level leaving it with a sense of skill/ like they really have gotten better at the game. We also want to make sure the player just enjoys himself whiles't doing so, which again is why we wan't to make sure the comedic aspect of the game and level are core to the design as well.

Hooks:

The biggest hook of our game is the unique and mostly weird experience it encompasses; The controls are very unique and weird and can be a lot of fun to play around with. And the entire game has a big focus on the comedic aspect of it, allowing you to just mess around and have a fun time whenever you should please to do so.

Gameplay Narrative:

1. Introductionary cutscene plays.
   Shows the player is in the bar to go to his date.
2. Camera flies through level showing the player the route and goal.
   Flies a circle throughout the bar over the obstacle course (explained below) and ends circling the goal point/ place.
3. Player has time to freely move and play with the Intractable objects in the bar whilst being guided to/unlocking the first platform.
   They unlock the first platform by picking up the key to unlock it, being a card that can be used as a ramp.
   The first platform will be a medium sized poker table which can then be climbed on.
4. The player traverses the first obstacle course part to the second platform.
   The first obstacle course contains climbing on objects and trying to cross tiny gaps.
5. The second platform is on top of and behind of the bar itself (where a bartender stands behind).
   Checkpoint of second platform is unlocked.
   Checkpoint is a ramp from the starting area leading up to the bar.
6. Player has time to freely move around again until he goes to the second obstacle part of the course.
   This part of the obstacle course is about moving over and through narrow ledges, and crossing gaps whilst climbing on ramps and objects.
7. The player traverses the second obstacle course part to the third platform.
   The third platform is a big poker table.
8. Checkpoint of third platform is unlocked.
   The checkpoint is again a ramp from the starting area leading up to this table.
9. Player has time to freely move around again until he goes to the third obstacle part of the course.
   This part of the obstacle course is about climbing a staircase/ stair made out of objects, trying to both move and lift yourself up at the same time, and contains one final jump to the goal.
10. The player traverses this obstacle course part to the goal.
    The goal is your date sitting on top of a bit bar stool in the corner of the bar, waiting for you to reach her.
11. The player reaches the goal of the level.
12. Outro cutscene plays.
    A cutscene showing that the worm has reached his date in the bar, where she was waiting for him with some drinks.

Tension:

Foreshadowing:

When the level starts a camera fly-by will show a course though the level, and at any point in time the goal should be visible somewhere in the scene by looking around so the player is shown and can always be reminded of what and where he is going to.

Elements of Design:

We want to make sure the guiding through the level is done in a proper way, whilst not making it feel to forced on the player, as we still want them to be able to do what they want and still be able to at any point be able to figure out where they were actually supposed to be going. Some examples on how to use this will be by making checkpoints stand out trough contrast/ color, so it's clearly visible where to find them, using the lighting in such a way that the the obstacles course itself is more lit then the areas that have no real value in reaching the goal, using lines and rhythms to guide the players attention to certain places, and so on.

Paradigm Shifts:

These should be somewhat available for the player to experience, as each section of the obstacle course should showcase some side of the movement mechanics that should be mostly new to the player and possibly even things they had not deemed possibly before, which should help in learning the player the true extent of their mechanic. For example by having one section where the player has to crawl/ jump over (tiny) gaps, and one where the player has to climb a sort of stairs, lifting himself up with one part whilst moving the other, and so forth.

Gameplay Elements:

The gameplay elements in general have already been listed in the Level Abstract above, but we can add an extra notice to the ones that apply for the tension in the game at this point. It should be important to make sure that the Decorative, Platforming and Interactive objects within the game all (or at least the majority of them) should be used to realize the above-mentioned Elements of Design, and to make sure that these elements are placed around in proper/ logical ways.

Music/ Sounds:

The music of the game will mostly be used to emphasize the humor/ light feel of the game, it's a bit goofy and weird, which helps the player from getting frustrated as it helps to keep the fun in the game a bit more. It's also somewhat used to strengthen the rhythm of the game itself, as surprisingly enough moving somewhat along to a certain pattern/beat can really help in managing your controls a lot easier so this can actually help out the player without them realizing it.
The other Sound effects in the game are mostly purely there for the light/ comedical feel, they are purely there to keep the player entertained and do not really server any greater purpose than then (in the sense of steering or such).

Landmarks, Rewards, Orientation, Texts, Etc.:

The level will definitely have these up to a certain extend, we want to make sure the player starts of facing the (seeming difficult to reach) goal, allowing the player to immediately know where to go and also making sure they always know where to look if they want to take a moment to see how far they are or try to figure out their path again. The game doesn't really have any landmarks as it is a bit small scaled (only a single building), but in here it does have a couple of places of importance (mainly the three main platforms from which each part of the obstacle course will be started from), which should always be easy to spot as well, giving the player an easy sense of "I probably have to find a path to get to that place.", so they kind of function as small scale landmarks in a way. The rewards are also greatly used to steer the player, we want to make sure that almost all of the fun intractable objects are either placed so that they will steer the player towards the proper route or that they emphasize/ reward the player for staying on it, for example putting extra bottles on a shelf the player has to climb over so he can knock them down, giving the player an extra reason to climb the shelf in the first place.

Human Survival Instincts:

In the Environmental Info in the Level Abstract above we already mentioned the general layout of the Human Survival Instincts throughout the level, but we will shortly summarize/ expand on them here for reference:
The player enters through a refuge space
The level itself is an Intimate Prospect Space
The player can see several Secondary Refuge Spaces, namely the goal of the level and the main platforms/ segments of the obstacle course.
Some of the obstacle parts will have somewhat Narrow Spaces in them as well.
These choices were made so that the bar feels like a big open space where the player can be free to mess around with all of his controls, whilst still being closed enough that the player is always reminded that he still has a goal to clear in here as well.
The main platforms of the obstacle course should be safe / normal Refuge spaces so the player can take a breather and feel safe to look around before continuing his journey.
The few Narrow spaces are added to the obstacles part of the obstacle course itself to add some extra tension when going from one Refuge space to another, which should also help in not making the level feel too easy/ light, we do still want te player to make some actual progress of course.

Opdracht 7 - Peer Review 2

Peer to review: Niels de Jong

Practicumpartner: Merle Delen

Core mechanics (in order of importance):

Walking: is used as a ways of traversing the room and reaching different parts of the (environmental) puzzle
Climbing: is a big part of the level, it is used to reach new heights and is essential for finishing the puzzle (one of the "Keys"/artefacts is hidden on a high pillar.
Jumping: is not used very often in the level, only as an extra device for completing the climbing puzzle
Shooting: Is only used in the short segment where eagles attack you. It is not particularly meaningful, but is more of a change of pace.

Interaction-loop

Choice Clarity- moderate
Choice Frequency- moderate
Choice Quality- low

Goals Clarity- high
Goals Frequency- high
Goals Quality- moderate

Action Clarity- moderate
Action Frequency- high
Action Quality- moderate

User Experience ‘Guidelines’

• The ‘Fun Factor’
I think this would be a fun level, there are lots of things in the level that change up the pace and the mechanics used in the game are used in many creative ways.

• Player Ergonomics (quality of player experience, no learning by death & frustration)
If the player takes his time to look around before jumping to certain death, the player can discover most of the actions necessary for winning by just looking around. If the player is impatient however, it is very possible to die on the same jump several times. Most dangerous things get announced before they become dangerous, so it is always possible to prepare for dangerous activities.

• Level Flow (keep moving...or the opposite!)
Yes, you do keep moving, but it's a difficult obstacle course so you won't be going very fast. The road is rather linear though, so you don't need to take a lot of time to think about your next step.

• Rhythm (roller coaster or else...)
There are many things in this level to change up the pace, such as the sudden lava river and the eagles. It's not a roller coaster, but it the rythm graph is certainly not a "straight line".

• Difficulty (let players win, not the designer)
Since the level is rather linear and the challenges are not all that difficult (cross the rope, climb the tower, kill the eagles are all not really a testament to the players skill), the level does not score all that high on this point.

• Wow Factor (memorable moments)
This point has pretty much the same elements as the "Rythm" part - the surprises are the most memorable in this level, especially the sudden lava at the beginning of the level.

• Hooks (to let your level ‘pop’)
These also consist mostly of the nice change-ups in the pace of the level and the long balancing-parcour run in the middle part.

Ten principles of good level design:

• Good level design is fun to navigate:
The level has backup paths for when the player makes mistakes, the path itself uses a lot of mechanics and really empowers their use to go through them, so the level is fun to navigate. However the path is quite linear, so it might nog have a very high replayability factor to it.

• Good level design does not rely on words to tell the story:
The level design somewhat lacks in this section, the xplicit story is definetly there, however the implicent and emergent story are quite limited, the player is not free to choose the order or path he takes (as this is linear) and the event have to be completed in a certain way, for example you have to kill the birds, you cant choose to spare them.

• Good level design tells the player what to do, but not how to do it:
The level design does this in a good way, the player is shown certain goals to achieve/ require, and there are specific paths to find that lead you there, but the game does not show you these paths on it's own and does not tell you how to go through them either, that's for the player to find and figure out.

• Good level design constantly teaches the player something new:
The level design is made around using previously mastered mechanics, so it does not really introduce anything new here, it does introduce several different scenarios for different mechanics, but not specifically any increase/ change within the mechanic's puzzles themselves.

• Good level design is surprising:
The level design makes use of a lot of changes in pace and environment for example enemies appear after quiet paces, the level adds urgency by flooding the room with lava. So it does make use of this.

• Good level design empowers the player:
The level design definetly makes use of this, the palyer fights of enemies, destroys parts of the environment and navigates over and through normally impossible paths, which are all scenarios that help in empowering the player.

• Good level design allows the player to control the difficulty:
The level design is a linear path throughout the level, and although it has a single point in the beginning where failure/ taking a wrong route is forgiven, the rest of the level does not have this and is linear (no branching paths of varying difficulties or anything).

• Good level design is efficient:
The level design is fairly efficient, it does use a lot of differenct slightly varying forms of the same thing, but these could all be made in modular fashions (the pillars could be cloned, aswell as the lava platforms, the eagles, the ropes, etc.).

• Good level design creates emotion:
The level design is focused around creating tension and urgency, making the player feel like they need to escape quickly (after having stolen a treasure), which is properly shown through the design by making the player be chased by enemies for having taking their treasure, the room filling with lava to really force the player to make a quick escape. So the design is really centered around bringing forth this emotion of being an explorer and stealing the ancient treasure of some old civilization, which is exactly what they were going for.

• Good level design is driven by your game’s mechanics:
This is definetly the case, all the puzzles and problem in the design are focused around using your specific and different mechanics to solve them, and really figuring out which mechanic to use in what way for each of them, going through a lot/ the most of the mechanics the player has available.