Recommended
More Related Content
Viewers also liked
Viewers also liked (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
Drill Game Design Doc Q&A
- 1. Alex Clark
- 2. Gameplay / Core Loop
- 4. Level Design
Editor's Notes
- Hello George and Mark, my name’s Alex and I’m going to be talking to you about the game I have been designing for my BA4 project; Tales of Yellore. The game is a quest based 2D game for Mobile / Tablet platforms aimed at ages 8+, telling the story of a young man that inherits a Mining company in the town of Yellore, a fantasy steampunk styled town in the middle of the desert, and how he becomes a huge name in the, also fantasy, Steam Mining business.
- I decided to start with the Core Loop of the game that George knows I am trying to create for my Prototype. The image you can see on screen shows the first rough level design of the game, but it illustrates how the game works very well. Basically players take control of the green drill on the left and have to race the opponent on the right, which can be either a Computer Opponent or the AI. Players then race the opponent from the surface to the diamond at the bottom, representing the goal of the mission, while avoiding various hazards like harder ground, water pipes, rocks, mines and lava. What’s interesting is that players can’t see their opponent on screen unless they come close enough together. For most of the race players don’t know if they are winning or not, add that to the audio of the level and the constant decision making between two different ways around obstacles, players have a lot going through their minds as they complete each mission.
- Secondly I want to talk to you about the Backstory of the game. Players take control of this guy, whose name is decided by the player when they start playing. A determined character with a huge drive to make the most out of the company that has been left to him by his great grandfather and show the world that he can make it in the small desert town of Yellore. You are then introduced to the other characters of the game who teach you how to play by putting you through a sample job from the Mayor, a test that all new company owners must pass in order to take jobs from the quest givers in the game, and then taught how to customise a Steam Mining Machine with Dalia and Levi by showing the player the interface and giving them two parts for each category to make a drill. So 2 cockpits to choose from, 2 thrusters, 2 drill bits etc. Players then take jobs from 1 of 3 characters, each representing a different storyline in the game and presenting the player with different challenges depending on who is issuing the job. The quest givers, as I have named them, in the game are Sir Edgar, the mayor of Yellore, Davis Sawyer the town Jeweller and Jonathon Bartley the local archaeologist. As players complete these jobs they earn money to use to customise their Steam Mining Machine and unlock new jobs from that person.
- Third and finally I wanted to talk to you about the level design of the prototype I am making. Currently on screen there are two screenshots of the prototype so far. The image on the left illustrates how much each player can see as they play the game and how the player relates in size to the rest of the game. The screen on the left shows the level design as a whole, from the surface to the bottom where the diamond will be situated. As you can see hitting the harder ground is inevitable, and since there is more hard ground on the side of Player 1 there are more Hazards on the side of Player 2 to balance that out. The striped ground represents the harder ground which reduces the players speed by half on contact, so players have to look for where this ground is its thinnest. Rocks are unbreakable and just bounce the player backwards, just like the bedrock to the sides of the map but cause no damage. The Water Pipes break on contact, don’t bounce the player back but they do cause damage to the player or opponent. Mines explode on contact, dealing damage and making the player bounce back, and finally Lava is an instant kill for the player. What you can’t see here, which is something that I haven’t planned on adding into my Prototype but I will if time allows me to, is a Boost Pad that speeds the player up for a short time, and collectible gems that increase the players money instantly. This means that the player can earn money from a job even if they don’t succeed in completing it.
- Lastly, since we have some time I wanted to talk to you about a feature that won’t be included in my Prototype but is a big part of my game, customising a Steam Mining Machine. Players can choose any combination of 5 different parts, one from each category, as long as they can afford to buy them from the shop. Each part changes the overall stats of the machine respectively. On screen you can see a Blueprint design I have done that splits up the drill I have made for Player 1 and shows you which part is which and how they interact with each other. I tried to make things as possible as I could, even though it is a very fantasy based game, which is why the colours of the flames from the thrusters is based on the element being burned inside. For example, Copper burns green and Cerium burns blue.
- Thank you for listening, do any of you have any Questions?