Entry 02 — Creating Our Demo Level
Here I go through how we settled on an idea for Project D’s demo level.
As I mentioned in last week’s post, my primary tasks for this week have been:
- Sketch a basic map layout (top-down perspective) and construct it with blocks in Unity.
- Create an enemy object and implement AI/Pathfinding for it.
It’s been a busy week however, as I’ve had to juggle college assignments and class rep training sessions along with work on this project. As a result, I devoted the past week to the first task in the list above. On the 14th, I drew up a map layout using Adobe Illustrator. I decided to use Illustrator because I can make use of layer transparency to highlight each floor in the map. The basic concept for the map is that the protagonist must cross an abandoned mountain highway bridge to reach the base that they must infiltrate.
Map Layouts
The first floor, all it consists of is the plateau sticking out of the side of the first mountain (where you begin the level) and the supports of the highway bridge, where an item is hidden.
The second floor, essentially the “ground floor” of the map. This is where the enemies will patrol. The player should be careful on this floor.
The third floor, mostly consisting of ridges or rooftops the player can scale with the use of their grappling hook. The player can get a good view of the area from here.
My primary inspiration for this map idea came from a level in the third-person shooter Syphon Filter 2, where the player must cross a bridge high in the mountains and defuse explosives without being spotted by the enemy.
My teammates were happy with my map concept when I showed it to them, so later in the week I worked on creating a prototype map in Unity. On the 20th, I finally finished the prototype map. 3D modelling is not a strong suit of mine so it does look rather blocky, but it should serve its purpose for the time being.
Prototype Map
A view of the map from afar.
The player starts on the white plateau here, they must scale the ledges to continue.
A clearing before the bridge, the player may encounter their first enemy here.
The bridge that the player must cross to reach the base. The player may have to use their grappling hook to get by undetected.
A series of warehouses lying just outside the base. This area will be the most heavily-guarded. The player will have to complete their objectives here before they can reach the end goal. They may have to explore each warehouse while avoiding guards and the spotlight that continuously scans the area.
So that’s what I’ve worked on for Project Dissonance this past week. Unfortunately I haven’t had time to implement AI for the enemies yet. Now that I have most of my level design duties out of the way however, I can devote this week to working on AI. Hopefully I can make some good progress, wish me luck!
‘Til next time.
