Finished Level Design

Level Design: Second Draft

After working through some top down paper based designs, I began my second draft of the level.

This time around, I aimed to not only create a mock up of how the level will run, but to form an overall "feel" for the level.

To facilitate this, I changed the village around to be nestled in a valley around a large, almost mountain like hill. In the shadows of this hill lies a ruined temple and catacombs, a shanty town built around a river mill, and - much higher up this time around - a fortified manor house, looming down on the peasant shacks.

Finished Level Design Concept

This is the 2nd sketch up of my game level, and is much improved on the first. I still need to add more building interiors and game challenges before getting further feedback.

This is V2 of my village level. The river runs through a valley, around which a shanty town has risen. The mill itself rises up over the hill and has merged with a fortified manor house to create an effective fortress. The only weak point is the mill itself - unprotected by walls for easier access to workers and the river. The other high point of the valley will be dedicated to small farms and shepherding huts, dedicated to feeding the peasants of the village.

Level Design First Draft

This is the first draft of my level, a fortified village built up around a mill. The player is a key soldier in a play by the rebels to take the village from the Empire for its valuable resources and defensible location.

The player must make their way through longhouses and the mill, fighting enemies, in order to assassinate the enemy mage, lowering the Empires magical protection and leaving the village open to attack.

This was a very quick sketch up of the level. The blue denotes the impassable river, red circles indicate combat events and the yellow circle is the assassination target.

This first draft is very linear and not all that interesting. There are a few optional rooms to engage player interest, but other than that the level is very flat. A small plains village would not be as flat as this, rather it would be built around a valley.

The richer areas around the mill would likely be place on the higher ground, with better defensive walls and ordered buildings. The poorer areas would be a far more ragtag affair, likely situated in a bend in the river as a natural defense for those unable to afford fortifications and walls.

With this in mind, I moved onto a second paper draft.

Devil May Cry Mechanics Analysis

Devil May Cry is a third person action adventure. Basic mechanics include running, jumping, puzzle solving, ranged combat and melee combat. Interestingly, DMC started life as Resident Evil 4, but was considered such a departure it was developed into its own IP.

Combat in DMC differs from that of God of War in that enemies are much tougher, but come in smaller amounts. Dante can string together combos using various weapons. Players are encouraged to “juggle” enemies in the air using both sword and gun attacks, and are given a stylishness rating for it. In both games, enemies award health and experience orbs, used to unlock further abilities for the characters.

Finally, Dante has access to a “devil trigger”. A cool down based mode that enhances all his fighting abilities to decimate enemies.

God of War Mechanics Analysis

God of War is a third person action adventure, and can arguably be considered the evolution of the side scrolling beat em up. The game includes basic mechanics such as running, jumping, puzzle solving and combat.

The majority of the game involves combat – Kratos has a light attack, a heavy attack and a special attack button, which can be strung together to create combos and moves used in wiping out the large hordes of enemies that face you.

A further combat mechanic involves slowing the pace slightly. Larger, tougher monsters cannot be killed the usual way – the player must enter into a quick time event and complete a series of button presses, either a combo or a “mash”, and finish of the enemy in a usually graphic and ‘satisfying’ way.