New Terrain and Game Play Changes

 Initial Changes

After designing the first areas, our environment artist, Monika, took them and keeping true to the designs and measurements I made, create a new iteration of the level, an overall terrain where all the elements are linked and the player can progress from start to finish. We had previously decided the overall level plan and map together. Below is a shot I of the most up to date iteration of the level I have.

The previously planned sections however were not the only game play aspects in the level, to suit the environment some aspects were added without sacrificing the planned progress. The level now starts with a piece of climbing and grappling. I did not have any problem with this as they were not complex mechanics to introduce, and it made the start of the game much more interesting.

All the other puzzles remained the same, Monika and I kept on working together in order to make sure everything was being implemented properly. This helped communicate where Monika would place the climb rocks she created, and I could take assets that we discussed and she had provided me with for game play to replace the grey boxes in the scene. This however will be covered in another post.

Jump Distance Change

Upon review of our work, we decided to extend the jump height/distance. The levels had already been designed around what had been decided together and set, however I could understand why people wanted to make the change and if it was possible it would be good. I was skeptical that there would be unforeseen issues in doing so. I found the new jump distance and looked for any changes that would need to be made, and updated Monika on any changes that needed making to the terrain. 

Once we had everything changed, it all still worked and played well, however looking back some complications did appear. There was one part where the terrain didn't get updated properly, it was also more difficult to communicate to the player what gaps they could or could not jump. I have noticed this now occasionally confusing people. If I had more time I could refine the levels more for this new distance, in a few places without too much trouble, this I would like to update when taking the game forward. I do not feel the decision was bad, it definitely has benefits, and it is good it wasn't decided later in production, however I feel it was decided a little too late in production as it was. The problems left do ultimately come down to me, and some could have been avoided with more communication, such as the part below where the platform is not brought out far enough as it would negatively affect the puzzle.

Sudden Change

Just after climbing up at the beginning and before the first puzzle, there was quite a large empty section with a lower section originally intended to kill the character if they fell down. However our producer and lead designer/coder felt we should do something more with it and pitched an idea to me.

I agreed with the idea, so I took what they had suggested and did some lightning level designing, I created an area fairly quickly and discussed it with them. I was surprised at how easily I created something with as few problems as it had. I then tweaked it and finalized it, and it quite naturally became an integrated part of the level. There was an idea where the player could drop down into water below and see some foliage and other environmental aspects before working their way back up, I wasn't too sure about this however we decided the dropping down was not obvious, so I decided it wouldn't hurt to add in. Overall I feel that this addition went well.