The Wedding - Level Design
The original level planification
The Forest
I was trying to use the "rule of three" in my level composition. I knew I wanted a first part in the woods to subtly set up for her to live out of the city. The woods were also a good way to guide the player on a path organically and allowed me to set up a nice reveal for the castle.
I placed the small house in a way that you could clearly see it (and the collectible objective) while walking towards it and when you get out of the house, you are perfectly placed to see the castle (which is the final destination of the level).
The castle reveal as you exit the forest to enter the village
The Village
It was decided early on that the protagonist had met Blue Beard at the village's Spring festival. I had to ask myself how to make the village easy to navigate, but still feel like a really big place. I decided to make a "fake road" that was blocked by the musician and made the buildings quite tall. It was also a nice occasion to set up a second reveal and an open space, which allowed the player to feel a bit more freedom.
Petals falling down as the player turns the corner, lively music plays, foods are pilling up on tables where the player finds his next collectable.
The hardest part was to make the village/city look big without building an actual city (since the player wouldn't be visiting the whole town).
The Wedding
The final destination. I used (again) the principle of closing up the space on the player to guide him directly to the next opened area, which is the wedding scene.
The whole walk up to the wedding ceremony is made while looking at the imposing castle moving closer and closer. I tried to copy the general feel of the Disney castle without making a direct reproduction of the building. It is the tallest building of the map, and when you're standing right in front of it, it shows.
The music is elegant and joyful. It's a nobleman's wedding ! I kept the traditional wedding "look" by placing a red carpet, church-like benches left and right of the alley with flowers and (of course) a white wedding arch right in front of the castle's doors.
Please note that in the final version with all 3 levels, there is a door to the castle, it is not there in the stand-alone version.
Download Link
If you want to explore the level yourself, here is a link to download my scene.
Note
This level was made using free assets from the Unity Asset Store, ProBuilder and the following musics:
- Drink Up, There's More! (The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt OST)
- Prélude au Mariage (Le Roi et l'Oiseau OST)
