3D Level design

So for this assignment I created a level in 3D. The program I used was Unity, a game engine developed by Unity Technologies. The level was supposed to be a 3D platformer, that's also in the third person point of view. For this assignment, we had to create a tutorial level that had the player get from one side to the other. My level was pretty simple, you run to the first platform, go up the ramp, jump on the pillars, jump down, then run up the ramp with one more tricky jump in there to catch the player off guard. Overall I think the level went very well, there were many great things about the level, and bad things as well, but I think it went well.

There are certain aspects about my level that a lot of people enjoyed. First of all, the simplicity, and easiness, of my level. This is supposed to be a tutorial; level, so I made it short, simple and easy, so that was people can get through it without many issues. The pillars in my level were a hit or miss, some people like the pillars, while others think that it should be changed, but overall, they liked the challenge of the pillars, and think that it should stay. Everyone also commented on the camera as well, saying that they liked it, but it should be changed very slightly.

There were things that people didn't like either. Some said that the level was too short, and that it should be longer, in which in my opinion, this is just a short little test level and shouldn't really be that long. Some people also said that the pillars should be slightly wider, so that way they can jump onto it easier. They also suggested changing the camera a bit, just so that it's angles in a way so that it's easier to see the platform. The last thing that everyone else suggested was to create some form of checkpoint so that they don't have to keep restarting all the time.

I had lot of issues when creating this level. The first thing was that I had no idea what I was doing the entire time, but due to the videos, and the student teacher, I was able to somewhat figure out what was going on throughout the proceed of the level design. I was also sick when working on this assignment, so I made some errors, that may seem small, but was a game changer during the playtest. Then there's the fact that I didn't have the files for this at home, so whenever I worked on it, it had to be in the labs, which was really frustrating.

Overall, this was a fun assignment, I learned a lot about 3D level design, and about how to use Unity. I like seeing everyone's creative ideas and seeing how they succeeded, failed, and what ideas I can use from them. Maybe next time I'll be able to do the things that everyone suggested, plus make some extra improvements in there as well, so that way it can be extra polished, or just make it ruined. I will most likely increase the width of the pillars, add some extra platforms, change the camera, add a "safety net" and maybe add a secondary pathway. I really like this assignment, and I thought that my level went very well, and hopefully, I will be able to do more stuff with 3D level design.

2D level design pt. 2

So for this assignment, a lot happened that with it. This is supposed to be a rework from the last one, and as you can see I did some rework on it. I created an extra path that was meant to confuse the player, I used different textures and assets for the foreground and background. I also used some of the stones around the cart to create the story of a landslide. Though I did mess up a lot in this assignment, in which I will get to those mistakes later. Even though there were mistakes made, I still think there was some good parts about this map, including the layout of the map.

The things that went right was the layout of the map. I think the direction it goes in compliments the terrible controls of the game. The ways the control work is very obvious, up is up and down is down, but with the way the assets look, and how everyone else created their maps, they had it face diagonal, so you had to hold down, then left, while with mine it was just down. I also like the direction of the map, mainly the one loop in the level that can take you to the beginning, and with the limited sight it was hard to see where you're supposed to go making it somewhat maze like.

Though there was some issues, and mistakes as well. First of all, I didn't have the files for the game in my computer, so I couldn't really do a lot of playtesting at home, so it had to be in the classroom, but I didn't finish in time to test in during class. Another issue I had was the direction some of the assets were facing made it look weird compared to the background texture, because those are facing diagonal, which also made it hard to move them around. Then, the Blockers, I don't know why but I had a lot of issues with them. It was mostly me trying to get them into the right position, but they wouldn't go there, and I don't really know why. Because of this, some markers were either too far behind the background, or on it. Also because of this some of the markers, with oddly enormous hit boxes, caused one part of the map to be uncrossable. My final mistake was saving a file as a JPEG instead of a PNG. PNG files are good at making certain areas transparent, JPEG files aren't, so when I try to put in the foreground in, Parts of it wasn't transparent, so I couldn't load it all in. I now know my mistakes and I know not to make them the next time I do more stuff like this, mistakes are just a simple part of life, everyone does it, so I'm not going to beat myself over the head with it.

Obviously there are a lot of things that I would fix with this map. First of all, use PNG and not JPEG. Seriously it was a mess, and was something that I couldn't fix because I made the foolish mistake of not saving the whole PSD image onto my google drive. I would also like to find out why my blockers went haywire, I think it was the fact that I changed the size of the map in such a weird way that it got messed up. Though, I would like to consider changing the size again, perhaps in a more favorable fashion, but I think a few extra turns, loops and dead ends can help this map out as well. Maybe use some more background textures, like the grass or something like that.

2D level design

The most recent project that I did was a 2D level for a little game that someone made. This isn't an official game, just something to test my skills, and to allow me to learn level design for 2D levels. The basic goal of the game is to get to the end of the level, and you can collect coins along the way. The game is supposed to be western themed, where you play as a turtle. With the way initial map is laid out, other people created the map diagonally, because that's where the squares are facing, but with the way the control works, it's very janky, or broken (by design) so when I made my map, I did it in diamond formation. In the end we used Gamemaker to playtest the levels.

 (My map)

There are many things that went right with my level. The first thing is the way it's facing, other people created the map facing diagonally because that's how the squares are faced, I was different. With the way the controls are, levels that were diagonal were weird because you had to push down, then left, then down, then left, I however made mine face downwards, with the diamond, and not the square. because of this the controls were a little bit less awkward to use. Another thing that went right was the simplicity of the level. The level is supposed to be easy, so I made it easy, so that people were able to get to the other side without to much hassle.

(Map foreground)

Obviously though, there were things that went wrong as well. First of all, the size of it, it was to short, People were able to get to the end within a minute. Another issue was that it was to linear, there weren't really a lot of paths that you could go on, just the one path, and a dead end, other than that, you can't really go anywhere. The last issue was the assets that I used. As you can see on the map, I used a lot of the same assets over and over, so it looked very dull, also I created a green lush environment, when the theme is western. I also didn't use to many assets outside of the area, it was all mostly just the plain background, which made some players felt like this was a dream sequence.

(Map background)

There are multiple things I would do to fix my level. First of all, I would use different types of assets in the map, to make it look different, and to create a more western vibe. I would also use less rocks, and more buildings in the environment, so it looks like an actual city, instead of a weird looking path. Then I would use the assets outside of the scenery, that way there is stuff outside of the level instead of just a gray background. The last thing I would do is create another path in the level. I would have start from the left side of the beginning area, and have it lead to the middle spire, that way people don't really know where they are, and could get lost.

This experience has been an amazing one for me, I loved the DnD stuff I did earlier, so this juts took the cake. I liked hearing the feedback, even though they were 99% the same, and learning stuff about my level that I didn't even think off. I learned a lot about level design as well, like how difficult, and sometimes tedious it actually is, but I still enjoyed it all the way. Let's hope the next level is better than this one.