Mock up on Documentation

My mock up practice brief;

My project will be a 3^rd person Fantasy RPG game where it is driven by narrative and quests, there will be lots of vast environments to explore. I will write a project outline for one area in the game. I want the level to be immersive and have lots of exploration elements. All concept work with be produced at the beginning.

It will be specified for PC and consoles and will be created in Unreal Engine as I am most familiar with it. The audience is ages 15 upwards and will have a realistic style. The other programs I will be using are 3D Studio Max, Photoshop, Crazy Bump, World Machine and Zbrush.

There will be;

• ·        A lead character

o   The lead character will be either a male or female generic hero type character. The player can chose between dual wielding weapons, bow and arrows, mage’s staff or stealthy daggers.

o   Character no more than 30 000 tris

o   2 x 1024 x 1024 (diffuse + alpha) 32Bit

o   2 x 1024 x 1024 (specular + gloss) 32Bit

o   2 x 1024 x 1024 (normal) 24Bit

o   Weapons no more than 5000 tris

o   2 x 512 x 512 (diffuse + alpha) 32Bit

o   2 x 512 x 512 (specular + gloss) 32Bit

o   2 x 512 x 512 (normal) 24Bit

• ·        An NPC

o   The NPC will be one of the enemies. As the player traverses the environment they will encounter many different enemies. The NPC I will create will be the basic ‘undead soldier’ character, who will be one of the most common enemies.

o   Character and weapons no more than 10 000 tris

o   1 x 1024 x 1024 (diffuse + alpha) 32 bit

o   1 x 1024 x 1024 (specular + gloss) 32 bit

o   1 x 1024 x 1024 (normal) 24 bit

o   Should include 3 LOD’s

• ·        A vehicle

o   The vehicle used will be a small row boat that can be used to traverse over lakes and rivers in the environments.

o   No more than 5000 tris

o   1 x 1024 x 1024 (diffuse + alpha) 32 bit

o   1 x 1024 x 1024 (specular + gloss) 32 bit

o   1 x 1024 x 1024 (normal) 24 bit

o   Should include 3 LOD’s

• ·        An environment

o   The level will be a castle ruins in a forest by a lake, where the aim in to make it to the ruins as an ancient relic you player requires is hidden within.

o   Will consist of terrain and skybox

o   Including heightmap

o   4 x 1024 x 1024 (diffuse + alpha) 32 bit

o   4 x 1024 x 1024 (specular + gloss) 32 bit

o   4 x 1024 x 1024 (normal) 24 bit

• ·        Prop or scenery objects

o   Most of the props will be foliage and other plant life; so trees, shrubs, grasses, bushes, rocks, dirt, etc. There will also be the ruined castle which where possible will be modular, with more unique assets like statues and gargoyles.

o   All props minor props should be under 1000 tris and hero assets can go up to 5000 tris

o   Should all include 3 LOD’s

o   Each minor asset can have;

o   1 x 512 x 512 (diffuse + alpha) 32 bit

o   1 x 512 x 512 (specular + gloss) 32 bit

o   1 x 512 x 512 (normal) 24 bit

o   Each hero asset can have;

o   1 x 1024 x 1024 (diffuse + alpha) 32 bit

o   1 x 1024 x 1024 (specular + gloss) 32 bit

o   1 x 1024 x 1024 (normal) 24 bit

My personal aims for this project will be to develop my organisational skills, my understanding of UDK, my understanding of budgets, my understanding of artistic direction, creating a set of assets that harmonise to create a visually pleasing level, to practice using lighting well and also to help me understand good level design, so that the environment is easily traversed with a clear goal, while also encouraging exploration. 

Level Design

Level design, would seem somewhat different to the kind of things I would usually think about when designing something. Level design is driven by player interaction, and from my research I would say it seems to be about a harmony between game mechanics and visual design. I would also argue it is also about telling a story without using words or dialog.
I read an article (by Dan Taylor on Gamasutra) on key principles to good game level design; the main points seem to be that player interaction is what keeps the player engaged. While I strongly agree that the interaction with the game is what helps drive the narrative along, I want to discuss the importance of visual design in a level and how it strongly aids the interactions in a game (as this is what is more relevant to me.)
While key triggers and events keep the gamer excited and engaged, I feel that it requires visual cues to draw the player through the level and create a sense of flow.

One of the first points made is;
‘In most cases, the player’s core method of interaction with your level will be navigation – the process of actually traversing the level.  Careful layout, lighting, signage and other visual cues should create a natural “flow” to the level that guides the player instinctively through it.  From an aesthetic aspect, a game’s levels should all work together to create a consistent visual language, through the use of colour and form, that the player can learn, to progress intuitively through the level ‘

So after the level and interactive elements have been blocked out then the visual work must support this set up by leading the player to where they need to be and without being too obvious. It is important to still leave the player with a bit of autonomy, it would make sense to still have areas hidden from the player as to make levels replayable and encourage the player to explore and be rewarded for that. Again it would seem that it is all dependent on what type of game it is as to what level of exploration verses obvious direction there is. 
The main ways of trying to lead the player with design would be with lighting, signage and clear direction. Interestingly, I would argue that this relates very well back to the visual composition I was discussing in a past post; the way a scene is composed can strongly effect where the players interest is drawn. Trying to think about it as what is the first thing the player would see, and how will we get them to look over to where the entrance to the next area is. Similar elements like high contrast areas, arabesques and coincidences can get the player headed in the right direction.



I feel that thinking about level design in this way may help to improve upon the interactive elements in a playable level. If those elements are pivotal to the progression of narrative, then we need to visual cues to get the played to the right area at the right time.  Visuals are very important to level design.