This week we did a round of open playtesting to get feedback on progress for adjustments in our last sprint. Most of my feedback has been related to gameplay mechanics, animation, (of which there wasn't any) and lighting which still had an annoying dynamic adjustment for the brightness of objects. So far on the project most environmental assets have been placed and lighting has been prototyped, but still needs tweeking. Importing character models with their animations is still in progress.
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You awake in a dark cave. No memory of who you are, but you hear a voice call from the tunnel and you feel compelled to follow it. You emerge from the cave to a field atop a cliff, there is a lone stranger there; something seems unworldly yet familiar. As you approach them, the village below becomes visible, perhaps you live there. The stranger seems to think otherwise, but gives no explanation. They simply suggest you go down and find out for yourself, gesturing towards the warmly lit tunnel. As you descend through the tunnel you begin to get a sense that the village has taken care of their little nook in this strange world. The torches keep the path visible, unlike the cave you awoke in. Entering in the village is just as disorienting as when you left the cave. Nothing is familiar to you and the villagers take turns to glance at you with the same confusion. As you approach the center, an elder approaches as if you were an adventurer you just emerged from the cave entrance you passed earlier. They begin to rattle off all that the village offers in services, but you interrupt to clarify your situation. They are unsettled when you explain how you awoke, and simply dismiss you as a case of amnesia from banging your head on too many rocks. An energetic villager interrupts the conversation, eager to meet a new visitor. The elder attempts to settle the youngling, but quickly gives up and returns to other duties. The young villager is now your tour guide for the day. The tour covers the market explain all the precious ores and gems that the village mines nearby, you visit the guild hall where many adventurers congregate to plan their next exhibition, but then you arrive in a field. A field that is lush with grass and many flowers that seem vibrant yet humble in the way they bloom. As you get closer to the edge, your tour guide gives a grand introduction to the "Sun Crystal". They explain that the Sun Crystal is the source of all life and energy in the village; with the added brag, "our crystal is the best". The tour guide runs off after a call from a heated motherly voice towards the homes you passed earlier. You stand their for a moment lost, still overwhelmed from the unanswered questions you have about your own being. From nowhere the stranger you saw earlier appears again. "Doesn't feel like home, right?", they say with rhetorical demeanor. He gives you more context, that you are not simply a lost villager, but instead a Golem created by the Great Caveworld.
Recently sat down with a colleague and discussed my progress thus far on the project. An explanation of the project revealed that I hadn't really developed the gameplay of the area as much as I have the aesthetic. My initial plan was to have a JRPG inspired combat at the guild hall, however my lack of experience within UE4 is making progress slow. We started discussing what this world was and the player's role within it. My main theme is that life exists within this world of endless caves huddled around these "Sun Crystals" that emanate life energy. From this started to develop the concept that people will gather smaller fragments of these crystals to power machinery and maintain the larger "Life Crystals" that sustain life. The Player's role would be as a new cave spirit [name TBD] that has special connection to the caves and their Sun Crystals. This allows the player to actually use the crystals as their own resource to gain max health expansions. Creating this narrative gives the player the conscious decision to either help themselves or help the villages that they meet. Different villages would have various types of Sun Crystals which effect the behaviors of those who settle near them. This concept will turn into a system where the player explores areas to collect "Sun Crystal Fragments", that they can either deliver to villagers to help them or absorb themselves as max health expansions. Creating agency to explore for more resources, level progression in combat ability, and allowing the player to build their own narrative.
After reviewing some of the topdown layouts I sketched previously, I began whiteboxing the area. Of course with this being a cave it is a bit more challenging to create a fully enclosed area without much detail, so for now I have only formed the bottom shell of the level. First iteration has been more of a learning process, getting used to the landscaping tools in Unreal Engine an the block builder tools and other built-in assets. Going for a 2.5 tiered area, where the player's starting area is high and above the first village you visit. Then, the village is spread across two planes at relatively equal heights. This first grass area, is to inspire wonder and an a big "Hello to this weird world of mine." As the player will see its weird that there is grass growing in a cave and think it must have something to do with that giant glowing thing behind it. After a bit of in-class playtesting, I collected feedback to make changes on the progression and positioning of the area. In particularly the position of the second quest marker was in the center of town which really limited player exploration and slow progression significantly. In the second iteration I have moved this further out of the village center into a larger area that draws more attention to its importance as a(soon to be) relic of worship. The organization of the village center has also been adjusted to give a greater concentration of the center fountain and cohesion. Breaking the 1 general market into small stalls allows for more player interaction with NPCs later on and makes the village seem more alive than just some ruins the player found. The terrain has been given a basic painting to outline rock/stone from grass areas. The Sun crystal has also been repositioned as to not completely blind the player and take away attention from the village. Another major adjustment this stretch has been the adjustment of the third person camera to a more over the shoulder view. While this does lean more towards the claustrophobic sense that I am trying to steer away from, it does give the player more of the sense of being in a cave with the character. This perspective also helps mechanically with camera operations in tight spaces that may occur in future levels. I will continue to play around with the player perspective as I move through development to find what works best.
Till next stretch... |
AuthorInterested in Level design, Procedural Generation, System Design, Geospatial Technology, and many other aspects of Game Development. Archives
March 2021
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