Testing the Game Level

I finally got my hands on an X-box 360 controller and started spending more time into testing the builds Josiah made at home. 

There were some minor issues here and there but nothing we can't handle with proper communication.

The biggest problem was that the jumping height was lower than anticipated, I designed the level so that Caruso can cover 8 maya units whilst jumping both in height and in length. As the image shows, jumping in height was a bit of an issue, now Caruso jumps approximately between 4.5 and 4.8 units. That's not really a problem. it can be countered by fixing the level.



The main idea of the jumping trajectories was this:



Basically this image means that Caruso can jump the same distance in length and height. The fact that this didn't work is a happy accident really, because as it is the jumping distances seem very natural, if it was any different I feel it would look very weird.

Overall the game seems to be working great. platforming works just fine. After some tests we nerfed (In video gaming a Nerf is a change to a game that reduces the desirability or effectiveness of a particular game element) down the distances of Boost Jumping and Boost Dashing as well as the amount of Boost Jumps available with a full bar. We decided to make those nerfs because if the player made two boost jumps in a row and a boost dash, he was able to jump across the path, rendering the platforming bit useless and a waste of time.

texturing the game level!

UV unwrapping on the finished and designed level is done! and I started texturing it.

At first I thought I could use substances, like the ones our tutor (Lee Simpson) showed us in semester 2
Substance materials are textures generated by an algorithm. Until recently those textured would be limited to the quality of "Checker" in Maya, or Filter "Clouds" in Photoshop or Noise in Maya. Now with new innovating technology programmers can create all sorts of customizable textures. I.E. Brick wall with dirt on it.
In the image below you can see how a substance looks like from the viewport of Maya.

Now let's take this and implement it on the basics of texturing: Applying it to the UV layout. This is a very draft version of the texture. I wanted to take a look on how it would look like rather that how pretty it looks.

We want the game to have a cell-shaded touch to it, sort of like El Shaddai (Xbox 360 game) and using substance means that it would be too realistic. Furthermore the art style between the environment would clash with the art style of the well done texturing of Caruso himself and of the enemies. So in order to fix this I start of texturing in Photoshop only using filters I try to make a look like El Shaddai's awesome, minimalist art style.
And here is how it should look like!

Cullan wanted some changes in the color palette, nothing hard but his idea was correct since I feel it works better than the generic "grass/rock"

This is the teleporter that teleports Caruso from the First to the Second part of the level. alongside with an island.

A dummy that shows the size of Caruso in the game level itself alongside with the floor texture and the platforms on it!



Cullan and myself decided to halt my texturing for this week and focus on some animations for the enemies. It is indeed a good plan of action considering the time we have left.
In the end, after some of my experimentation, Nell did the texturing, this was the plan from the beginning I just wanted to give it a go!

Mudbox Sculpting

The texturing process took far too long and is still in need for a few extra details but the cloth folds definitely add a lot of character to the base which looked very simple before. Hopefully this will translate well when the normal map is rendered out and applied to the mesh in Maya.

Some very basic and rough colours added to the mesh (using Nell's concept art as reference) - the paint layers will be extracted and re-painted in Photoshop to add more interest and make it tidier.

Game Level WIP

Started out by discussing and designing with Cullan the overall design and how we wanted to look like,

overall aesthetics and theme of the level. The goal of the first part of the game is to familiarize the player with the controls and platforming system of the game. The player needs to climb up the platforms and make it to the top of the tower. there he can activate a switch so the floating islands will align into a path to the first teleporter.

 Second part of the level the player teleports to a circular construct which is an elevator, there until the player makes it to the top must face his first adversary - the mini tumbler. 

Once the player makes it to the top it's the second platforming section of the level. The objective is to activate the four crystals so he can face the first Boss-fight.

 Making some adjustments to the first part of the level.

Here we decided to add a spawning island (the small one attached to the big main island). We thought that the player should have a different platform. That way the place around the tower seems more special and awe-aspiring.

Different perspective of the first part of the level. 

Adding more details to the second part of the level. 

More paths are being added to reach the rest of the crystals. 

All four parts are now complete, each path has a different way of approaching, taking advantage of the game mechanics. 

 Cullan had the idea of having a huge spiral crystal that rises up when a crystal is activated, to give the player the indication that he's actually advancing.

After working on this idea, we thought we could have a second one lowering from the tower higher up (where the Boss fight will take place) and the player could walk up the crystal. So now the player has an extra motivation on energizing all the crystals.

 We wanted to change the overall aesthetics of the second part. we wanted to make it look like a Sci-fi city. Those path will look like roads that lead to roundabouts where the crystals will be placed on.

Started working on the platforming part of the level, each path will have more than one way of completing it. Some parts will be more forgiving in mistakes than others.

Editing the second path.

I thought that maybe one of the paths could be completely fractured making it more unique and breaking the aesthetic monotony of the other 2 paths around the tower.

 Adding some buildings (dummies) which help creating more than one correct ways of travelling across the path! (all the paths feature this. The measure tool is a great ally on this task!)

Today I thought I would start working on the interior of the second tower. In that piece, Caruso (Knightside) will get his first memories back in the form of images as he platforms to the top where he will face his first Boss-fight.

Here is a close up of all four paths. Note each path is designed so there is more than one way of travelling across!

First path

 Second path

 Third path

 Fourth path

Once all crystals at the end of those paths are activated the player can advance to the Boss Fight.

That's a crystal with a Node on it. Caruso will find one on each of the paths, the node will need to be destroyed so the crystal can be purified!

Just Uved the buildings! looking good so far

last but not least! the animations of the game Level!
First part of the level can be viewed here
Second part of the level animations can be viewed here

UV maps for Caruso

The UV map is done so Caruso is ready for texturing. Thanks to some tools that Avi informed me of the entire process was actually quite enjoyable and far easier than the methods I used to use! 

Finished Caruso Base Mesh

Caruso's base meshes. The Nude version was modelled using Nell's reference images and will be used to get the right body shape for the clothed version of Caruso - the head is reused from the nude Caruso mesh.

The clothed version using Nell's concept art to base it on. After some feedback from Cullan and a few creative decisions we decided to go for a vambrace on his left arm with a rolled up sleever but made the coat's collar/lapels symmetrical because it was agreed it looks better this way.

Designing the Game Level

The main idea of the level is that can help the player learn how to play the game through pure gameplay and try to avoid "how to play" videos or "tutorials". The first part of the level has a set of pillars/platforms where the player can start jumping on. 

 This is how it looks like. (up)
The player is drawn to them since there's nowhere else to explore. so by taking advantage of human curiosity   and by giving the player the time to experiment with the controls the player can now start climbing his way up.

 After the player makes it to the tallest of the platforms, all of them rise up to a certain  height, so the player can make it to the top part of the tower there is. We decided to do it like that - and not add extra platforms for that so the player can understand that the world he's in is a bit different than ours and certain rules don't apply (such as platforms rise up). Also the player gets used to the jumping height and distance and has no time limit to get used to the controls,

As the player makes it to the top, the floating islands that surround the level align into a path where Caruso will get to use his Rift Powers to start crossing the path. Ideally there would be a cutscene to explain the player how to use them, but we couldn't do it due to schedule constraints. At the end of that path, there is a gate-teleporter that allows the player to move on to the next part of the level.

 This part of the level, features a platform of Crystals, which works as a tutorial for the combat. As the elevator rises, it stops at 2 points where enemies spawn. At that point the player again has no time limit and can try beating the enemies.

 The elevator takes the player to the crossroad, where he can start Purifying the crystals at the end of each path. Ideally the player could choose which path he wanted to go to first, but due to to schedule constraint, we had to put barriers to rig which path the player will chose to go to. 

 The Paths are designed so that each path can be crossed with more than one ways. That way the player can have a sense of freedom in the platforming department.

 At the end of each path there are enemies that guard the corrupted crystals. After all the enemies are defeated then the player can simply walk to the crossroad, since the road floats to it's original state.  Some of the buildings move and align themselves to a spiral, some parts of the elevator start rising up as well forming a crystalline staircase.

This is how the Crystalline staircase looks like as well as the building spiral. This works are a visual indicator for the player on his progress and as a relaxing platforming section to prepare the player for the battle ahead.

 This is the boss room where the player fights the first boss, the Giant Tumbler.

After the player defeats the Giant Tumbler, he has to go through a fairly easy platforming section which works as a reward to the player for beating the level. The main idea was that in that section the player would unlock memories of Caruso (the avatar of the player) as he was platforming, but we didn't feasible in this timeframe we had available. 

*note i am using the most recent screenshots for the sake of good aesthetics.

Early sketches made by Cullan and myself as we were brainstorming about the level design. We worked together on the initial designing. 

Sketch of the platforming bit in the last part of the game level, the main idea was that the camera would change angle and it would make the game feel like a 2D platforming for that part. The idea was canceled after we decided it would be too time consuming on the programming aspect of the game.