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.
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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... 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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