3D Level 2
For this 3D level, we needed it to be
a stealth platform style game that allowed the players to sneak past enemies,
collect items and traverse the map to get to the finish line. I wanted there to be two sides to this map so
the players had a choice of which direction they wanted to take. On the left side is the park core style
bridges and ledges for the players to climb and run through the map while being
able to see a bird’s eye view of the whole map so they know just how much there
is to explore. On the right side, I
wanted it to be more forest and surround with enemies and small camps and bases
that would hold these enemies in a certain perimeter. This side would have been the more stealth
and hide side to allow players to see what the enemies can do and just what
happens if you were to get caught by them.
Everyone loved the size of the map and
just how open and exploratory it felt.
On the left side, people were able to breeze through most of the park
core until it got towards the end where the platform would get smaller and taller
making the narrow path unforgiving if you moved to much left or right. However, I think that the hardness of the
park core was a good idea to add without making players have to do long jumps
due to the character model lacking high jump ability. On the right side, most people liked the
small camps that where placed through the forest. They liked the maze feel and liked how the
terrain and forest looked once inside.
Therefore, there were a few errors
that people did not like about this map and a big thing was the lighting under
the forest. I had giant trees covering
the right size to simulate the forest feel but I did not realize just how dark
it became in the forest, so adding more light and giving the players more
options on the right side instead of just sneaking past enemies and grabbing
the pickups. Adding more park core to
the right side might also help get over the flat terrain that is also something
I would like to fix or add slight bumps and dips to give the real feel of a
forest. In addition, I might add a few smaller
trees to get a better distribution of forest coverage. On the left side, there was only one real
problem and that was the spiral staircase and would sometimes lag you off if
you were to press backwards. So making
these slightly bigger so things like control issues will not affect the players
progress.
Overall, I felt the game got a good
score and most people seemed to want to play it and play it again to see what
they missed on the other side. Having
two different paths helped give the players more choice and allowed them to explore
the map freely without any constraints. However,
I was lacking a few enemies and checkpoints adding those will make the game
that much better and bring players wanting more. I would also like to change the background of
the scene and make it look more realistic and less like a sand box world, so
getting the height and terrain perfect so players cannot see the sand box
world. Although, this is not necessary it
would add that more inclusiveness for the players and that is the real goal for
me.
3D Level 1
During this week I needed to make a
concept art for my 3D map and then implement this idea and make a working
blocked out model of my map. Overall, the map was large enough and
offered plenty of exploration to see all 4 levels of the map. When I
first started the map did have a few areas where you could escape the walls of
the map and then travel through the terrain and trees set around the
house. I wanted it to be like a witch house out in the swamp area
surrounded by trees to give the illusion of privacy and seclusion. During
the building of the map took some time and I was able to finish most of the
blocking out and slight textures to the walls and ground to give it more of a
realistic feel. Though my map wasn’t the biggest I made it up with tiered
levels and giving the feel of a longer more open map.
What Went Right:
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2D Maze Level 1 Tier 2
What Went Right?
Everyone loved the size of the map and
just how open and exploratory it felt.
On the left side, people were able to breeze through most of the park
core until it got towards the end where the platform would get smaller and taller
making the narrow path unforgiving if you moved to much left or right. However, I think that the hardness of the
park core was a good idea to add without making players have to do long jumps
due to the character model lacking high jump ability. On the right side, most people liked the
small camps that where placed through the forest. They liked the maze feel and liked how the
terrain and forest looked once inside.
What Went Wrong?
What I Can Do Next
Time?
3D Level 1
What Went Right:
During the play
test most of the players seemed to enjoy the map though the basement was
hardly seen which is slightly my fault because I have the flow of the game
going from right to left instead of the other way around that would allow for
full exploration instead of missing some of the map. I felt that I followed my
concept idea and really tried to get as much detail in as possible but I didn't
realize how little unity assets there are unless you download them from
the store but I didn't realize that until after I turned it in.
What Went Wrong:
Most players went up
the ramp first and completely passed the first and basement floor and then
would get to the top and ask what else is there to see. So maybe having
the ramps to close causes them to miss a lot of the map and I would need to fix
that by either making the players grab stuff from the other floors to then be
able to climb to the next level without missing anything. I also had a
lot of models inside the map so looking in some directions would cause large
lag spikes and bring the fps way down, so I had to make low poly heads to allow
for less laggy game play. Though I turned off the shadows for most of the
objects due to my light being directional so it would show shadows that were 2
or 3 levels below giving a weird illusion that the object could be seen from
the bottom floor the the object would be on the top floor. So turning off
the some shadows allowed me to add some more models.
What To Do Next Time:
For the next map I will probably try to
find better models and assets to give the feel of how I want the map to really
turn out. Also, while making the game I wasn't exactly sure whether to make it
into a maze type game or more exploration and open. I went with more
exploration though others maps were more park core style and a lot of
jumping. However, I do not like the controller mechanics inside unity so
I did not want to do a lot of jumping and keep the map mostly just running around.
But it would add more diversity into the game and give it just a little bit
more for the players to interact with.
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2D Maze Level 1 Tier 2
Compared to my last map this
one is a lot more closed off and maze like but still is pretty open and has
plenty of space for the character to walk around as well as find the coins
scattered throughout. This game takes
about 1 minute or so to finish when collecting all the coins and finally going
for the finish line. The fences I used
where my path ways for the characters to follow through though there is some
choices on whether to go up, down, left or right so I wanted the players to
seem like they have some choice on where they can go instead of leaving how
open I did last time where some players would miss coins and finish before
exploring the whole map. So I feel with
this map the forced walls and path way make it easier to follow and decide
where to head to next.
I think for
next time on the maze I still need to refine the path and make it seem more
maze like and allow for multiply paths that lead to the end instead of just one
but I will have to make the map bigger as well as decide what is to easy or too
hard for the players. I felt that the
amount of coins in the game was good and allowed the players to understand more
on where to go but still having slight troubles in finding all of the coins in
the map. If I make the map bigger, I
will probably make the window that the players use bigger to allow for more
visual room for the map and less of the blank space. I could also add more wagons to fill the
space and make that the path to the end but trying to find the balance between
too many paths and not having enough for them to choose from. I could also make a lot of water around the
areas that are smaller and narrower that players need to traverse. Though the map seems to not have enough maze
like features the overall speed and expectation of the game came out good and
most players seemed to enjoy it.
I feel like
for the easier maps its hard to make a complete and full functional maze map
without giving the path away to the players.
So the path to the end was pretty in your face and hard to miss with
leading coins to help determine the best path for the players. I don’t feel like there was enough small corridors
or narrow paths though they aren’t my style of building I need to learn to be
able to show the skills in all game types so learning to make smaller paths and
have bridges they need to cross or even just needing an object to complete the
game to give that extra playable moment. The flow of the map was terrible but
the flow was easy to follow and get to the end with little or no problems. All the object blockers where in the right
place and didn’t allow for players to go outside the map or move through
buildings which was good and allowed the players to test where was good to walk
and where was blocked. Though some of
the fences have small hit boxes the movement that can be done by them are
limited but still give you room to move next to the fences without glitches or
losing movability.
Hopefully
for the next map I will be able to refine these maze building skills and open
up to different building types and not stay so focused on open worlds and
leaving space for players to have choice.
That is my big problem at the moment though people still enjoy the map
it just isn’t the maze style they are specially looking for.
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2D Maze Basic: Game Maker 1.4
For this week we needed to make our own maze and make sure
that it was playable on Game Maker. The
game loaded fine and everyone was able to play the game without going outside
the map and not getting to lost within the game though some did not find all
the objects within one sitting. The play test showed me what I needed to fix
while also showing me the things that they enjoyed and wanted more of. I wish I
would have added more to the map at the start to fill up some of the blank
space throughout the map but I prefer open world games over single-direction
games though mazes are primarily single-direction play through.
What Went Right?
The game
loaded perfectly with no flaws or hiccups.
The people that played the game enjoyed the open layout of the map
though some of the coins were missed due to the size of the map. They liked the diversity of buildings and landscape
that was in the map. The path wasn’t too easy to find due to having such an
open world and giving the players the options to explore the map or finish
within a time limit. Overall, the game
worked and was a basic map to get the feeling of the controls and the objective
of the game. I did not like how small
the map was but because it needed to be a basic map I tried to keep it simple
and just play and go without any problems or having struggles on where to go
next.
What Went Wrong?
The map
seemed to be slightly to open of a map so the players wouldn’t find all the
coins before finishing the map. The
players want a little more direction and where to go and just how far they
needed to go on either side due to the lack of visibility giving the players
slightly harder challenge. They
suggested that I add so more coins to lead the players into the right direction
which would make the map flow better and bring together a story instead of just
a map. I want the next map to be
slightly less open and be more dungeon like but I felt with this one that it
was a western map to leave plenty of space to move and look around the map.
What to do next?
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DnD Map Tiered Advanced
What
Went Right?
Overall, the game was a success
everyone loved how the board looked and liked the challenges and enemies they
had to face. Mine was the advanced level
of our 3 tiered Pyramid map that brought the players through every part of the
pyramids insides. It was fun making this
game board for the final paper versions, but hopefully I will able to bring
this creative art into digital maps as well.
I felt that it got a lot of attention due to the extra bling and detail
to the map that was required. The enemies were hard enough that they had a
challenge but not too hard, where they had to response at checkpoints every few
minutes from dying. The map was a big
enough size where they were able to choose where to go and how much of the map
they really wanted to see or use up in the time permitted. I wish they would have went through the whole
map just to fight all the monsters and find all the items but it happens in
games where there is to much space and the players don’t feel obligated due to
the fact they know where the final boss is.
The path to the end was not to obvious but I tried to make it easier to
show that there was only one hard room on one side while 2 on the other leading
them to the more filled rooms which is slightly why the whole map was not
explored. Other than that, I think the
play test when well and the people who played really enjoyed how it looked and
all the extras that I put in.
What
Went Wrong?
So I think for the play test not
much went wrong this time around. I had
all the enemies evenly dispersed throughout the map and there levels and attack
were equal to what an advance map should have.
Some of the play testers suggested that I add fake traps and chests so
that they are not always just getting something without doing anything. In addition, they wanted it to be possible to
trigger traps without actually making them go off but I wanted it to be more
concert because it is too easy to just knock out a trap and move on without
taking damage or at least losing something that makes the game a little harder
for the player. One thing that did not work out so much was my other map developer’s
monsters. They didn’t seem to make any
so a lot of my monsters where used through all the maps and had to make up
stats on the fly so each map wasn’t as customized as much as I would have liked
but at least the maps were there.
Next
Time Around:
For next time I want to be in contact,
more with the team to make sure that all the enemies, items, and maps are done
to make sure we have a complete game board for players to play on. If we would have talked, we could have
figured a way to make all the enemies appear in each level but for me I wanted
the players to enjoy different enemies from different artists to see the work
that they can do. Hopefully next time I
can incorporate more of what the players wanted and make fake chests and traps
that can blocked or missed but I don’t see the fun in that when it is supposed
to be random events that occur and effect the players. I think with a little more time my team
members could have finished their enemies and the map would have been
completely comprehensive.
_________________________________________________________________________________
DnD Map Intermediate Level
During this week, my play test seem to
go really well and the testers seemed to enjoy most of the game. They liked the different enemies that they
had to face and the way the map had looked.
They were slightly confused about the stairs and basement of the map but
I should have labelled each level to show the difference between them. Also, should have colored the doors and walls
different colors because they would get confused whether they could walk
through or have to go all the way around.
When they were playing, they were having trouble finding the boss so the
path for victory was not as obvious as the first map though it seemed to me
that this map was smaller than my first map.
The items that I had inside the game were not as useful as I would have
like them to be but I would probably have to expand the map again or have
things that require the use of an item. Overall,
the game went well and the players enjoyed it.
The overall layout of the prison was
not designed badly but I did leave many gaps of just walking around instead of
using teleports as I did in the first map.
I should have used those to have the player’s full see the map instead
of just a few rooms with loot inside. Therefore,
a lot of the map had actually been untouched by the players but that was because
it looked like there was nothing inside.
Which brings me back to the point of wanting to add fog of war to be
able to spread out the traps, enemies and items evenly without the players
being able to see exactly where to go. However,
it was not obvious to the players on where the final boss was or that they knew
about the secret map the was beneath the prison. Luckily, they found it in one of the cells
and finally were able to complete the game.
Though it did take them more than 20 minutes to complete my map, the
attention they gave to the game was fully focused on trying to beat the game
without getting lost to boredom or repeated fights.
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DnD Map version 2
Somethings that went right was the small areas around enemies
leading into the teleporters or trap doors which allowed the players to choose
how far or who they wanted to fight. Although during the play test the players
died a few times to the enemies, they still seemed to enjoy the challenge and
continue to the final boss. The enemies might need to be slightly rearranged
and altered to slightly lower the enemies and be more beginner level instead of
intermediate like I have now.
A few things that didn’t turn out to well during the play test was
how small the map was. Though the map had a lot of things going on and being
able to move there, the choice was to leave it and just the trap doors as the
way around the map. The spaces for the characters were to small as well so the
characters sat off the board a lot of the time. So making the map on bigger
paper to allow for larger move spots so the characters aren’t hanging off the
map. Also should make the map legend bigger and more legible and add some rules
to the map for easier game play.
Overall the map went good but still needs improvements to make the
game better and more playable. I think I need to add traps in the straight
hallways to change the simple walking path and making it more challenging.
Maybe make sure that they have to kill all enemies to make it to the next tier
of enemies. But that would make the game to grindey and less fun due to the
lack of choice the players are given. That is what I really tried to do is give
the players the illusion of choice while still giving them parameters to beat
the map. Also, make the map not so obvious because it makes the players only
focus on the final boss instead of the small treasures and smaller enemies all
around to gain better weapons and armor. Hopefully our next map will implement
these additional ideas to the map.
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