Platformer Level

Thwomp

First pretty intense challenge in my Programming for Artists Class. I had to create a knockoff thwomp opponent that shakes the camera when it impacts the ground, and animate it with eyebrows and changing eye color. This was definitely a lot to learn, but it was definitely a great opportunity to learn about class blueprints, and numerous components that Unreal Blueprints have to offer. It took a bit of getting use to, math is something I excelled in during my K12 years. However it is not something I have used in a while, and I have never used it in art so I have to say that this is a pretty interesting way about things. Besides it's not completely math based, and it is a visual platform where you can see the code in a thread as it is working.

Platformer Level Proposal "The Cave of Burning Balls"

In my Game Design II Class we are in the process of creating our own platform games. I invested quite a bit of time into creating the Level itself to where I fell a little flat when it came to the levels title. Since my map has burning ball obstacles in it, and I kinda wanted to give it a cave theme I decided to just call it "The Cave of Burning Balls". Essentially it consists of 3 small tutorial phases, each of the 3 introducing a new obstacle to the player on its own. The first introduces spikes, and moving platforms, the second introduces the burning balls, and the third introduces falling platforms. The fourth and final stage wraps all of it together with one last whack at all three obstacles in the same level. All of the levels have a similar component, the player cannot activate the portal to the next level until they obtain a colored coin that activates the portal.

2D Platformer Analysis

I began a thorough breakdown and analysis of a 2D platform game in order to plan ahead for a future project.
The game "Ditto" is a fantastic example of tutorial levels that don't spoon feed the player. The level layouts are simple, not giving much of anything for the player to get confused with or mistaken for. The pacing is slow and steady, but not boring because  the player is curious about the key element of the game. The shadow reflection of the character conjures up questions like "What is this?" "Can I touch it?" "What can it do?". It is a puzzle platformer, so the obstacles in the game are for the player to maneuver through the caves without injuring themselves or the shadow reflection. The tutorial kicks it up a notch in Tutorial Phase 3, exposing the player to obstacles that will cause them to respawn at the beginning of the space if they land on them. Later on past the tutorial phase the harmful objects become more complex, but it gives the player the taste of danger without ruining the surprise of what awaits them in further levels. Players get a pleasant feeling when they obtain green or black gems throughout the levels, whereas if the player falls too far, gets hurt, or the same fates happen to the shadow the player has to hear the character almost give a ghostly whimper of pain before watching them vanish. Then they are placed back at the start.

After breaking down the game into it's basic components I went into Adobe Illustrator and laid out the maps that made up the Tutorial phase in the game.