3D Level 1

 3D UNITY LEVEL 1

LOGAN VAN DYNE

After creating a plethora of levels utilizing dungeons and dragons (Roll20) and Mega Man Maker, it was now time to create a 3D level using the skills gained from our previous programs and levels. Using the feedback we have been gathering from our playtests, experience in creating levels with good flow and difficulty, and learning better ways to give the player a fun and teachable experience as they play the game, we utilized a unity package including a 3D starter game kit to create a level in a sci-fi forest setting. Thankfully the package contained pre-made assets such as the character, interactables, level designer, enemies, and obstacles, which allowed us as level designers to focus primarily on the design itself and the elements of design which went into it, such as teaching the player the mechanics provided, the flow and path of the level, and the difficulty of the level. 

Considering that we had all of the tools available to us to use, my first action was to open the example level provided, which had every mechanic already applied, working, and able to be studied to figure out how they worked and how to apply them in my own level. I was able to pull examples from the tutorial level and bring them into my own, fully functional and ready to drop wherever I needed. Some things needed to be altered, such as the large door, which initially took three different keys to open and was changed to be opened using one key. In future iterations of the level, I would like to make this door function the way that it did in the tutorial level, however I would need to dedicate more time to dissecting it and figuring out how it works in order to do so. 

Alongside most of the mechanics of the game working flawlessly, other factors that went right during the creation of the level and the playtesting of it were the platforming segments. None of them were too far apart or too difficult, and the players knew what to do and how to do it without any guidance needed. The only issues encountered with the platforming involved the rolling mechanic that the player was built with, which resulted in the player often rolling off of platforms when they landed on them, causing the player to respawn. This was rather tedious, however nothing could be done about it. Perhaps a solution would be to make the platforms larger so the risk of the player rolling off of them is not as large. Another problem involved the player getting stuck on a wall, which I believe was because of the angle of the wall, leading me to believe that it would be better to make walls be straight rather than angled. This would also solve some design issues involving gaps or strange looking intersections. 

The flow of the level was easy to follow and provided a decent amount of creativity in which the player dealt with the enemies and proceeded through the path given to them. The branching pathways, obstacles, and enemy placement gave the player a good amount of freedom while still restricting them to a predetermined path. The doors and puzzles integrated acted as bottleneck instances, forcing the player into a specific problem with a specific solution. I believe that the difficulty level may have been too easy, and I could have added more enemies and made the level longer in the future to accommodate for both more enemies and more platforming segments and hazardous obstacles. Little feedback was given on things to improve on besides the things previously mentioned, so I will focus on these improvements for the next iteration, as well as adding more to the forest theme presented.


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