Sprint 6
This sprint, I worked a lot on fixing up objects within level 2 and adding in a couple of other assets. Most of my tasks involved fixing up colliders with enemies and surrounding assests within the level. I learned a little bit about adding audio in this sprint and working with audio mixers for any ambient sounds or player sounds.
During the start of the sprint, I worked with adding colliders to all of the enemies. The enemies were not taking damage without the colliders beforehand and I went in to add colliders so that the players attacks can trigger the enemy collider. When adding the colliders, I had to make them a little bigger than the enemies because of the player's attack being around the chest and head of the enemy.
Enemy Collider
The other collider issues that we were encountering were with the normal and explosive barrels. With the player attacks being high, I had to raise the collider of the barrel to be able to activate the OnTrigger event so that the barrels can be destroyed.
Barrel Collider
After collider issues were fixed, I was trying to figure out how to add some asset to make the level feel more like a volcano. I looked around for some assets and I found a good fog asset on the unity store and added it in. This fog creates a really nice ambiance in the level and can hide some of the spike traps a little bit.
Fog
When the fog was added, I felt like the ambiance was almost complete and just needed some sound to finish it off and Andre helped me out and showed be a youtube video of a Volcanic field. I had to convert this hour long video into an MP3 file before I was able to add it into the level. I had to adjust some of the levels of the sound and eventually got it sounding perfect in the level.
Volcanic Audio
With the way our portals are working, they only one specific enemy that we place in the code attached to the portal. Currently, we have our small enemies spawn from the portals and we wanted to have all the enemies in place within the levels. I have added the other enemies within this level by placing them around spawn portal areas and sometimes in corridors. This way, we have the desired variety of enemies in the level without them being too overwhelming.
Placed Enemies
The last task that I took up was to fix the spawn points of the enemy portals. Before the fix, the enemies would spawn above the portals and was a reason why, at times, the enemies wouldn't move around the level when spawned.
Enemy Spawn Portal Fixes
This was a pretty good sprint and a lot of work got done. We are really close to completing the game and just have a couple things to fix up and finish to fully complete this game. With the last couple weeks left in development, I believe our game will will fully working with level 2 implemented in.
Sprint 5
In this sprint I focused my tasks on playtesting my level, fixing up invisible boundaries, resizing objects, implementing the destructible walls, adding in the end portal and trying out our new spike traps. I didn't get everything completed that I wanted to this sprint due to some setbacks and improper time management with other classes.
Nav Mesh and Invisible Walls
At the start of the sprint, I focused on working with the invisible boundaries to make sure the player would not be able to escape the map at all. Doing this required a lot of playtesting to make sure there aren't any holes or gaps within the walls where players would be able to escape the laid out path. When placing the boundaries, I had to keep the terrain in mind. When it comes to terrains, the player is able to climb up mostly every raise in terrain unless it is too steep. I had to place some boundaries within the level to prevent players climbing over natural walls to obtain chests or accidentally wind up in hidden areas.
After getting the boundaries in place and making sure the player can't escape the level, I got some help with Andre and I learned a little bit about the Nav Mesh system and how it can restrict the players movement a little more and enhance the boundary areas a lot better. In the image above, you can see all the blue areas and this identifies the areas that the player can move around in.
Obsidian Rocks/Hidden walls
The next task I worked on in this sprint involved placing the obsidian rock assets that Preston created around the map. I wanted to use these rocks as the destructible walls to reveal the hidden areas in the level. Currently, I have one large boulder in front of every hidden pathway or in front of the next pathway that the player has to through to keep moving forward.
To make these rocks work as the destructible walls within the level, I attached the script that Colin made, which can make objects destructible, and playtested a bunch to make sure the player would be able to destroy these rocks.
Obsidian Rock Ramps
One of the last things in my level that needed to be changed from the original blockout was the ramps. I wanted the ramps in the level to look natural in some way so I found another use for Preston's obsidian rock asset and I was able to stretch it out some and use them as the ramps in the level. When it comes to these rocks, they don't have the destructible wall script and won't flash if the player attacks it.
End Portal
The last element that was missing from the level was the end portal that the player has to get to, to complete the level and move on to the next. This is where I ran into a little setback. When I was updating my project in github, to get the new portal asset, I logged into unity and I didn't have my level. After some time trying to get the scene back by reverting changes in github, I was able to import a dev branch package that Colin sent me and thankfully, I was able to get my level back.
When I got my level back, I had to redo a bunch of work with the boundaries, nav mesh, and hidden walls. After I was caught back up, I was able to put in this new asset for the ending of the level.
Spike Traps
The last thing that I started working on at the end of the sprint was testing out our spike traps and seeing how the worked within the level. I playtested a couple times with them in the level and have started placing them around the level to add some more advirsity in the level along with the enemies. I noticed some things with the spike traps that can use some tweaks and I am talking with my team about them and how to tweak the attack time of the traps.
Overall, this sprint was pretty good and things are looking great with our game. We just have a couple tweaks to make with some of the assets but our game is coming close to complete.
Sprint 4
This sprint was the shortest one we have had so far in our development process. With the short amount of time, we had this sprint, I focused my time on adding in all the necessary assets to make sure the level was completed. I also took some time to refine the terrain in the level and make the pathing a lot better to help guide the players visually.
Destructible Walls
I implemented the boulders and rocks that Preston made into level 2 and wanted to use them as the destructible walls within the level. The light granite rocks that are currently in the level will be replaced with black obsidian rocks once those assets get created. Having these rocks can help tie into the levels theme and stand out enough for the players to identify within the game.
Assets added in Level
The image above shows how some of the other main assets have been implemented into the level. I have place things like the collectable crystals around the entrances and exits of areas to help show players that these items will lead them forward. Other things like the enemy spawners are placed more in the middle of open areas to make it so players have to fight the enemies in those areas and not avoid them.
Barrels in Level
Barrels are used in many different ways throughout the level. The explosive barrels are hidden at times around normal barrels, so that players always have to be on their toes when they destroy barrels. The explosive ones also are sometimes in the middle of an area so that they can be used against enemies in tight situations.
Normal destructible barrels can be found throughout the level either for aestetic purposes or to hide pathways for certain loot. Some of these normal looking barrels can drop loot when destroyed.
Whole map with added assets
After I added in all the assets, I counted up all the chests, keys, crystals, and spawners that I had placed and got a count of:
- 54 crystals
- 4 chests
- 4 keys
- 16 enemy spawners
Once these were all in the level, I started refining the level some more and ironing out some of the details within the level a little more.
Ariel of map at current state
When editing the pathing of the level, I started by removing the original boundaries of the level, so the level was more natural looking, and the environment would guild the player through more. I was able to leave the box colliders in place from the original boundaries by removing the mesh of the boxes that were placed. This saved me a lot of time by individually placing all of the box colliders.
Once the boundaries were in place, I worked on the terrain and making the terrain look more like a volcano with ash all around. I was able to use a sand texture and paint it around the paths to help guide the players around the level.
Overall, I was able to complete a good amount of work this sprint but have to work on updating our Jira board with the work I have been competing.
Sprint 3
This sprint, my tasks revolved around finishing up the terrain and editing level 2 and helping out Andre with finishing level 1 and making it ready for our first electronic prototype. Our main focus during this sprint was to have level 1 mostly finished and working so that our first playtest was playable and would give us a lot of good feedback to be able to make edits down the road.
Level 2 Terrain completed
Most of my time during this sprint was dedicated to completing the terrain and building the terrain around my boundary markers. After fully understanding the terrain tools, I was able to build the level very nicely around my original block-out. After doing this, the level looks more like the middle of a volcano which was what I was trying to accomplish.
The difficult part of using the terrain editor was trying to get a flat surface all around the areas where the player would be exploring. It took me a little time but eventually I decided to use multiple terrains so that I would be able to get the height changes around the level perfectly flat. By doing this, I was able to save a lot of time with editing this level.
When using multiple terrains for the level, I came across another problem. The problem was with terrains overlapping each other and it would make the textures look bad in the game when played. I spent a lot of time fixing these terrains to make sure they would not overlap each other and now I am pretty sure that the areas the player are able to see while playing all look normal without any overlapping textures at all.
Level 2 lava
Once I completed the terrains in level 2, I started to focus a little bit more on other aesthetic areas of the level and decided to add lava pools throughout the level. While placing these pools I was able to realize that they can serve more of a purpose in the level besides being there for aesthetic purposes. I found out that I can use these pools to hide hidden object throughout the level or even placing them in front of hidden doors. Doing this can make it a little more fun for the players who like exploring levels more and if they explore enough, they will be able to find all of the hidden objects in the levels.
My other tasks were tied to helping Andre with completing level 1. What I had to do in this level was to place destructible barrels, explosive barrels and keys throughout this level. The destructible barrels are placed around the level for the players to be able to attack and destroy to have a chance at receiving rewards and the explosive barrels are placed throughout the level to add a little more excitement and danger for the players. Below is an image of explosive barrels and a key on a bridge near the end part of the level. I did this to make the players have to be a little more careful around this area when collecting this key.
Level 1 Explosive barrels and key
Another task that I did in this sprint was making sure level 1 was complete for the playtest. After all the barrels, keys and chests were in the level I went back over the level, and I noticed that there were too few enemy spawn portals, so I started adding in some more so that the player has that arcade dungeon crawler feel. I wanted to make sure there were enough enemies that the player would encounter while also making sure the difficulty would slowly increase as the player went throughout the level.
The problems that I encountered during this sprint were very simple and easy for me to work around and find a good solution too. Luckily there weren't really any major game breaking problems that I had faced and hopefully in the future sprints I will continue to have small problems within the levels that can be easily fixed. Our group has been doing a great job with dishing out work fast and that is helping a lot with trying to achieve our vision for this game.
Sprint 2
Sprint 2 was the start of most of the digital level design process for me. My tasks during the past two weeks included blocking out levels, working with the terrain editor to create great looking environments, putting sky maps in the levels to further enhance the aesthetic of the scenery, and develop a lava type of texture for level 2. I also used this sprint as a big learning process since I have to do the animations and rigging process for all our characters and that is an area, I don't have much experience in. I also watched a couple videos and asked my teammate Andre with helping use the terrain editor.
Volcanic Level Sky Map and Terrain
Sky maps are an important part of outdoor levels because they can enhance the environments look by having a realistic looking sky rather than having just a spotlight in the air or a sky dome type of light. When developing the sky map for level 2, I had a couple old assets from previous projects, and I was able to edit the color hue of the sky map to more of an orange or light brown and when paired with all the clouds around it has the appearance of an ashy sky right after a volcano's eruption.
Castle level Sky Map
When it came down to finding a sky map for the castle level, it took me a little time because I had to decide if the level should be during the daytime or at nighttime. I eventually decided I wanted this outdoor level to be at nighttime because it can bring a darker or ominous ambiance to the level. With this sky map, I edited a lot of the color hues and brightness to more of a darker purple tone and I felt like it gave the perfect ominous tone that I was going for.
Level 2 Blockout(Overhead View of level and Terrain)
Level 2 Layout Design
Blocking out level two in unity took up a good chunk of my time during this sprint. When building it out in unity, I was trying to create the level exactly like how I drew it up in sprint 1, and by trying to recreate the original layout, I ended up spending lots of time trying to get each turn or room layout to match up. Over time during the process, I ran out of space or had some rooms to close to each other which led to me having to cut out some hidden passageways and having to create new ones it other areas. Overall, I think this block out is a great start for this level and has really provided a great base to build off of later in the process.
Lava asset for Level 2
Since I will be spending a lot of time on level two, I decided to try and work on some assets to be able to put in the level as well that matches up with the volcanic theme and I ended up creating this nice lava asset. When creating this asset, I had used an old water asset I had created and changed the color to an orange which matched up really well with the lava rock texture on the terrain. With this new lava asset still being based off an old water asset, I still have some work to do to make the asset less see through and reflective. The only problems that I faced during this sprint was learning how to rig our characters so that I can animate them down the road. After spending a lot of time watching videos and then trying to rig our blocky characters, the form of the entire character would change and ruin the whole look. I will be getting some further help with learning more about rigging and animating these sorts of characters by getting some help from Frank Pereira. Sprint 1
In these past couple weeks, our team has kicked off this project with a strong start. As one of our level designers and our animator, I have been given a bunch of tasks for this project regarding level creation, animating characters and adding to the asset list for our modeler.
During this sprint, most of my tasks have been focused on concepting levels 2 and 4, finding reference animations for all of the characters in the game and the player, and adding assets that we will need for each level into the asset list.
Level 1/Paper prototype
(Loot and Enemy Locations)
With the game that we are creating, we are shooting for a 3D arcade style, dungeon crawler. The levels within this game will get increasingly more difficult as the players traverse through the levels. In level 1, I wanted the players to have an easier time going through this level while also learning quickly about how this game will be played. By the end of the level, you can see that there is a lot more enemies and loot locations which means that this area is going to require more skill than the first two areas.
Level 2 Design
(Volcanic Deadlands)
Since our game is about jumping to new worlds and exploring, I wanted level 2 to have a completely different aesthetic vibe and design layout when compared to level 1. This level features a lot more hidden loot and exploring that the player will have to do. They will have to learn faster with this level since it will have a couple other features that level 1 doesn't have like collecting keys to unlock certain doors or avoiding lava pits that can do damage to the players if they walk over them. This level will slowly ease the player to expect other levels will also have new features that they will have to learn in that level while incorporating aspects from past levels.
Level 4
(The Lost Castle)
Level 4 is the last level I created this sprint. I am very happy with how it turned out because this level will be one of the bigger levels that we will have which incorporates all of the stuff players have learned when playing our game. Newer and more difficult traps like swinging guillotines over bridges, spike traps on the floors and lever activated doors will provide a unique playthrough compared to the other levels.
Player Walk
Small Enemy Walk
Towards the end part of the sprint, I was focusing on finding reference animations for each of the 3 characters in our game and animations for our player's character. When doing this, I had to look at all the models provided by Preston and try to imagine how these characters will move in the game and how they will attack. For example, our small enemy has a sort of quick run with a little hunch to emphasize that this enemy isn't the strongest but can be one of the more pestier types of enemies because of how fast they are. Finding the right animations for each character took some time because I wanted each character to have some sort of distinguishable trait about how they move so that the player will have more information about the enemies they will face other than texture.
We ended this sprint with around 50 cards in our backlog while completing around 35. I feel like we didn't experience many difficulties or setbacks as a team. The only difficulty that I will be facing is learning how to animate characters since it isn't my strongest area of expertise, but I am willing to take on the challenge. Other than that, this sprint has been really good, and I hope we maintain the same drive going into the next sprints.
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