More Frog Bath Progress!
For my Second Week working on Frog Bath, I was working as a Level Designer. We’ve decided that I will work on either Systems or Level Design each week/sprint depending on the team’s priority, So while I worked on Movement Systems during my Third week, I will cover that in a later post, as there is still much systems work to be finished before I can talk about that progress.
So, before creating any geometry, the designers got together and talked about what we wanted out of a new Frog Bath level. Some things we named specifically were:
- A Larger Level
- Multiple Frog King Locations
- A level which was more uniformly covered with platforms and geometry
- A level which is modular (to reduce need for individual props and environment art)
- A level which is easy and fun to move throughout both with and without using the tongue
- A level which encourages interesting and fun player to player interaction
The Level Designers (Aiden, Maya and I) decided to divide the level into 3 separate sections by height in order to divide and conquer. Aiden chose to work on the lowest portion, Maya chose the highest portion, and I chose the middle section.
When designing my portion of the level I wanted to keep in mind the guidelines we created earlier. The first two; A Larger Level, and Multiple Frog King Locations; were set up when we set up the level. We created an empty play space which was 1.8 times wider around than the previous level, and placed within this space 6 different “Courtyards” between which the Frog King can move.
The next two guidelines; A level which was more uniformly covered with platforms and geometry, and a level which is modular; I attempted to achieve through placing reusing cubic forms across the ground as well as octagonal geometry I’d found elsewhere in the level. I tried to fill as much empty space as possible while still providing varied heights for players to jump up to and down from.
Finally, for the last two guidelines; A level which is easy and fun to move throughout both with and without using the tongue, and a level which encourages interesting and fun player to player interaction; I focussed on designing the level around the player who has the bath item. Currently, that player is at a distinct disadvantage due to the fact that they can’t use their tongue and all of the other players are chasing after them and attacking them with their tongues. By centering my design around the things that I would want if I were in that position, I can more easily make a level which feels more fair for a player who is at a disadvantage. The things I decided I would want if I were in that situation were:
- Multiple routes which can be accessed from one another (to maintain speed while avoiding opponents)
- Cover from attacking enemies
- Very Few dead ends
- Paths/Access to multiple Frog Courtyards
Commenti