Programming

The challenge for the week was to take a spiky block we made and give it personality. I created one of my old designs of a little robot for the block and added a spike for damage. Using blueprint classes I created a animation for the block to follow. Later made it so the eyes change color when the player gets close warning them its not friendly. Adding sound effects, color changes, camera shakes, and block movements the player can clearly be warned the block will do something. Overall fun to play with so we created a small level showing off the spiky block we created. I made a small ice cave where your the explorer trying to collect all the gold (coins) in the level. Learning about the timeline nod in blueprint was helpful and is a much cleaner way of animating the blocks with more flexibility and control. The video below is my play-through of the level.

"Space Jumper"
Game Design Section 2

    Your dropped into a space station in our solar system as a caption on a spaceship. Your instructed by your fellow robot crew members that the ship is under attack and you must escape the station. Given the basic mechanics of jumping, moving, timing, and collecting coins or "space coins" as the caption you must complete all task to get back to your ship. Little do you know the space station is testing its defense mechanisms and you must be quick on your feet to get through each section. 
     This project was developed over a 3 pass period with multiple test runs. My inspiration for the platform design is space. I took concepts from "Portal" by grasping the idea of a robot giving you instruction as you escape a space station. Using a robot of my design to add a little bit of narrative to the level. Overall the project was to learn about level design for tutorials. Applying knowledge from out past projects like the board game to developed a game that even a beginner could pick up and play. Introducing new elements and mechanics one at a time in a safe environment and later testing the players abilities. I found the most difficult part was simplifying the level enough so that any player could understand it and get through the level in under 3 minutes. Changes were made after learning more about the programming side of Blueprint further improving the level to run smoothly. The video below shows a run through of my plat former.

Level Design Layout

First I did research over a platforms layout. Understanding tutorials and how players are taught the basic mechanics of a game. After make different versions of this tutorial the final was produced in Illustrator to display it in a clean format. I learned you have to explain each step without using to much text and to keep the gameplay flowing.

STANDBY Level Layout 1-1 Analysis
Screenshots:

Analysis

The game Standby is easy to pick up precise platformer. Challenge your reaction in this fast-paced game and get out of the glitched world. 

How does the level layout contribute to the tutorial?
    -Smooth controls by dashing through the vibrant levels, crushing and overcoming all the obstacles on your way.

How much is left to the player to figure out on his own vs. how much is handed to him?

    -After passing the tutorial you are tested with all the skills in a mix of difficulties. After passing each section more obstacles are implemented into the game with new skills. 

What kind of obstacles are presented to the player?

    -The play mush race against time by shooting down blocks, dashing across platforms, jumping, and sliding into checkpoints.

How do they ramp up the difficulty as the tutorial advances?

    -By requiring the player to use more then just one skill at a time. When first introduced there is no possible way for the player to get hurt or die until they learn the new skill. Later there are obstacles they require the player to apply what they learned.

What kind of positive and negative feedback is given to the player?

    -Getting through checkpoints and collecting coins rewards the player for successfully making it through the level. Sense the game is time based if the player takes too long to complete the level they are reward very little points. In the end like most games your trying to get the highest amount of points.

How is the story integrated (if any)?

-Standby is a race against time and from the very start your introduced to your character a cyber cowboy. Your goal is to escape a glitches out world. Using your speed to pass through each obstacle.