So this week I have been working on our level drawing and I must say it’s a lot of fun! Now I know that unfortunately you can’t make out everything that’s on the map, but for those of you with keen eyes, I can quickly explain what the different colors in the drawing means.
The way we create our level is through color coding, this means that for us to create the level we draw out different colors and each different color code represents an object. A few examples of the most obvious ones in this drawing would be yellow, brown and lightblue. Each pixel that has yellow drawn on it will represent a wall, each pixel with brown will represent floor and each pixel with lightblue will be bathroom floor.
Some of the less visible ones are red for patrolling guards and light purple for stationary guards, there is also different varieties of green representing hiding spots in different angles. Some of the things that we are still missing in this level drawing would be filler objects with no particular function but that will fill out the level and make it look better.
So, about the level design itself: The player will start in the top left bathroom (this will probably be flipped upside down, making the player work his way up the level instead of down) where he/she will be briefly introduced to the game. This starting area is made so that the player is quickly shown all (or atleast most of) the mechanics in the game. The bathroom has a wall separating the position of the player and the first guard which will be turned towards a urinal. When the player moves he will have no choice but to move towards the first door, this door however will be locked, forcing the player to seek out a way to get around this first obstacle. At this point you will notice a guard with its back turned towards you, when you have killed the guard you will receive a keycard enabling you to unlock the first door. Immediately after leaving the bathroom there will be a stationary guard scanning up and down the hallway, the only way to get past the guard is by using the conveniently placed hiding spot right across the hallway from the guards position. The controls will also be explained in a subtle way which is too early to be writing about now, since we are not yet entirely decided on how it will be presented.
After the first area the player reaches a hub-like area where three choices of paths will be presented to the player. There is the left path, which will take the player on a slightly longer, but not as security heavy area leading up to the main office (or objective room, currently placed at the bottom). The right path will be a slightly shorter path to the objective room and will eventually place you in a hallway between the exit and the objective room, the right area will also have slightly more tricky guard patterns than the left path. And lastly there is the middle path which will be the shortest and most direct route, but nearly impossible to get through due to security. The way these choices will be presented in the hub area are: The door leading to the left path has no guards around it and will be unlocked. The door leading right will be locked but still has no guards around it. And lastly the door taking the player down the middle area will be heavily guarded and with a locked door.
All this is made so that the player has a choice of play style, and since we have a time-based score system the player would have to choose (after having tried a couple of games) which path will be the most time efficient to the way he/she likes to play.
That’s it for this weeks post, I hope it’s in some way helpful or at least interesting to whoever ends up reading it. I also hope that it wasn’t long enough to boor you!