Role Breakdown

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Gameplay Design: This project was created to help level up my design skills and documentation skills. The project followed a specific pipeline of design, diagram, develop in engine, test, critique, change, repeat. When designing any aspect of gameplay the core focus was on how this would change the player experience. One of the main focuses for this project was on the weapons and character. Therefore I wanted to make five distinct weapons that felt different, exciting and fun to use in their own unique way to enable player choice as well as naturally encouraging multiple strategies through using different weapons. However weapons are only as good as the enemies you are fighting. Therefore the enemies consistently looked and acted different through their respective zones. For example each enemy had a unique ability that was relevant to their type, the engineers applying a bleed on their hit. But also with unique buffs for each section of the level they were in, such as the shield generator enemies having increased health (due to their shields). The character has a rage bar, dodge, dialogue and a quest system. This was to help enhance the players experience and engagement with the gameplay through strategy, narrative and direction respectively. To see more on the design the GDD is linked below.

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Mechanic Implementation: The main focus for this project was design and documentation, despite this I tried to stick to blueprinting best practices (interfaces, event dispatchers, functions, etc.). When implementing mechanics I always ensured to test afterwards and (if available) get my peers to test and critique the mechanics. This process really helped to refine some of the mechanics and give a polished feel to the prototype.

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Level Design: When considering level design I wanted to ensure that the levels felt fluid and realistic. For this I attempted to stay away from square rooms as much as possible and tried to keep interesting shapes to look at from the top down point of view. Within the level I have three distinct areas, the engine room, shield generator and the bridge, to differentiate these narratively and visually I chose to give them distinct colours that we re relevant to their location. The layout of the level causes the player to end up at a central hub area with the choice of going down a few branching pathways. These pathways lead back to the hub without any back tracking to maximise player engagement.  I believe the player choice is important as it adds replayability to the level as well as empowering the player. When placing enemies and setting their patrol routes I tried to come up with logical, narrative reasons for each enemy placement. The same with any trap or weapon placements. See more on level design within the GDD linked below.

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