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ROLES ON PROJECT
- LEVEL DESIGNER / GAME DESIGNER / CCC DESIGNER -
- SCRIPTING -
PolaCool is a game project created in my introductory class for the Unreal Engine 4 (Utilisation de moteurs de jeux vidéo) at l'UQAT.
In the image below, we can see the path that our protagonist, PolaCool, will need to traverse to complete the level.
For this project, I was initially in charge of the game design and the prototype with Alexandre Isidorio. We thus made the game design and the initial programming for the game before the rest of the team jumped in and helped us make this fun concept a reality. When the rest of the team joined us, I was then in charge of the level design with help from Jean-Christophe Deshaie-Lévesque and I worked in close collaboration with the level artists, Marianne Kake, Mahé Truffert and Tristan Charrest to ensure the completion of the levels. Before starting the level design, I made sure to well define the different Metrics that we would all need to follow. As this was a project with more than one people that would do the level design, this step was crucial so that we would be working cohesively.
I’ve learned immensely on the various ways that could be used to direct the players in a 3D environment that is not entirely linear during this project. In this context, it is crucial that the player does not get lost and that he understands his objective. This occurs in part with how the level design itself is created, although the art choices then used by the level artists are also crucial, thus the importance of level designers and level artists to co-work in symbiosis.
Here is a video that showcases the final result of our project.
The main difficulty and the great experience I got from this collaboration was to learn to work in tandem with the level artists. It is always important to keep in mind the different gameplay elements and how they affect the pleasure of the player, while also trying to make the level as beautiful as possible, for this to has a huge impact on the pleasure the player will gain from the level. It is not always easy to coordinate efficiently between level designers and level artists, but it is of utmost importance if we want to minimize the time lost from having to redo certain steps.
The last section of the level is more open than the others. My biggest challenge while designing this part was to give multiple paths to the player, but do so without making him get lost. We succeeded to guide the player correctly by implementing a color system that defines the different paths. Thus, if the player takes and follows the pink, green or yellow path, he will reach the end. It is also the level that offers the most exploration.
Also, the game was created during the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 crisis. Even though we all worked from our respective homes, we were able to quickly adapt and work in close collaboration. This was an enriching experience and the final result shows that we were able to quickly and aptly adapt to teleworking.
If I had to continue and improve the project, I would add collectibles in the game. This would help to give the player a reason to explore our levels and discover all the different corners of our levels. It is in my opinion, one of the main problems with our game: there simply are not enough rewards for the player who explores.
There is also a pretty major bug when the character is moving along the splines. This bug is not very apparent because I have devoted a lot of time to hiding it with my level design. This was a major constraint while I was doing my level design, for I needed to make sure that whatever I did would not trigger the bug. I thus had to eliminate some sections that did not work because of this and redo more than one small part. If we were to continue this project, we would firstly need to get rid of this bug.
I would love to get your feedbacks on this project, so please do not hesitate to comment!
