Level 2 Block Out & Asset Implementation

Been a bit of a hectic couple of weeks with the spread of the Corona Virus (hope everyone is safe!) and me having to cope with a leg injury, and so the speed of work slowed down a little for a week or so as I was housebound and in bed for a few days. However everything back to normal in terms of work flow this week.

University is at a stand still this week. We have been allocated a reading week as measures are being put into place to promote remote learning. This means that my opportunities for play testing have become much more limited, along with feedback being a little harder to come by. Although not great, I am confident with where I am in my project and I am well on track.

Anyways, back to the actual interesting stuff.

E-GRID

So you may have noticed (if you read the last post) that the E-GRID was exempt from my last post. I chose not to introduce it in the first stage as I felt that the player was being bombarded with too many new mechanics at once. Considering that the E-GRID is intended to modify existing mechanics, I have chosen to give the player a little time with the currently introduced mechanics at the start of the second level.

Level 2 - Modular Level Design

With this in mind, I proceeded to sketch out 30 different pages that each contained a "block" of a level. The idea here was that I could mix and match, or even scrap pretty much any of these blocks, and they would almost all be able to fit together in any order. After settling on some I was happy with, I made the move into engine.

In Engine Implementation

One thing I have personally found a little tedious working within Unreal engine is that measuring stuff like how high/far the player can jump can get annoying due to Unreal Engines lack of a simple, easy to use measuring system (at least in the version I'm using. Upon exploring the marketplace I found a plugin, or rather an asset pack, named Supergrid Starter Pack. It helped me to very quickly prototype the modular sections of my level and put them together, as it provides meshes and materials with auto-scaling grid materials on them. It's extremely intuitive and I could not recommend it more to anyone designing levels.

You can see how I've appropriated different materials as visual signifies that tell me what each surface is supposed to do - black for the walls, blue for the floor, the orange and turquoise material for wall run areas, the material with the footprints on it to insinuate areas where the player is supposed to bounce on and the neon "lava grid" material to show areas where the player dies on contact. The below photos show some of the modular sections in the level.

After retrieving two objects of interest and returning them to their pedestals, the player will unlock the E-GRID which allows the player to access a new area and proceed with the level.

Implementation of Assets

As I believe I mentioned before, I chose to work using the Infinity Blade: Ice Lands asset pack found in the marketplace for the bulk of the set decoration.

I chose to begin working on implementing assets a little earlier than I intended. With a lack of easy access to play testers I am somewhat forced to trust that the level is, well, good. I figured that if I am able to start implementing assets into the game early i may find that later down the line I am able to extend the level further should I find the time - something I wouldn't be able to do if I was just stuck doing all the set decoration at the end.

Obviously as I am not working with custom tailored assets, the layout of the level had to change a little in order for me to piece things together, but not enough to impact the way the level is intended to be played. See the below screenshots for some before and after pictures (ft. a disgusting unlit photo, as the level is not actually properly lit yet everything is a bit dark)!

You've made it to the end, congrats! Sorry for the wall of text :D

Thanks for taking the time to read!

Trav.