Completion of Highrise Level Design

Once the layout had been established for the level, the next step was to make the level playable. This included placing walls around the level in order to prevent the player from venturing into unwanted spaces and putting barriers within the level to act as cover for the players. The shape of the centre of the bridge has also been altered to allow for a larger space to run around near the exit of the jump pad.

The aims for the past two weeks, which were to complete a 3D scene of Highrise and assess its playability, have been successfully met. The layout of the jump pads have also been discussed in relation to the game’s playability. For the next two weeks the aim is to create a jump pad that can be implemented to the completed level and to discuss the second level that is to be created for the game. A meeting was also conducted and the final design for the level Highrise was shown with another positive response.

Highrise Level Development cont.

After establishing the layout of the ground floor last week, I’ve decided to dedicate this week to creating the layout for the top floor and finalising how the bottom floor will look. The first section I focused on was creating the base section for the level. The design of this incorporates multiple different methods of leaving the base, this allowing for a diverse exit strategy when playing the game. The base section also provides a way of getting onto the top floor of the level.

The top floor consists of a sidewalk of each side of the level as well as a bridge connecting the sidewalks to the jump pad towers and a bridge connecting both of the sidewalks together. The bridge also has a centre piece which features a gap, in which a player can go through using the jump pad which will be located in the centre of the map. By including a jump pad in the middle of the map, the ability to traverse to the top floor has been increased allowing for more diverse gameplay.

The meeting for this week allowed me to showcase the development of the Highrise game level, which received positive feedback. I also explained that the level had been set to scale allowing for an easy transition into the games engine.

Highrise Level Development

In order to stay on top of the work, as a team we have decided to create 2 week sprint sheets, in order to plan the work that is to be finished over the course of a two week period. These are to be recorded within the blog, so that the finished work can be seen visually when assessing the outcome of the game at the end of the project.

The creation of the level Highrise, which is the fusion of the concepts Citadel and Station, within 3ds Max has begun and a floor plan for the ground floor of the level has been created. Currently the floor plan showcases where the players will spawn within the level, the main area of battle and two tunnels which will allow for players to enter the main battle area from different angles. A section has also been included towards the centre of each tunnel where a jump pad could be placed in order for the players to traverse to the top floor of the level. The inclusion of the jump pads, which were featured in the Station concept, will allow for a new aspect of gameplay where by the player can create a surprise attack on another unknowing player, this adding to the fast paced aim of the game level.

Over the next two weeks the aim is to complete the level development within 3ds Max for the level Highrise. This will consist of visually creating the 3D scene and then assessing whether the created scene will provide a good flow of gameplay. Gameplay elements that are to be included with the level will also be discussed.