Introduction - Details
___________________________________________
___________________________________________
This level was made for a level design test. I needed to make a 2D level using Unity's 2D Game Kit. The theme was to make a temple level, I had one week. They wanted 3 scenes : Gym, Greybox and First Viewable.
• Solo project
• Unity 2D Game Kit
• Procreate
Unity's 2D Game Kit
Pre-Production
___________________________________________
___________________________________________
To make sure I understood correctly what a 2D platformer level was, I played a few of them before documenting everything. I grabbed my switch, played some Metroid, some Mario and Sonic games.
Then, I played a bit with the 2D Game Kit to find what can I do with this game.
This game was about solving puzzles and retrieving treasures. So, I found two games with the same structure, in 2D : Lucky Luke : Wanted ! on GBA, and Tomb Raider on the Game Boy Color. I found the Lucky Luke game to be really frustrating, and to give me exemples of things to not do. On the contrary, the Tomb Raider game was really well done and also very impressive. This is an exemple of my conclusion : Giving the player a lots of keys and objective at the same time is confusing, and not really fun. If the player have one key, one door, one obstacle at the time, the experience is more pleasant. Of course, having multiple keys and door is possible, but in a 2d game with a small screen, it's not a good experience. Even in 3D, the experience can be confusing with a lot of things to remember.
Then, I played a bit with the 2D Game Kit to find what can I do with this game.
This game was about solving puzzles and retrieving treasures. So, I found two games with the same structure, in 2D : Lucky Luke : Wanted ! on GBA, and Tomb Raider on the Game Boy Color. I found the Lucky Luke game to be really frustrating, and to give me exemples of things to not do. On the contrary, the Tomb Raider game was really well done and also very impressive. This is an exemple of my conclusion : Giving the player a lots of keys and objective at the same time is confusing, and not really fun. If the player have one key, one door, one obstacle at the time, the experience is more pleasant. Of course, having multiple keys and door is possible, but in a 2d game with a small screen, it's not a good experience. Even in 3D, the experience can be confusing with a lot of things to remember.
Note : My document can be found at the end of the page, it's more complete. I'll translate it roughly in English, the original version is in French.
For the secrets, I studied Donkey Kong Country 2. Here's my result : The game use a lot of way to hide them. For exemple, the camera can hide it on the left at the start of the level, because the player will look on the right. Also, it can use some advanced techniques to get more jump distance. There are other way to hide them present in the game but this is what I used for my level.
Production
___________________________________________
___________________________________________
After all my research have been done and documented, I started making the Gym Room :
I listed on procreate every move that needed to be in the document and I made it in Unity, using 2D cubes with low opacity and different colors.
I listed on procreate every move that needed to be in the document and I made it in Unity, using 2D cubes with low opacity and different colors.
Here's the result of the Gym Room, based on the Unity default grid.
Then, using Procreate, I started a drawing of my level, with the intention of making the player get 3 keys in order to open a door he sees in the beggining. I wanted to use multiple environnement, and to make a non linear level : When the player gets inside the temple, he can get any keys he want, because he will always come back to the middle. Here's the drawing of the map using procreate.
Reflecting on that, I should've made a second version of this drawing using a grid and the metrics of my gym room. My first drawing was fine working alone, but if I worked in a team it won't be efficient.
Reflecting on that, I should've made a second version of this drawing using a grid and the metrics of my gym room. My first drawing was fine working alone, but if I worked in a team it won't be efficient.
When my drawing was done, I started the greyboxing. They asked to use probuilder, but this was made for 3D, so the level was a little weird with the 3d asset and not accurate using the grid. Here's the result :
The greyboxing made me script everything, the diamond asset that I had, the dialogues, the boss trigger ect...
Furthermore, I used the greybox level to make early playtest of the level, so it was useful. My level was well received, but I modified the right of the map due to feedbacks. I added some platforms to indicate to the player it is safe to go down. This also allows him to go back up if he wants to.
Furthermore, I used the greybox level to make early playtest of the level, so it was useful. My level was well received, but I modified the right of the map due to feedbacks. I added some platforms to indicate to the player it is safe to go down. This also allows him to go back up if he wants to.
There is 3 secrets treasure inside my map. The first one is hidden by the camera because the moving platform is slow, the player just need to wait if he wants it. The second one need advanced parkour and the third one is a little puzzle. To make the player life easier, he can see were the second and third puzzle are just by moving inside the level, he just needs to figure out how he can obtain them.
If you want to see the result, the video of the level is on the beggining of the page !
If you want to see the result, the video of the level is on the beggining of the page !
When all the playtest were conclusive, I started making the first viewable. It was much faster and much easier, as I was using the tileset editor. The issue was, because the greybox was in 3D, i needed to remake all my jumps section, the metrics were not accurate anymore.
I also made the background and decoration, to make the level feels more alive. Here's the result :
