Kevin's Secret Assignment

I spent a day working on Kevin's Secret Assignment. I had to learn a lot about PolyCuts since I couldn't seem to get subtractive geometry to work. I'm pretty proud of my courtyard, I think I matched the reference image pretty well.  

Throne Room

West Courtyard

East Courtyard

East Courtyard with more cover

Reference Photo

RPP2 Final Level Design

 Admittedly, this isn't much of a "Level" it is more of an arena space. However, this space is all that was required in the game. After the first week of laying out the original space, it looked very bland and needed set dressing. So, I filled the empty spaces with trees and random junk.  One of the trees is elevated slightly off the ground to best frame it in the window on the menu screen.

Flow and Pacing

• Navigation Flow
• guide the player through the level
• lighting, combat, puzzles, collectables 
• pitfalls
• dead ends with no reward
• unclear buttons or levers
• not framing a view
• direction of opening doors
• open in the direction of the players progression
• monotone levels
• same assets repeated
• large flat planes as playing surfaces 
• lacking variety of enemies, predictability 
• Gameplay Flow
• Difficulty
• Should increase in difficulty as the player progresses through the level
• Learning new skills/mechanics
• Placement of Obstacles or Bosses/Mini Bosses
• Story Beats 
• too fast, too slow, too monotone?

Piste 2

 

Affordance vs Conveyance

Affordance is the design principle used to communicate to the player what to play with or where to go

Affordance communicates function

A chair affords sitting

Conveyance is showing the player how to interact with the level

Conveyance is the act of using methods to teach the player

Conveyance shows the player what chair to sit on - the denial of affordance 

Block Meshing Guiding Principles

Player Guidance 

• affordance
• A way to communicate to the player what to play with or where to go
• Use consistent color and textures
• denying affordance
• Communicates to the player where not to go
• Contextualize why the player can't interact with an object
• visual language - shape
• establish a consistent shape language
• round = safe
• rectangular = stable
• pointy = dangerous
• unique silhouettes 
• visual language - color
• establish a consistent color language
• color provides context in block mesh
• contrasting colors draw the eye
• yellow has become a standard for guiding the player
• landmarks (weenies)
• orient players in the world
• big object that can be seen far away and repeatedly to orient the player
• a goal for the player to work towards
• opening attract 
• refuge space
• mystery of what's inside
• gates and valves
• gates - stop progress until conditions are met
• valves - shut behind the player so they can't back track
• leading lines
• composition technique to draw the player's eyes towards an object or objective
• pinching/funneling
• layout funneling the player
• great for setting up a reveal
• easier to position the player where you want them
• framing and composition
• framing draws the player's attention to what is important
• breadcrumbs
• lead the player a little piece at the time to the goal
• pickups are a classic method for guiding the player down the right path
• textures
• signifies affordance
• movement
• grabs the player's eye and attention
• light and god rays
• players are attracted to light
• draw leading lines for the player

Piste

Working in Unity for the first time, I used ProBuilder and ProGrids to create this fencing Piste based off of an old illustration. I plan to continue to work on the lighting yet. I will also likely need to go back in and add some props and life to the scene.

I didn't want to match the lighting from the reference image. So instead, I attempted to do some candlelight chandeliers. I think they turned out good as far as the lighting goes. Unfortunately, I couldn't generate a flame that I was proud of. I couldn't seem to get the material bright enough. I feel like I missed an emission setting or something. I plan to go back in and adjust it.

 I went back in to practice more UE5. I built out more of the Lincoln Memorial. I used Patterns to place the columns - a tool that I was searching for during class but couldn't find. They are called Arrays in another program I used, but that has some thing to do with blueprints in UE5