GROCERY RUN
Guts and Glory Level Design
PREPRODUCTION
I started with a paper map, level design document, objectives list, and pacing map. This allowed me to better plan out what I wanted to do with this project, how big I can set my scope for
DESIGN
One of the affordances I used throughout my levels were these neon signs that pointed out the path to the player. Most levels have one intended route in this game, so my goal was to make a string of levels that all had branching paths based on the vehicle you chose, making the level have replay value. The games style is a bit wacky, so I thought the giant neon signs fit in with the world, as well as grab the players attention. In this example, the bike path is a small hole between trees that’s more difficult for the car to fit through, and the car path is a ramp that requires a faster vehicle to get enough height to make it over the trees.
Grocery Run
Grocery Run
Grocery Run Milestone 5 and 6
Grocery Run Milestone 4
Grocery Run Milestone 3
Grocery Run Milestone 2
POST MORTEM
What Went Right:
I got a good amount of experience with the terrain tool. Building terrain usually can be difficult, so getting more experience with it is definitely one of the things I got out of this project. Another thing that went right with the project was set design. At first the game was a bit weird to get used to, but by my last level I started to get really good at using the art assets in the game. I think the back road level is a great example of good set design. Lastly my process in making the levels went really well. I tried to make levels really quick and not worry about mistakes until I finished them all. By the time I had finished the four levels, I had a lot more experience with the editor and I knew how to fix a lot of the problems that I wasn't able to solve while building the levels.
What Went Wrong:
One thing that went wrong in the beginning was the terrain tool. In the level editor I used, the terrain starts at the lowest point automatically. I hadn't realized this and planed for my level to be on a downward slope. When I tried to lower the ground and found that it couldn't go lower, I decided to just make a giant hill up in order to keep the same design for the level. This taught me to raise the terrain by about half way up before starting new levels so that I can have both upward and downward slopes. Another thing that went wrong was that the level editor kept crashing. This taught me the importance of saving often, and made me a lot more conscious about saving so that I don't lose work. Lastly the AI cars in the game didn't work how I thought they would. All cars follow the exact same checkpoint system, so it was almost impossible to make cars that drive in different directions, or only chase the player at certain points in the level. I got around this by making barriers around the cars so that it would be unlikely for them to chase the player outside of a specific area. Another thing I did was block half of the car from moving. This made it so that the car would be stuck while turning one way, but once the player passed them they could turn around and start chasing them almost like a trigger system.
Lessons Learned:
I learned that not every editor is perfect. The one I used crashed a lot and usually didn't work how I expected it to. Because of this I had to constantly save and find workarounds to a lot of the different issues I had. I also learned how to use the terrain tool better. I learned to check to make sure there's space to grow the terrain upward and downward before starting, and also learned how to use a mixture of different textures to both lead the player and create interesting and believable environments. Lastly, I learned the importance of polish. For the last to weeks of the assignment, I used my time to work on what I already had instead of adding more content. This helped improve the levels greatly, as I was able to step back and come back into the levels with a fresh mindset to realize some of the issues I missed while I was focused on finishing the levels.