Gameplay Elements

Over the weekend both of the levels had the following gameplay elements implemented; Health Pick-up, AmmoGun Pick-up, AmmoLauncher Pick-up and spawn points. Each of the pick-ups were sourced from within the game engine and provided the necessary elements in order to create a good gameplay experience.

Within the level Sanctuary the health pick-ups were placed within the base, as well as on the bridges and throughout the floor of the level. These were strategically placed close by to cover points, but not in a section where by a player could constantly heal their character and stay alive. They have also been set up through the use of blueprints to fully replenish the health of a player’s character. The ammo pick-ups for the gun have been located sufficiently throughout the map with the player never being far from AmmoGun pick-up. This allows for a constant flow of gameplay and the player never seeking out ammunition for minutes on end. The AmmoLauncher pick-ups have been sparsely placed in the level with them either being located on the sides of the level or within the centre. This choice poses more danger when trying to obtain the ammunition emphasising the class of the Launcher being a power weapon.

The spawn points for both levels are only located within the base of each team. This decision was taken as problems occurred when attempting to setup a respawn system which would locate spawns around the whole level. As the turnaround for the level was quite short, the decision was made just to keep the spawns in the bases. The spawns in each of the bases are also set up with either a value of 0 or 1, these being the values that represent the different teams. This can be seen below in the details section of the image.

In order to stop players from gaining access to unwanted areas, blocking volumes have been included in certain areas of the levels. These include areas that can be reached by the player using the double jump feature. A blocking volume has also been placed over the top of the level Sanctuary to ensure that players can't jump out of the map.

During the meeting I handed over the completed levels to Joe and a discussion was held on when the testing process would take place. As a deadline extension had just been given, we decided that there would be two periods of testing. The first will be to conduct if there are any major faults with the game. The second will be to look for any small imperfections that may have occurred during the building processes and development processes of the levels.