Scene 2 - The Occipital Lobe

My paper design for Scene two of my level is finally completed, now all I have to do is a couple of small rooms, one for the Catacombs and on for the Crypt (both from scene one..)  hopefully have those sorted for tomorrow, nice and set for Tuesdays lecture.

Scene 1 - The Cemetery

So, here is my paper level design for the cemetery section of my level, this will be 'Scene 1' of 2 for my overall level.

I need two small interiors for the Catacombs and the crypt and then I need to draw up my plan for scene 2 and scan that too, should be done in the next few days and hopefully up by Monday :-D

Environmental Research

I have finally managed to re-make my environmental research image so, without further a do, here we have it;

Level Design - Progression

Well, disaster struck on Wednesday afternoon when I lost the mood board/Environmental work I was doing... bummer!!  But yesterday evening at uni was again quite productive, so that was nice :-)

I should probably start by saying that I decided to go with the Occipital Lobe as the setting for my second scene as I think the environments will be more interesting to design with this being my first go, and it would be simpler to implement some nice game mechanics based around platforming with a little bit of puzzling going on in there.

On that note, and getting back o the productive-ness of yesterday.  I managed to have a good sit down with Ben and discuss some ideas for the level designs and how I can make the two scenes interesting, while keeping a good pacing balance - after a nice sit down I have scetched out some ruff paper ideas for the scenes, there layout, and the challenges that will be presented within.  I will be scanning them on at some point in the near future, and I will also re-do and upload my mood board/environmental research and start trying to draw up some of the level ideas I have had using Google Sketch. Onwards and upwards! :-D

The Main Idea (Plot) - 3D Level Design

Well, I've talked a wee bit about what kind of environments I shall be taking inspiration from, or that best show the ideas and feel I want some of my 3D environments to have/include.  So I guess I should probably go into the plot ideas, and why those environmental choices are relevant to my project, shouldn't I?

You play as a character, aptly named 'Will'.  This is because you are playing the game as the 'will power' of somebody in a coma, who's body and mind is shutting down.  Your job as 'Will' is to fight on to keep yourself alive and, eventually, make a recovery.

Scene one of level one:  Will finds himself in a graveyard, it is night time, and the moon is bright in the sky. There is a loud rhythmic thudding noise which gets fainter and slower the longer you spend in this area.  This is the Heart beat, and Will must complete a set of challenges to get himself out of the grave yard before the heart stops beating.

I feel that this scene is relevant, as the Graveyard represents death, and in overcoming the challenges that are presented here is Will metaphorically overcoming the fact that he is about to die, thus bringing him more able to continue with his quest to make a recovery.

The Church in the graveyard is the door to the next 'dimension' which brings the level nicely to scene two.

This is where I need to make a decision. My basic premise for (if I was creating this game in full) the rest of the game is that Will systematically works his way through segments of the brain, solving puzzles to bring the brain back to a functioning state at which point (at the end of the game) the main character would awake from his coma.  Unfortunately, I am only able to have one more scene so I must chose one section of the brain to focus on, I have done some research on the working of the brain and have come up with some challenge ideas for each section, I just need to decide which would be most practical and most fun to use as a first level.

Below is a list of my ideas for each section:

The Parietal Lobe is responsible for spacial awareness and navigational skills. I thought that if I used this section I could warp, twist and reverse perspective, to make the world seem out of shape, once set challenges have been complete, perspective would revert to normal, making it obvious that this section of the brain has been healed.

The Frontal Lobe is responsible for short term memory. I thought I could employ a kind of 'Fog-of-War' effect so that the player needed to explore - I could also add some tension in here?  One the challenges were complete the 'Fog' would lift, making it obvious that this section of the brain has been healed.

The Temporal Lobe is responsible for hearing and the perception of objects. I thought that I could make this stage completely void of any ambient noises, making it immediately strange when the player steps into this 'dimension' and all objects within the area could be warped in one way or another.  Once the challenges were completed ambient sound would return and the objects would return to there normal forms, making it obvious that this section of the brain has been healed.

And finally, The Occipital Lobe is responsible for visual  interpretation and dreams.  I thought this section could be set in a crumbling world making lots of opportunity for platforming and some interesting challenges.  Once all of the challenges are completed the landmass in this section would re-form, making it obvious that this section of the brain has been healed.

So there you have it - any comments on the idea, and opinions on which 'realm' I should try and create will be gratefully received, hope you enjoyed the read! :-D

Environment Research

After some thought on the kind of presentation and ideas that I was going to include in my level I have had a little mini brainstorm of environmental ideas taken from some really interesting, yet relevant images I found using Google Images.

Not all of the images will be reference or has the inspiration received taken from them included in the final level, as I have four or five different ideas for the second scene in the level and I need to pick with one I am using, but each image is a nice portrayal of some of the ideas I was thinking about (at least I think so anyway). 

So, here are the images I picked:

Assignment 2 - Level Design - The Excerpt and the Idea

Hokai, Soh - Yesterday my next assignment was detailed to me - as the title states, this assignment is all about Level Design!  The gist of the challenge is to find an excerpt of text, either from my favorite books, a news report etc etc - and gain inspiration from said text to come up with a cool game design so, I'm just gunna dive straight in and take this head on and see where I end up.. wish me luck!

The book I have gained inspiration from a book called 'The Subtle Knife', it is the second book in a trilogy known as the 'His Dark Materials Trilogy' written by Philip Pullman (If you haven't read the set then I would recommend it by the way!!!) and I have chosen the following passage:

  

The ideas I have gotten from this text center around the idea of traveling in between dimensions, I honestly don't think any for of medium could make inter-dimensional travel any more kick ass than gaming, yet, to my knowledge anyway, it hasn't been done yet? (Feel free to comment below if you can think of a game that does!).

I really like the way it takes a specific and specialized item to open this "window" to another world. Not only that, there are also consequences for not closing a window behind you! I also like the way you can not only see through to the next dimension but feel it's breeze and taste it's air. 

I think these ideas would open up a lot of scope for not only some cool game mechanics, but also some cool atmospheric set pieces and experiences too, as well as practically infinite scope for settings.