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Level Design Blog 5

 Blog 5: 9/25 - 10/1

This week, I began working on a new RPP project. Our game is set in a small, old-fashioned house, using a top-down two-dimensional level. I started work on the level by blocking out each of the rooms we wanted to have in the house. I made several different variations of each room, since initially we planned to have the room layout shift over time, but ended up settling on a static layout, taking inspiration from the three rooms I liked best.


After revising the initial layouts, I put together a full house map, tweaking a few pieces of the rooms to make them fit together better.


The flow of the game involves running around the house completing tasks in preparation for a birthday party; once the basic blockout was complete, I created a diagram of each of the task locations and their order in relation to each other.


I wanted to make sure that the player was able to spend a lot of time in each of the different rooms. Since part of the game involves noticing some of the small discrepancies in the furniture, layout, and decor, I wanted to make sure the player spent enough time in each of the three rooms. I also wanted to keep the player moving; as the player sets up the party and completes tasks, I wanted there to be a sense of accomplishment as the player bustles around the house.

As more of the mechanics and art assets are completed for the game, I will probably have to revise the level, but for now, I'm happy with how it feels so far.

I also spent time this week working on a castle level in Unreal, based on the provided LDD: 


I started by blocking out the rough locations and elevations of each room relative to each other. Like in my house level, I wanted to keep the player moving around the castle, using the landmark of the central courtyard to mark their progress.


I then started blocking the level out in more detail. I started with the large-scale form of the castle and hollowed out rooms from there; although I thought the final silhouette of the castle was striking, in hindsight, it would have been much more practical to create the rooms first and then build the shell of the castle around it. I ended up with more dead space and strange corridors inside than I expected, which was difficult to remedy later in the process. 


Once the basic shape of the castle had been created, and the interior had been hollowed out, I began working on adding more details, including enemy spawn points, doors, and some decorative features to the outside of the building. I worked on using lighting and leading lines to direct the player to the most optimal door, on the right side of the castle.


In the end, I felt like the level didn't come together quite as cohesively as I had hoped. Instead of going in with a deliberate plan, I ended up changing the locations of the rooms along the way due to the self-imposed constraint of hollowing out an existing structure, and the final product lacked in pacing and maneuverability. 

In the future, I'd like to come back to this level and start building in a more linear fashion. I was able to come up with some interesting ideas, like the central balcony that rings the outside of the building, by putting together this rough blockout; in future iterations, I'll be able to use this level as inspiration to develop a more detailed and thought-out level.


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