Ryan - Games Design

I have FINALLY gone back and fixed all of the issues I was faced with back in November. The rebuild took the better part of a day and created a few issues that needed fixing, but otherwise the game is completely playable now! This game was worth the wait in my mind. It's educational and fun to engage with! I'm happy with how I tackled it and, even with the issues, I wouldn't change the way I went about making it!

I have finalised each element of the project now. The level flow is great and I have added UI to show the players health and the "Hunger" meter that will be used to show how the curse is impacting the character. I am taking a break from this project now while I finalise my other projects from the year (that first project still needs a floor rebuilding!) When I next update it will be with a gameplay video and my final thoughts!

I am nearing the end of this project now! I have a few features to tidy up and finalise but it is looking very good. I added a lot of additional play space and made the player need to explore a bit more of the level rather than spiraling up a staircase. I have also created another miniature puzzle for players to complete in order to proceed at the midway point. There are 2 enemy bodies attached to the wall with an electrical current flowing through them. Players must complete the circuit by killing two more enemies and attaching them in the gapson the wall. This will open up an elevator and allow the player to proceed. Overall the flow of the level works well, I will just need to add a few menus in order for the player to understand the game properly and I shall be done!

The level design is going much smoother now! The shape works better overall and I feel confident I can develop it further in the coming weeks. I have added the cinematic to showcase the sigil appearance beneath the meat grinder and altered it so one section of it appears per enemy thrown in. The game will complete once all three have appeared. I have a few spots that I currently have no gameplay for but I will spend the Easter break coming up with ideas to fill them with and to help the player deviate from the critical path. Everything seems to be going well on this project so far!

I have gone back to the drawing board after a week of level blockout as I felt the design I had was too linear and systematic. The space was very "room like" being a large cuboid like most other levels, so I am thinking to make it cylindrical like a tower instead. Blueprinting has gone well, the meat grinder works well! I will most likely need to use more visual cues to show the player the progression of the blood tank, I currently have a "sigil" that appears (it is, in fact, a large bloody recycling symbol!) but I will also work with cinematics to progress this further. Back to the level design layout for now!

Development is coming on nicely. Simple combat mechanics, player animations and enemy AI have taken shape nicely. The focus for now will be to create the level puzzle. For this level I will be creating a giant meat grinder/blender at the centre of the level for the player to throw enemy bodies into. This will fill the "Blood Tank" and allow players to progress. I will be using simple blockout models to create this and adding particle effects to highten it more. Once this is built, the level blockout will continue around it.