This is the level design for our game, which is based on the concept called Suit ‘em Up. After a couple of discussions within the group this is the design that we have determined to work with.
It’s an open world game and the player can go anywhere in the world at any time he or she wants. The player starts in an open area then follows a narrow path down the suit. The purpose of this is to make the player feel trapped and exposed for the danger ahead.
The player will be given the possibility to either sneak past enemies or shoot them. To be able to give the player a variety of game play we have decided to take on a mix of small narrow passages and some open areas, this will give a variety and possibilities to mix up the gameplay. If too many open areas are used in the game the player could easily run past enemies and the experience of the game will be to some extend lost. If too narrow areas are used it would be difficult to sneak past enemies and might force the player to shoot them and consequently the feeling of an option will be reduced. I believe this is something that we in the group will need to spend a lot of time with, to be able to find a balance between the two types of gameplay.
The player will not be given the possibilities of extra lives. If the player dies, he/she will be starting over at the beginning again. To not make the game too hard or frustrating, we added checkpoints along the main paths. We didn’t want the two sides of the suit to be exactly the same, but we still aimed for the same level of difficulty. Therefore the checkpoints were required to be placed at approximately the same distance from the start position. The checkpoints also function as a show of progression for the player, the intended purpose is to make the player understand that he/she is on the right track. The checkpoints are activated by stepping on pressure plates that are placed near the checkpoint path.
We wanted to encourage the player to explore the surroundings of the game, therefore we added hidden rooms with upgrades in them so the player would want to explore the entire map. The function of the upgrades in the hidden rooms are to give the player a reward of his/hers exploration. The first the hidden rooms are easy to find, and contain customization objects that can be used to alter the avatars stats. By doing the first hidden rooms easy to find we hope to ignite some kind of desire to further explore in the game. I guess that the balance between making the hidden rooms easy to find but at the same time a challenge will determine how the player experiences the game.
The hidden paths are hard to distinguish on the way down the sleeve but easier on the way back, the main purpose is that they will serve as shortcuts on the way back from defeating the bosses. But they are possible to find on the way down to the bosses as well.
Calmius 