Month 3: Game Balancing
This video shows a quick weekly demonstration of what is being achieved during the milestones.
Key Things I Worked On This Month:
Project Details:
This month was broken again into two separate 14-day milestones. Milestone 1 was intended to implement and iterate upon a version of our game’s final content. This means that each level/area is accessible and playable from start to finish. While bugs and imbalanced gameplay still may be present, none of these issues prevented the game from being played in a general sense toward the final version of what the game will play like. Milestone 2 followed as a continuation of Milestone 1, only finalizing it further while also beginning to determine what the game will look like from an art and aesthetic standpoint.
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Iterated some of the functionalities of the Wall Climbing mechanic
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Designed the main functionalities of the Sniper enemy
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Implemented a level design focused heavily on player direction, using geometry, PFI, and effects to guide players to objectives
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Assisted in the debugging process and helped fixed bugs in main and minor mechanics
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Conducted QA tests of the main mechanics and helped analyze the data obtained
Below you can find more information related to the month!
Level Design Implementation
During this month, we were already sure that many of our main mechanics were already working as we wanted and we had a good balance between the combat and character movement. Now we wanted to give the player a unique and unforgettable experience, and what better way than doing it with a good-level design? I started by implementing a graybox of a level I had in mind. The player had to reach a specific point and activate the energy to open a door and thus be able to continue and complete the level. I also implemented yellow wires at different key points of the level to guide the player to his main goal, thus serving as leading lines.
Sniper Enemy Mechanic
We started using our new Sniper enemy in this level, which I helped by designing the main functionalities of it in addition to adding PFI and SFX to indicate to the player when it will shoot. This new enemy can't be killed, so we place it in different key points so that the player had a good challenge and at the same time a good experience throughout the level. After several QA tests, we managed to adjust the speed of the shot and the damage it causes to the player to make the game more fair and balanced.
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Sniper Enemy. One of the first iterations of it, prototyping and fixing laser width and shooting speed. Also tweaking the damage it does to the player.
Moving Platform Mechanic
Another level mechanic we wanted to implement in our game was moving platforms, in which the player would have to jump cautiously to reach the end. This would then be implemented together with the wall running mechanic and the warp strike to achieve a varied and exciting level but at the same time a challenge for the player.
Cutscene System
When making the level design, we made sure that the player knew where they had to go, and part of this was achieved with the implementation of a Cutscene System. In the process of creating my level, I made sure to implement these cutscenes and also link them with the leading lines of the level, which helped a lot and we ended up receiving good feedback when doing QA Tests. There were a total of two cutscenes at this level.
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