Week 16 - Final Week and Completing the Semester - 18/5/15 & 19/5/15

Week 16
So we completed the game, fully with sounds and a working menu, and handed in on Thursday. We feel as though we worked well as a group and did everything that we collaborated on.

That sums up the blog and the semester. Hopefully we pass this assessment with good marks

Week 15 - Three Quarters Done - 11/5/15 & 12/5/15

Week 15
The game is coming along well, with many aspects coming together to bring the game to life. More scripts have been written, with the most important ones being that the objectives now randomly spawn into the level, so that the player is no longer playing a set level. The score also works, yet there is no way to carry over your score to the win/lose screen, yet this will be developed in the next week.

Also, a new plane was modeled and textured, one that would suit the scene better than the one currently being used. There are a few more aspects to complete, such as game sound and UI Interface, but the members of "Swole Bros Studio's" are still on course to finish the game well.

Week 14 - "Swole Bros Studio's" First Game is underway - 4/5/15 & 5/5/15

Week 14
So we have hit the middle of the project timeline for the last assessment for Game Design and Programming, which is the group game. The members of "Swole Bro's Studio's" have been working productively as a team to produce this flying survival game. Currently we have designed five different obstacle levels, a plane, textures, and a quick level set up to see if it works, which at this point does. Which is good.

We have also written the basic scripts we need to make the game work, such as the player move and destroy, speed settings and button events. The UI has also been done to a simple degree so that it is able to be tested.

In the next weeks we will be able to finish the game off to a completed and acceptable level

Week 13 - Early Planning & Game Documentation ... - 27/4/15 & 28/4/15

Week 13

For this assessment we are required to make another game, this time instead of it being an individual game we will be making it as a group of three. Each member will be required to contribute to the game making process evenly, and different roles will be assigned to each member so that the game, and the criteria that we will be marked on, will be completed to the standard required to pass.

Restrictions:

• Game must be done in 3D.
• An objective/result is needed.
•  AI/Enemy in the game.
• At least one level.

After some group brainstorming, we decided to come up with a few ideas and expand each of them, and then decide which idea to pursue.

Group Game Idea 1 – Fishing Game

Our first idea is to create a fishing game, where the player has to catch a bag limit of fish to complete the level.

Conceptualising the Game:

•  A camera system needs to be decided upon, and this is a big part of the game, whether some models will need to be created for the game.
• 3D models of Fish, a boat, fishing equipment etc need to be drawn or if time is unavailable downloaded from the asset store.
• The UI and menu’s need to be drawn and fit in with how the game levels look.
• Objective – The objective of the game is to catch a certain amount of fish. This could be expanded to include that the player would need to catch a certain amount of fish and need to get to a certain length limit to pass the level.
• Layout – The game will need a terrain in it, which will mostly consist of a water particle system, and the fish will swim around in this water. The area for fishing can be a number of different places, such as the ocean or a lake. If the ocean, a mountainous terrain may be included in the background of one of the views, and if it is a lake then a grassy terrain will need to be included around all the edges on all the axis.

Group Game Idea 2 – Flying Survival Game

Our second idea is to make a flying game, where the player has to fly a plane to an objective to complete the level. This idea had different paths that we could expand town, and after deliberation between us members we decided upon a flying survival game, where the player has to fly through a tunnel and avoid the pillars/obstacles

Conceptualising the Game:

• A camera system, either 1^st person or 3^rd person needs to be decided upon, as like the previous idea, is an integral part of the game development process.
• 3D models of the plane and terrain need to be developed and textured, with the models needing to complement each other.
• The UI and menu systems need to be developed and suit with how the game looks.
• Objective – the objective of the game is to get fly as far as possible without hitting the objectives and blowing up. The score the player obtains will then be stored in a high score system in which different players can look to see who has the highest score.
• Layout – The game will consist of a plane/flying object travelling through a tunnel that has pillars/walls with holes/obstacles that the player will need to avoid in order to achieve a high score. This means that there will only be a small amount of objects in the scene, as different parts of the tunnel can be created and spawned in at random to create an endless flying game.

After examining both ideas and expanding how each game will be made, we decided that our group will make the game based on our second idea, the flying survival game. We believe that we can create this game as a group and achieve the necessary results to pass the assessment. 

Week 12.2 - Medieval Game Handed In - 21/4/15

Week 12
So the submission date for the game was on Tuesday for the coding aspect, and today (Thursday) for the visual side of the game. Mark, our coding teacher, gave us some leeway to handing in, which is also today. So this allowed me to have a few days to finish the game off fully.

Where I left this blog off on Monday i was preparing to deal with the mad pressure of booking tickets to AC/DC. I achieved this successfully, after much hassle and site crashing. After that i had completed most of the coding and Tuesday had finished off the last remaining factors that were the camera and AI/NavMesh aspects, I handed in the coding part fully completed, yet all i needed to finish off was the AI character.

And after today I have completed the AI character, also giving him an audio source that makes him scream when he is spawned in, which is when one of the torches hits the hut. Mad. This fully completes the game and now i can hand it in both for the coding and visual submissions.

There is only one known problem that i know, which is when loading the second game level after the loading screen. If it is running off the desktop or a USB, basically somewhere where it will be slow and laggy, it'll glitch out. Yet if it is run off a drive it will perform fine. I don't know how to fix this. I'm not good enough.

So that now this game is handed in, there will be one more post that will show the visuals of the game. I forgot to capture screenshots while the game was in production, so i'll try my best to replicate this with the finished game, otherwise I will show different aspects.

Now we move on to the final assessment for both the Programming and Game Design classes, which is the group game. This game is to be designed and made as a group of 3. The other members in my group that we picked are known as the "Brothers of Swole", James and Stevo. We should get along quite well in the production of the final game, and we should have a good game created by the due date in week 16.

Watch this space.

Week 12 - Medieval Game Nearly Finished - 20/4/15

Week 12
So today is the day before the Medieval game is unoffically due tomorrow, with the official due date this Friday. Most of the game is complete, with only a few small aspects left to do. These aspects, however, are challenging to complete in code, and they're proving slightly harder than what i thought to finish. Usually through trail and error and looking up different tutorials online i can get them done.

But for now, the game has to be put on hold for a couple of hours, as a more important event has arisen. The legends that are AC/DC are touring Australia for the 1st time in more than 5 years, and tickets are released in an hour. So that takes priority.

Week 11.2 - Wasting Time.... 14/4/15

Week 11.2
Work is coming along on the game nicely, but there are many trivial activities and stupid, brain-dead actions on my part that I keep wasting time not working towards completing the game. One main thing is the recent release of Grand Theft Auto V on PC. That has taken at least one day in which all i did was play that instead of working on my game. It looks amazing at 1080p, 60fps, and the gameplay is so smooth. And the stupid action in leaving my game on the D drive of one of the computers at TAFE wasted quite a lot of time, in which i had to wait for a break in the class that was occuping the specific computer to go and get my files off it. Absolutely stupid.

But in saying that it allows me to focus on the other aspects on my assignment, such as creating my own designed models for the game instead of downloading them off the Asset Store.

Back off to work after this quick update.

Week 11 - Game Idea Change - 13/4/15

Week 11
After thinking about the game idea that i have chosen and deliberated upon, I have decided to change my original idea from doing a catapult game to creating a village assault style game, where the player has to throw flaming torches into a village and destroy it. The following aspects of the game will need to be changed in order to make the game work:

• Player - The player will now be a character that throws flaming torches instead of a catapult.
• Score - The score will now be a percentage based score, where the player has to gain a certain amount of damage to pass the level.
• Enemies - The enemies in the game will now be village huts, where the player has to burn down the huts to beat the level.
• Objectives - There will be a special hut for the player to destroy, and this will act as a special bonus.

We also have to include an AI element into the game, most simply to use a NavMesh and create something that travels along that NavMesh. There is a lot to do but it is achievable before the due date.

Week 10 - Game Two Documentation - 30/3/15 & 31/3/15

Week 10

So now we begin development of the second game that makes up part of the assessment. This game can be made a little differently from the first one, and also has to have a different theme, which is "Medieval". More about the game will be explained below.

Understanding the Project Brief: We are to create a web build of a game prototype with a theme of "Medieval". We will be creating all the aspects of the game in our Game Design 2 and Programming 2 classes. 

There are less restrictions involved with this game compared to the previous space related game. Firstly, the camera is allowed to move and character controller/s may be used in the construction and production of this game. This allows the game to be more dynamic and allows for larger landscapes to be developed. This game will be a 3D game, have two levels and needs to destroy/rescue something/someone.

Conceptualising the Game: So the theme of the game is "Medieval", and the game needs to include the player either destroying or rescuing someone, such as a kidnapped character, or something, such as destroying a castle or village. This gives me a range of different ideas that I could develop into a game, with the one that the teachers promoted was a catapult game. Some other ideas are:

• A search and rescue style, where the player has to navigate a game level and rescue a hostage/recover a prized possession.
• A search and destroy style, where the player has to kill a boss player at the end of navigating a level.
• An assault/siege style, where the player plays as an army/squadron/player and has to destroy a village. Not a catapult game but similar to its style.

After much deliberation, I decided that a catapult game will be the easiest and quickest game to create. It still offers a challenge to make the game but will be simpler than creating one of the other styles, so therefore a medieval catapult game will be made.

Beginning Development: To create the game, the following gameplay mechanics will need to be developed to make the game successful:

• Player - A catapult and controller will need to be designed, animated and textured.
• Enemy - 2 castles will need to be created and textured, one fore each level and one which is slightly harder than the other.
• Score - A points/rating system, where the player will need to beat a certain score to pass the level, will need to be designed.
• Objective - An objective/target in the level needs to be designed for both levels, such as a flag/enemy character. This objective will need to be destroyed/killed for the level to be passed and completed.
• Audio - Audio needs to be made for the menu's and in-game, whether it be SFX for the levels and a tune for the menu screens.
• Once again a menu system needs to be designed, including a main menu, credits, in-game, win/lose and button help screen.

Along with the Space game, this game will need models for most to all of the objects in the game scene, and we can once again gather some models from the Unity Asset Store, however some assets can be created.

More posts will be added to this blog with updates regarding the progress of this medieval catapult game.

Week 9 - One game down, one more to go - 23/3/15 & 24/3/15

Week 9
So the first game was handed in, and we were tasked to start creating the second game, which has to have a "Medieval" theme. This game allows a bit less restrictions in its creation. The camera is allowed to move and we are allowed to use character controllers for the player. This allows the game to be more dynamic. The documentation needs to be done first before the game can be made.

More posts will be added as the game is developed

Week 8 - Multitasking Live Updates at 2am - 16/3/15 & 17/3/15

Week 8 Blog Post
2:22am: Writing this blog post at 2:22am on Monday morning to summarize what was done during week 8 doesn't seem like a good idea to anyone else reading this, but to me it is a great idea. I have time to finish and polish off my game for this subject while watching the football team I support, Chelsea, play live in England, so it is the perfect reason to be awake at this time. Presently Chelsea are winning 2-0, so everything is going to plan....

2:27am: Well, Hull City (the team that Chelsea are playing against) have scored, so it's now 2-1. It could be worse....

2:28am: It is worse. Hull City have somehow scored again. 2-2 now. I can't even talk about my Space game without focusing on the match. Ahh, the life of a mad fanatic. 

2:29am: My computer monitor has more programs open than a TV shop owner. Lucky the screen is big enough to accommodate all these open tabs.

2:31am: Finally, a lull in the sporting match, so i can talk about my game. Everything was finished off during the week, with the problems that I encountered last week with programming sorted out, models textured and audio added to the game. Also a menu system was designed, but the main focus was on the game level. There may be one or two aspects that i may not get to fully complete, like the timer stopping when the player is destroyed, and the score being shown upon the Win/Lose screen. Hopefully in the time between now and class today (23/3/15) I can figure out the respective code and finish it off. But aside from this, the rest of the game works how i want it to.

2:52am: The match is 2-2 at half time, hopefully Chelsea can get the win.

3:26am: The match is still at 2-2, and there's only 20 minutes left. Get a goal, boys! In other news, the textures won't show on my explosion in the game. I don't know why, all the textures are there, but they won't show. So annoying. 

3:36am: My prayers are answered! Chelsea have scored! Winning 3-2 with 12 minutes left. And also, the textures have now appeared on the explosion! Good times!

3:52am: Full time and Chelsea win 3-2! Really important win. I've also done what i need to on my game, sleep is necessary now, 3 hours should be enough??

P.S: I gave up celebrating my 19th birthday on Saturday for this assessment, it better pay off.

Week 7 - So frustrating... - 9/3/15 & 10/3/15

Week 7
As the days continue to pass the production of the space game continues, with many aspects still to work on with the due date slowly encroaching towards us. This week was a bit slow production wise, as the code that i wanted to write just wouldn't work. No matter how many times I tried and how many different ways of writing this specific type of code, it just wouldn't work. So that really slowed up progress.

But with every failed attempt progress to success was still achieved, and i had to put this specific aspect of code on standby and work on other parts of the game. With the game due in one week and a fair amount of work to do, aspects need to be figured out quickly, but i believe that i can get the completed game done by next week.

Week 6 - Game development is in progress... - 2/3/15 & 3/3/15

Week 6 – Development is in progress…

So we are still working on creating our space game. It’s coming along together slowly, but the main aspects have been scripted and developed into the main level. Initially, remembering how to write movement scripts was a bit too much, but after referencing tutorials and researching questions over the ‘net’ I was able to get the movement and rotation of the main player, so when he moves from left to right the ship banks each way, as well as banking up and down when the character moves.

After completing this, the focus is now on how to get the background to move inwards slowly,, giving off the impression that the player is flying through space without the game camera actually moving. Also, a GUI menu also has to be developed, but as this is past work then it can be simply done.

But for now, the slow grind to game completion continues….

Week 5 - Getting the keywords and beginning development! - 23/2/15 & 24/2/15

In class today we received the keywords for the games we are to create as our assessment items in conjunction with our Programming class. The keywords we received are “Space” and “Medieval”. We are to make both games which include certain parameters by our programming class on week 10, just before the mid semester break. The first game, the one with a “Space” theme, is to be completed by week 7, and the “Medieval” game by week 10. So we can leave production of the 2^nd game until we finish the first game, so I will focus my attention on that.

Understanding the Project Brief:

We are required to make a web build of a game prototype with the theme of “Space”. We also have to make this game using Unity’s inbuilt physics engine. We will be creating the environment and ideas for this game in our Game Design 2 classes, and writing scripts and making the game in our Programming 2 class.

We also have restrictions we have to take into account when conceptualising and creating the game. The game prototype must not use a character controller or animator controller. We must use Translate/Rotate or AddForce methods when programming the movements for our players, enemies and objects in the game, and the camera is to stay in a fixed position. The game also has to be in 3D.

Conceptualising the game:

So the theme for the visual aspects is “Space”. So most games with a space theme are flying games, and this seems like the most logical choice to make, in both terms of simplicity and content yet also enjoyable for the player.

So with the main game to be a flying style game, I now need to decide what type of flying game it will be. It be either one of the following:

-          A survival style game, where the player has to fly for as long as they can while avoiding obstacles.

-          A shooting style game, where the player has to kill enemies in front of him that are returning fire trying to kill them.

-          Both of these ideas combined to make a survival – shooter game.

-          A racing style game, where a player has to complete a level by getting from point A to point B as fast as possible, passing checkpoints along the way and picking up boosts to increase their speed, or bumping obstacles which slows their progress.

This decision is an important one, as it will shape how the game is designed. The one that appeals to me the most is a survival type of game, where the player has to fly as far as they can avoiding obstacles. If they hit an obstacle then the player’s ship will explode and the game will end, prompting a restart if they want to try again.

Beginning Development:

To begin I need to start thinking about what will be in the game. The following items will need to be created for the game:

-          Player – The player will be a ship of some kind, to fly through the level.

-          Obstacles – The obstacles in the game will consist of asteroids and space debris. They will all be solid objects and the player will be instantly killed if they collide with them.

-          Objective(s) – The objective of the game will be to go as far as possible, whether it be via a timer or a distance measurement, and maybe to collect as many small valuable pickups which add to the distance/length of time that the player is alive.

-          Background – As the game will be set in space the game will need a space background. At this early stage it could be a skybox or a simple image.

Models will be needed for these most of these objects. Fortunately we are able to use assets from the Unity Asset Store.

We have been told to blog our progress throughout the weeks we are creating our games, updating you readers on my progress

Week 4 - Creating a level blueprint - 16/2/15

This week we were told to expand on our original game concept and develop a blueprint for a level that was to be included in the game. As per last week, we were given a series of questions to help aid our design. All of these question will consist mainly of hand drawn images with an explanation on some of these images.

Week 4 – Creating the level blueprint

Question 1: Building on the original concept developed in Chapter 2, create a blueprint for your level. Make sure you begin with a series of rough sketches until your blueprint begins to take shape.

Image 1: A rough map of the level with a few notes regarding its design.

Image 2: The level with more detail added to its design.

Image 3: The final level blueprint and with start position and notes included.

Question 2: Create at least three gameplay mechanics for your level. How do these objectives relate to your original story idea?

There are many different gameplay mechanics that are Included when making games. Some of these include what style the game is, how the player interacts with the game world, right up to how the characters move and interact in the world. As the game is a RPG style, and the player assumes the role of a sergeant in an army, he has the ability to aim, shoot, jump etc. He will also be able to interact with other minor characters in the game world, like talking to AI characters throughout the game, and interacting with objects around each level.

Objectives throughout the game will have different ways of being completed. Some will include killing a certain character/a number of characters, gathering intel, picking up certain objects, triggering a set of events or cut-scene and checkpoint which will load another set of objectives to complete the level. In this level that has been conceptualized above, some gameplay mechanics that have been created are gather/pickup objectives for most of the objectives in the level, where the player will have to gather information by going from house to house to interview people and find out information. The player will also have to use Jump/climbing and crouching movement mechanics to make it through the level as the end objectives are isolated by an obstacle. The player will also view the game through a first-person camera mechanic, as most shooter games are created in first person to make the game feel much more realistic.

All these game mechanics relate to the original story idea of a RPG shooter game as these are all integral mechanics into making a game like this work. The jumping and crouching mechanics in the game are necessary as the jumping is needed to navigate through certain levels and over obstacles, while crouching and lying prone are needed to hide in cover from enemies firing at the player and crawl under certain obstacles. The gather/pickup objectives can be used for many different instances throughout the game and not just the level, where the character may need to retrieve a certain item/weapon, or gather a certain piece of information. These are important as they give another way to complete objectives, rather than just to kill someone/a certain amount of people. The first-person camera is probably the ideal way to play a shooter game as it depicts the story from the point of view of the character and player, and this makes the game more relatable for humans to play.

Question 3: Come up with five level objectives that correspond to your gameplay mechanics. How will you identify these objectives in your blueprint level?

Before the level begins a cut-scene will show telling the player the main objectives of the level, which would be a different character telling the main player to go and gather information by interviewing the locals living in the houses in the surrounding area. There will be four pieces of information to gather in this fashion, and they should be collected in a linear fashion as the player follows the ‘Z’ shape of the level. The final objective of the level is to take the information back to head command, which means navigating back through the level and returning to the starting point.

These will be shown in the game by a text line that appears in a corner of the game screen showing the current objective and how many pieces of information are left to collect, if applicable. In the blueprint level they will be shown via a blue cross (X). The final objective is shown via a red cross (X). If there is an arrow beside the cross it depicts that the objective is on the level above.

Image 4: The final level with objectives included in the design.

In the next lesson we will be given two keywords which will be the themes for two games we are to create. 

Week 3 - Creating a game concept - 9/2/15

Chapter 2 - Conceptualizing a game idea.

In this chapter, we were asked to begin developing a concept for a game that we would like to create. These questions were given to us to help begin and develop this concept.

Question 1: Using some of the techniques discussed in this chapter, begin developing a concept for an original game idea. Discuss the central theme of your idea, and the methods you used to bring your idea into existence.

The game concept I wish to develop has the central theme of science – fiction, good-overcomes-evil style game, involving the main setting of the moon. It will be an RPG/first-person shooter game in which the character has to follow the storyline and complete missions and levels to complete an overall goal, either that be to kill a powerful antagonist or achieve an ultimate goal. It will be set in a future civilisation that has been established on the Earth’s moon, with small parts on the uninhabitable Earth.

When thinking about developing an original game idea, one must use some inspiration to gather the initial ideas to form the game concept. Usually game creators want to make a game that is based on themes and ideas that they find interesting, activities that they like to do, objects and theories that they find appealing to them or a topic they know well. Once topic is decided upon then the details about what type of game, setting, characters, details and levels can be started to be developed.

Question 2: Create a backstory, environment, and three character descriptions associated with your original game idea. How are these elements integrated and linked through a central theme?

Backstory – The year is 2245 AD. 26 year old Sergeant Jackson Velibor, a member of the Royal Reconnaissance Army (RRA) had been stationed on the Royal Palace, Moon City for 3 years. The Purge of the Earth had ended 50 years ago, and was now uninhabitable. Those who were fortunate and wealthy enough were able to escape to the nearby Moon, established and built into the last society of Humans from Earth. Since the end of the Purge, the Moon’s inhabitants had been ruled by tyrant Maximillion Crayne, and the Moons’ citizens’ were suffering from it. Using his training from the RRA, will Jackson be able to make a difference and bring the Moon to harmony?

Environment – As the game will be set in the year 2245 AD, the setting for the game is primarily the moon of planet Earth, with some parts to be set on a destroyed planet Earth. As time as passed, along with the advancement of technology, the humans of Earth had inhabited the Moon, and developed it into a futuristic city for the last humans who survived the purge of the Earth to live in harmony upon its surface. The Earth, however, is a barren, toxic, apocalyptic wasteland. The air is polluted and lethal and the land is constantly ablaze with fire and lava.

Character Descriptions:

·         Character 1: Jackson Velibor (Main Protagonist) – Jackson Velibor is 26 years old male sergeant in the Royal Reconnaissance Army (RRA), serving as a guard in the Royal Palace. He is 6 foot 1 inch tall, short brown hair, brown eyes and well built. He is a determined, strong hearted person who has an undying loyalty to his family and friends – a typical hero character.

·         Character 2: Maximillion Crayne (Main Antagonist) – Maximillion Crayne is the 51 year old tyrant dictator of the Moon City, the last city where humans are now living. A tall, average built man with long black hair and dark grey eyes, he had been in charge for 12 years, and ruled over the city with an iron fist, living in luxury while the citizens under his suffer in hardship. He is cold hearted and very intelligent, with no remorse for his subjects.

·         Character 3: Malcolm Cannari (Minor character) – Malcolm Cannari is the leader of the secret group that is plotting to kill Maximillion Crayne and overthrow the Royal Reconnaissance Army. He is a seasoned former soldier, tall and strong, sporting many scars from battles, most significantly the straight scar running across his face. He voice carries a strong authority with it, and is not worried about the consequences to get a job done.

All these elements, the backstory, environment and characters, are linked to the central theme of a futuristic, science-fiction world where good overcomes evil. The characters are created so that they have a fixed hero that the player will grow to love, the antagonist will have the attitude and characteristics that will make the player loathe him– this giving the player a drive to complete the game.

Question 3: Document your concept with reference material and original sketches. How did you capture your reference images? Create thumbnails and silhouettes. Compile these images into an art “bible” to help guide your vision.

Most of the reference images were gathered via the internet, with the hand drawn images done via paper scanned onto the computer and those drawn via tablet and Photoshop saved regularly. All images gathered from the internet have their URL attached.

Image 1: http://wallpoper.com/images/00/40/00/76/moon-surface_00400076.jpg

Image 2: 1.       http://www.allanstanglin.com/wp-content/uploads/MoonSurface.jpg

Image 3: http://previewcf.turbosquid.com/Preview/2014/05/25__18_32_44/render_moon0003.jpg05f9068e-03e2-4c79-95db-1de112af5c0aLarger.jpg

Image 4: http://s193.photobucket.com/user/Dronetek/media/Copernicus2-full.gif.html

Image 5: http://www.edu-observatory.org/eo/images/crater.gif

Image 6: http://www.pri.org/sites/default/files/styles/story_main/public/story/images/fire2.jpg?itok=7jZDdqMS

 Image 7: 4 http://www.noaa.gov/features/resources_0109/images/fire1.jpg

Image 8: http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/planetes/images/5/56/Moon_surface.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120522195041

Silhouette drawing of some buildings and the moon.

Thumbnail images of Buildings, Earth and Moon City.

Week 2 - First Lesson for the Semester! - 2/2/15

Welcome to the first post for the semester. This blog will consist of work given to us students in class and anything our teacher wants answered to be marked will be posted regularly here.
In our first lesson for the semester we were asked to answer some question regarding game level design. Here are the questions and answers below:



Question: What is a level?

A level is a total space of a game where a player has to navigate puzzles and challenges to achieve a goal.

Question: What is the role of a level designer?

A level designer is the person who puts the different aspects of the game together. They are in charge of creating the levels out of the art, models, scripts and ideas that are created by other members of the creative team.

Question: How has level design evolved throughout history?

Level design has been greatly improved throughout the years with the advancement of technology. When the first games were originally created they only contained one level and 2 Dimensional pixel art based, whereas nowadays with the significant advancement of processing power and development of gaming consoles, levels in games are much more complex, with incredibly descriptive storylines, intriguing puzzles and crystal clear 3 Dimensional graphics.

Question: How are game platforms related to level design?

Game platforms are related to game and level design in that they provide limitations into how detailed and descriptive each game level can be. When games were first invented, the processing power and size capabilities of machines was very small and limited, so only basic games could be created. However nowadays with the advancement knowledge and technology and the creation of powerful game consoles such as the Playstation 4 and Xbox One, game levels can be made to be much more detailed and aesthetically appealing.

Question: How are game genres related to level design?

Game genres affect the development of game levels significantly. They are the main inspiration as to how a game level is designed and created. A game with a war based genre will affect the design of a game level in that it will have linear storyline, with an objective at the end of the level and the player having to shoot their way to the that objective, whereas a game with a technical and strategic genre will have a level that is based upon solving a certain puzzle or algorithm to make it to the objective at the end, and a game with a sports genre will involve the player playing matches to achieve the goal of victory.

Question: Imagine that you are a level designer working in the 1980s. Knowing the limitations associated with this era, what type of game would you develop?

If I was a level designer working in the 1980’s, I would develop a game that was based around a set of levels that would progressively get harder in order to achieve a high score. It would have simple pixel art graphics in order to keep memory low which would make the game run smoother.

Question: Play three games—one from the 1980s, one from the 1990s, and one released after 2004. Compare and contrast how levels and environments are designed in all three games.

The three games that I have selected to play are Pac-Man (1980), Mario Kart 64 (1996) and Destiny (2014). These games were all designed in different eras when knowledge in the limitations and boundaries of technology were expanding, allowing for better games to be made. The levels and environments of each game are significantly more advanced and aesthetically appealing the later the game was developed. Pac-Man has an environment in which the game is drawn in 2D, on a black background with small white dots and blue borders, which enabled low memory requirements which were the limitations of the technology back in the 1980’s. Their levels consisted of the same layout, with difficulty advancing the more levels are completed, with the goal to eat all the small white dots and avoid being killed by the monsters that followed you through the maze. Mario Kart 64 enabled a simple 3D environment through the use of 2D sprite images layered to give the environment a sense of depth. The characters in the game have been drawn so that they look 3D but are just flat images, with the borders of the images jagged from the simple pixel art. Each level consisted of a different track layout and setting, with the goal to win races and claim victory in each tournament, and with the increase in size capabilities of PC’s and gaming consoles this was achieved successfully. With the further advancement in technology and design as the years progressed we have games such as Destiny which are crystal clear, full Three-Dimensional environments in which every location looks extremely realistic, with perfect smoothness on all the models in the game due to gaming consoles and PC’s being able to process the large sizes of memory that modern games take up. The environments of Destiny consist of planets Earth, Mars and Venus, as well as the Moon. There are many levels within Destiny, each with a different goal and different paths through the different environments that exist to make up the game to achieve the overall goal of completion.

Question: How does a game’s genre affect the way its levels and environments are designed? Choose one level from three different games—each from a distinct primary genre—and compare how these levels are designed with regard to setting, goals, puzzles, and risk–reward system.

A game’s genre affects the way a level is designed in very similar ways, but the environment will be designed differently. Three games in which this can be shown are Destiny, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Killzone: Shadow Fall. These three games have the same primary genre, first person shooters, and can show that the level design is the relatively the same, while the environments are designed differently. In all three games, it is the requirement of the player to achieve the level goal via following a set route, which may involve puzzles and strategic thinking, and shooting and eliminating enemies along the route to the objective. This final goal may be different in each game, but the way a level is set out in each game is relatively the same. The environments for each game, however, are completely different from each other. Destiny is set amongst planets Earth, Mars and Venus as well as the Moon, in which there are civilised establishments built on each planet. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is set on Earth around the years 2059 – 2065, and shows a futuristic Earth with many similarities to our cities today. Killzone: Shadow Fall is set amongst foreign planets that are pose similarities to Earth but are different in many aspects. The environments vary amongst each game, but the level layout is very much similar to each other due to the genre of the game.