In my time studying Geography, I’ve become fascinated with cave systems. The intricacies of their formation and the ecosystems that reside within them, as well as, their roles in providing water sources for surface dwellers like us. Caves in games is not anything new, in fact we have entire games based on being in a cave like Spelunky. However, caves tend to be understood as finite, though quiet expansive, systems. A series of halls, chasms, underground pools, etc... , which varies depending on the surrounding biome. In contrast, space is infinitely expansive. I had the thought of combining these two contrasting ideas into a universe(in theory) within a cave. Thus, we have Cavernous Worlds. With this exercise, the goal is to bring a more open and inviting feeling to caves. Trying to avoid the typical dark, dingy, claustrophobic feeling associated with caves. And replace it with curiosity and a nurturing feeling as the caves cultivate life, instead of suppressing it. This area would be the beginning of the game for the player, an introductory level where the player’s character has awoken with loss of any and all memory. The path behind you is caved in, possible clue to your current state, and the only direction to follow is towards the first village. This 1st layout separates the area into levels connected by paths. The main area sits at the edge of a massive chasm with a glowing "sun crystal" glowing in the distance above. The top level is where the player would first learn combat from one of the guilds. Where the 3rd level would be much more advance training and introduce the player to chaos zones. Layout 2 simplifies the separate levels and condenses the areas. The cave the player starts in would mysteriously disappear upon completion of the first level. Layout 3 is a combination of the previous. Here the different levels are accessed by stair sets and a path that leads to the mysterious start for our player. I'm excited about this project and getting into the whitebox phase. This will be my first Unreal Engine project, so I'm looking forward to the learning process.
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AuthorInterested in Level design, Procedural Generation, System Design, Geospatial Technology, and many other aspects of Game Development. Archives
March 2021
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