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