David-Alexandre Dupont
Level Designer
All about grey boxing
Shattered (Campus ADN 2014)
Shattered is a platformer game that is played in both 2D and 3D. evocative of games such as Crash Bandicoot, Shattered lets you play Dama, a crystal guardian trying to protect the realm's existence from forces that would destroy it. Game made in Unity and objects created in 3DS Max.
Implications:
- Team lead Enemy Design
- Team lead Level Design (first half of the game)
- Level Designer : Level 1
- Programming (playing cinematics and playing animations in Unity through switch contact) in c#
Website (under construction)
Game mechanics introductions
- Jumping distances and heights
- Navigation 2D and 3D
- Enemy : Goblin
- Damage zones
- Life orbs
- Collectibles collection
introduction of jumping metrics and collectibles. Switch with door ad the top part to move to next section
introduction of jumping metrics and collectibles. Switch with door ad the top part to move to next section
Working on the first level of the game, my main challenge was introducing game mechanics in a fun and challenging manner without making it too difficult for the new player.
My intentions were to introduce the relationship between the main character and main villain in their initial state. In the story, the avatar leaves his home on a journey and at some point, I wanted the player to feel, like the avatar, a little lost (without losing the player in the environment).
Working with sidescrolling and platforming
- Transitionning between the two
- Exploiting and reusing environment
When I started working on the first level, I wanted to have the player transition between the sidescrolling and platforming sequences as often as possible and make it as seamless as possible. I also wanted to simulate a sidescrolling sequence (where the pipes come out of the earth).
Finally it all brings the player to the final sequence in the puzzle structure.
Puzzle and platforming, a winning combination
- Moving objects directly in Unity (with Unity animation)
- Creating a fluent player experience with moving parts
- Coding events on avatar attack
The last part of the map and my favorite was working on the puzzle structure. Looking for a way to have the player feeling lost and not be able to lose himself was what I was aiming for to end my level.
I started experiencing with rotating pieces and finally after a lot of planning, was able to piece together the last structure of my map. In the design, I varied the method of rotations enough to give the player indications as to how to solve the puzzle, but also to keep him/her guessing for the next step. Finally, no matter what the player does, he/she cannot get lost in this quasi maze and should easily enough find his/her way out.
I wrote the code needed to move the different parts of the structure and linked those to the switch object. I also wrote the code to play the animations during the game.
In the first section, the rotation is vertical on the X axis from right to left and back again. With the attack button, the player can activate the switch and find the right position for the collisions and make his way to the next sequence.
The second section offers a different challenge. The player must still hit the switch to place the collision in the proper position and this time, the section rotates in a circle from it's central point. The structure has 4 possible positions.
The third sequence offers a similar challenge than the second and also adds the door factor with a switch inside the structure. I also placed the level collectible (the page) near the switch to ensure the player gets it.