Week 2 – level design and creating materials

Delver » Devlog

Share this post:

Latest game features:

The focus of this week was to implement the home level and the first level of the game. Popular platformer and Metroidvania games were analysed and studied to better understand the concepts involved in level design. It was later found that a random Dungeons and Dragons (DnD) dungeon generator could be used to create the foundations of the level. After sketching and designing the level, the tilemap and enemies were implemented into Unity. This process required a lot more time than initially expected and could only be partially completed.

Comparisons between the random DnD-generated dungeon and the final layout of level 1.

Other features explored this week were creating rendering materials for the Old Merchant, the portals and any other interactable objects. This material highlighted a white border around the game object to better communicate to the player that it is interactable. Unfortunately, I got too distracted by the level and material design that I forgot to implement the actual function of these game objects, meaning the first level is still inaccessible and the Old Merchant remains to have no function.

Screenshots of the Old Merchant with the highlighting material and a screenshot of a completed section of level 1.

Portals located in the home level were the chosen level selection for the game. The Portals can be clicked on to teleport to the start of the desired level. The animations of the portals were gathered from an itch.IO tool called pixel planet generator, created by deep fold.

pixel planet generator - https://deep-fold.itch.io/pixel-planet-generator

Feedback:

Once the first level was designed and implemented, it was very evident that the player jump movement was not ideal for this platforming layout. The player initially increased velocity up when jumping resulting in a larger second jump the fast the jump button was pressed. This was changed and is now operating smoothly.

It was also commented that the game needed a few more technique and strategy-based areas to keep the game interesting. A possible solution is to implement more moving obstacles and enemies, but this solution will have to be implemented and tested later in production.

Features soon to be introduced: