Implementing the new designs

Implementing these new designs was not as simple as first thought.

These sketches where iterative between building in Maya and testing in unity. Mostly the designs remained the same, however went though many iterations as they became more refined and we re-discussed the over all flow of the level. We also made changes in design decisions, such as the path through an area, in order to make it more friendly to a natural environment which also does not interrupt the camera.

As we had a jump height found from the testing area and a set grapple length, I used different block in order to measure sections as I was working. The player would need to grapple something on an edge without being able to jump to it, and if they could not make a jump, that needed to appear clear. These sections have the areas very specifically measured out in order to push the most out of them.

For testing and iteration purposes, each section was modeled in Maya, of course this gave the level of control needed when modeling some initial areas. For these I followed my design sketches, however also measured them where I needed to in order to make sure they are playable.

Section 1

 For modeling the first area, I knew that the interactions where simple, and I had already thought about the shape, so I only needed to think about the height. However of course this allowed me to play test the areas, I did not find any major problems, only small improvements that could be made.

This section was as simple as going through and making three grapples, however each with a different result, to teach the player some of what their tool could do.

 Section 2

The second section started off with some climbing, teaching the final grapple mechanic, and then using a few mechanics together. This again was not difficult to make and the distances and heights needed to be carefully measured out. Play testing this did show a few challenges, as I knew it had to be main clear that the player would need to grapple up in the second half, rather than running into the space below. I decided to use UI and have cubes as grapple points in order to communicate to the player. At this point I still wasn't sure if it would need more.

This section did also become flipped to fit better with the environment, I did not have any problems with this choice as it allowed me to guide the player to the right instead of the left, which seemed more natural.

Section 4

This section I first implemented, however quickly found that it needed to be more spaced out, and it included too much back tracking and complications, so I made it wide and more streamlined, so that once the player has figured out the beginning of the puzzle, they can just progress to the end. The brown plane on the right lowers the green plane in the distance as the walk across it, so they need to walk across that progress, however they also need to grapple the yellow cube so that they have something to jump onto. After pulling the cube and walking across the brown platform, they can then progress. For the top section, they must go to the middle edge with the yellow cube and grapple the rock down, then go round to climb up it and progress.

Section 5

 This section had many changes. The first iteration had some nice ideas which were carried forward, however there was not too much to it, and we decided to have the area sloping down.

Sloping down the area became much more interesting. The first brown platform you come across lifts up the right most green plane, and the second one before the grapple and bridge on the left lifts up the other one, allowing you to backtrack if you missed the first one, but also to go and pull down the right most yellow block. The player can then progress below.

The lower section involves climbing up the yellow block and others to the top, then grapple the yellow platform and stand on it, climb up to the left and use the warp platform to get across the gap, then near the end do one last grapple left before finishing. The design though was overlapped, which caused environmental and camera problems, so I used this opportunity to redesign and refine it slightly.

The new design and layout allowed for the yellow block that you pull to become more obvious and created less back tracking if you miss it. The top section remained the same. As the bottom section now has an open top, there is much less interrupting the camera.

Gorge

Here is the gorge section in the original grey box, most design was on paper, however as seen in the top screen shot, there were some other ideas I had for the end, however these where not included and involved some mechanics that would be too confusing if included in the final product. One version also did not involve any grappling, however I decided to add this in order to separate the sections and add variety.

It is at this point challenges as to how the levels would translate into something natural became more obvious. There were parts that overlapped or parts that where build on very specific measurements and shapes, which became limiting in a sense. However these challenges where met and changes were made.

From this point to the final terrain there were some changes and additions, which can be seen in the post covering them.