Implementation

i continued on with the electric room concept adding in the assets i needed from my assets list than i exported so that it could be tested in the game engine and over the network.

we tested all of us playing together on the network in the level that i exported

i added a generator and some wires hanging down and the grid of platforms and texture the platform walls and the generator.

this was a relly good way of getting my ideas for how i wanted the room to look and feel rather than bog yourself down in detail the use of lighting in the right way can really deliver the mood and feel for the room

i also started to model the elevator for the elevator room

i just have to unwrap texture and export

i thgink that it  is a little more than what had been discussed and agreed upon but i don't see a problem with doing a little extra

the elevator turned out really well it didnt take long for me to get it looking how it looks everybody in the group seems to be happy with what i produced so that is a plus

Conceptual rendering

my group and i made an asset priority list in our meetings and work out what needs to be models we have to make for this stage of design and i was tasked with creating a 3d environment concept of the electric room

this is were the robots are deactivated and rewired and has been fitted out to a challenge area for multiplier combat

players must make there way across the and across the platforms safely to complete this area electrified fences block the player exposed wires and electrified platforms as well as out of control assembly arms in this area are all trying to stop or slow or even kill the player.

this  is a concept of the electronic facility  that will be in the prototype and was the first of the priority list to try and portray the look and feel of the room

we came up with an idea for colors that are in each room for example blue for the electrical room

grey with color accents and dark grungy textures strong industrial feel mechanical theme to this room

i think that this is a good idea to reflect how i want the level to look like based on what was agrred upon by the group in our meetings i ham happy with the out come

trap and level design concepts

so we went through in this weeks meeting an discussed some level design and what the astetcic of the game the logic of what the level is and how it will function and how we will be relating to game play what types of traps will be used and how they will be used in the level thinking about how the level will flow with game play and difficulty

we also tested Sams local lan networking and it all worked to we will be able to test gameplay as we build the prototype

Section Layouts

The Wind Tunnel (Brownish)

Experience:

The wind tunnel is designed to blast robots with sand to strip off their paint, with a large pit at the base to catch any fallen robots/the removed paint. The wind blasts are constant and do not immediately push the player to a “killed” state, allowing some recovery.

1. Start at a narrower portion of the tunnel with some large walls near the entrance.
2. The tunnel expands slightly and so does the spacing between walls. The walls are also separated by gaps in the floor forcing the player to jump between them
3. The walls are now quite far apart and notably smaller. There are also more gaps to jump between.

Electric Room (Blue)

Experience:

Dimly lit room (similar to a cave) with a glowing and sparking electrical grid. Platforms on the grid light up before electrocuting whatever stands on it, forcing the players to move from that platform. The whole room is one giant grid that ramps in difficulty the platforms that have been triggered stay lit.

1. As the grid is first entered the amount of safe platforms outweigh the amount of “active” platforms
2. The grid has some lines and zones of “permanently active” platforms as well as more “active” platforms than previously.
3. Along with permanently active zones and more active platforms, some wires hang from the ceiling and walls and upon touching, the player dies.

Cutting Room (Silver)

Experience:

Continuous conveyors leading the players through various cutting instruments designed to first, hack and slash and then leading to more precises instruments

1. The players start along a slower moving part of the conveyor dodging buzz-saws and other larger cutting instruments
2. As the pace of the conveyor quickens so do the quantity of buzz saws
3. As the conveyor reaches top speeds lasers are introduced as another element for the player to dodge.

Smelting Room (Black/Red/orange from heat and light)

Experience:

The smelter is a large object within the room with molten metal inside it, the player runs along a conveyor above the smelter with various crushers attempting to stop the players

1. The conveyor keeps a relatively straight path with crushers attempting to stop the player
2. As the players moves through the room the conveyor forks and takes different paths that other players may be split between. The conveyors begin to take more complicated and dangerous routes so the player must now dodge flaming exhausts as well as the crushers
3. The conveyor runs closer to the smelter and much faster. The players must then dodge blasts of exhaust, crushers as well as blasts of molten metal shooting up from the smelter.

Cooling Room (light blue/white icy look)

Experience:

Similar designs to an industrial cold room, dimly lit the cooling room has various obstacles such as exhausts of cold air freezing players, falling icy stalactites as well as a “temperature gauge” that the player must also keep an eye on as when it decreases the player slows in movement. As the players first enter they will notice a new GUI icon indicating their temperature within the room. As the gauge gets lower the icon updates with a “freezing” mask so the players knows what they are doing. The room will have some “warm spots” (maybe one halfway) where they can charge back their temperature gauge.

1. The players will notice a few pipes and stalactites as they first enter, with the room starting at a relatively warm temperature (so the gauge progresses slowly)
2. More pipes and stalactites as well as the room getting colder and narrower.
3. The room proceeds to freezing temperatures so if the player isn’t quick enough they will freeze solid

Elevator (Dark metal, yellow (danger lighting))

Experience:

The elevator is an incline lift moving at a rather slow pace will several obstacles coming from the walls as well as being heavily pvp focused.

1. 3 Incline lifts move at different speeds up and down the pathway (allowing other players to not have to wait as long). Not many other obstacles, just pvp focus
2. Decontaminate sprays which can knock the player off the platform, as well as pvp
3. Sprays and pvp and the track begins to falter causing the elevator to move in a more erratic fashion

Packaging (white, brown(boxes), coloured via containers and banners)

Experience:

The packaging room is a giant warehouse with lots of machinery constantly moving and blocking/re-opening paths. More designs and exposition to the story (T.V. equipment, sponsorship banners etc).

1. Players come in off the lift into a storage style warehouse with machinery moving constantly. A crane will occasionally drop a shipping container on the ground killing any players underneath it, and then picking it up again and continuing in a loop
2. Crane moving from above as well as other machinery picking up containers in a horizontal fashion blocking certain paths whilst opening others.
3. Cranes + other machinery as well as forklifts providing players with elevated platforms and other vehicles attempting to run over the player.

For The Prototype

All layouts will have a ‘sampler’ within the prototype level giving a taste of the functionality and gameplay EXCEPT for the elevator and the packaging stage. The progression will be similar to as follows;

Start in a small-scale wind tunnel (3-walls, quite short) before moving into a 6x6 electric grid with the “active” platform functionality implemented, then the cutting room will be one short mostly-straight conveyor with both buzzsaws and lasers equally. After that, we will enter a smaller version of the smelter including a forking conveyor with some crushers. The cooling room will be the final section, with a much shorter room to showcase the temperature gauge.

we also tested Sams local lan networking and it all worked to we will be able to test gameplay as we build the prototype

Viability and scaling

after feed back from our viability presentation the sum we got  was we need a lot more conceptual art and visuals to portray art style and aesthetics of the game and to break it down to a more manageable parts for this part of the design process. So we met as a group and discussed what was need to be done.

at this point it is really reliant on conceptual design and art.

so we talked with our artiest and explained our ideas and what is need from him and made sure that the whole group was on the same page

also we discussed in our skype meeting level design broke down the what the whens and the hows of the environments and traps to what will be happening in the environment and correlate to the story line broke the level down to one design and logically layout the level from how it will function and than apply that to our level design.

now that we had done this process it became easier and made more sense the traps made more sense because that is what would really happen in that environment. and this is all documented in out GDD and our meeting documentation

i will also be looking into scaling factor from our 3D software packages into the unity engine so that all the animators and modelers are keeping to a uniform scale and measurement system

Level layouts and difficulty curve

from feedback received i was tasked by my group to explain how the player will be delivered game play, flow and difficulty so we started to think about game flow and difficulty so we came up with a difficulty ramp and how they will tie in with the traps and game play giving the player a rest in between traps and combat between other players.

 Here is a difficulty chart we made to represent flow of difficulty in the game relating to level design and how traps will be introduced to the layer

with that done i was also asked to do level layouts what the traps are and how they function so i designed a quick mock up as a visual aid for my viability presentation i was given to levels to layout