My Nemesis

Hi!

Welcome to this new devlog! In this issue:

• Level Design - My Nemesis
• Info On The Next Demo
• Top Talk - A New, Exciting Column

Recap

So, I am making this little survival FPS and I am currently focused on 2 macro areas: gameplay and level design.

My process consists in developing new gameplay features and then building a level around them to act as a showcase/playable demo.

Currently I am working on a level that showcases the latest updates to the combat system, who recently became a lot more crunchy™.

Working this way gives me motivation to practice level design. Because I suck at making levels. Or at least, all my past attempts have never been that great and you can witness that by yourself in the currently available build.

That's normal I think, as I have never really made a 3d level before; but I really want to get better. And practice is the only way, for how I see it.

Level Design - My Nemesis

Level design is a beast of a discipline: it is really dependent on the mechanics you have at your disposal, so before you can practice it you have to already have developed a lot of stuff. I mean, sure, you can start making some environment just by placing assets around. But it won’t mean anything. How is the player going to traverse that place? By foot? By car? Flying?

Is the player going to be able to use ranged weapons? Are there going to be enemies? Are they going to be fast? What are the building blocks you have at your disposal?

Weapons, ammo, keys... building blocks.

These are all considerations that basically mean: you need to have a clear view of what the heck your game is going to be. So that you actually have something to design for.

There’s a lot to get right, more than one could intuitively think. Let’s take scale for example. Getting scale right doesn't just mean ensuring the doors and the corridors are the right size. Everything needs to be harmoniously proportional. Rooms have to feel right. And it is so easy to make them too big.

Sometimes I design a space that seems right to me when simply looking at it. Then I play it and it immediately feels boring to traverse. Like getting from one point to the other takes too long. So I go back and adjust it and suddenly I break the traversal flow in another direction.

Also layout is important: positioning things (be them enemies, pickups, puzzles) requires some thought too.

In general I notice that the best approach is to arrange them in a way that does not require much backtracking. Because visiting the same room twice is not fun. Unless you have some specific gameplay reason for that to happen. Like for example using a new power to get over a previously insurmountable obstacle; or maybe farming some item. But they are all scenarios that I do not want to consider yet as they add even more complexity.

Then there is verticality. Developing a 3d game and not considering all dimensions feels like a wasted opportunity. But adding another floor means also adding more traversal paths to consider and this, guess what, adds more complexity.

Bottom line, designing good levels is a craft that takes time to master. 

On the bright side I think most of the difficulties I listed above just need me to get better at spotting them. I can already see that after various attempts I am becoming better at judging spaces and dimensions of the rooms as I create them. Each iteration requires less testing and feels better so I'm hopeful.

Info On The Next Demo

For Monday’s demo I set out with the core goal of having a new environment/arena where you can test smashing enemies using a combination of melee and ranged weapons.

Then -as usual- I couldn’t resist stepping up the game and aiming at making a full level complete with puzzles and even a boss encounter. 

Yeah.

I don’t know when I will learn to keep my goals grounded.

Anyway, I course corrected right now. And well, with all the stuff I made while aiming for the stars, at least I have a base that I can use for the next iteration/demo.

Bonus: I will include the whole final result in the upcoming demo. 

There will be 2 main paths available:

1. The Demo Path: that will lead to basically an arena where enemies will be thrown at you in waves. You will have a set of weapons that you will be able to use against them.
2. The Unfinished level Path: another door will lead to the rest of the unfinished level. This door will be locked but if you make it through all the waves of the official Demo Path, the last enemy will drop a key and you can have a sneak peak of what’s to come.

What wonders will hide behind this door? Pass the test and you will know...

Top Talk - A New, Exciting Column

Welcome to this new column of The Great V Project: Top Talk!

From now on, I will randomly pick one among our community's many comments that will be nominated: "The Top Talker"!

This is serious business because the winner has a chance to tell me directly anything they would like to see in the game and in the next build I will do my best to fulfil their desires. Even if they have nothing to do with the level I am making.

I'm incredibly happy to announce that the winner of this edition of Top Talk is: MKolumba! For the following, heart-warming comment:

So, congrats to MKolumba for winning this edition! You can let me know if you want to see anything personalized making its way into the next build in the comment section below or sending an email to:

toptalk@fontanagames.com

With that said, I wish you a lovely day and see you on Monday!