Extended Practice: Creating the Mock Up Environment and Initial Testing

I then moved onto creating a more detail mock up environment for my own game level that I could use throughout the creation of the final level to ensure that it works as planned, and so that I could test how the character is going to move around the level effectively. This was a great test as I could get a feel of how the level is going to pan out and the overall size once completed and tested. 

I started by using the basic environment layout that I had already used and ensured that I added enough detail into each of the rooms to get an idea about where things where going to be going and what assets where going in each room.

I added in holes into the floor to create obstacles for the character to jump over and avoid and ensured that I started creating walls around them as well. I worked methodically throughout and pretty much created the rooms first, designing where the assets are going to go and what was generally in each room and then worked on the corridors and staircases after.

Creating the rooms with the pits in proved difficult as at this stage I didn't know how far the character would be able to jump and how it would work, so I added them in where I thought would be a good place for now and then would fix any issues later on.

After creating most of the room layouts I started to add in some extra features as I moved further into the completion of the level. I started adding in blocks where doors and traps where going to feature and also added in blocks for where the torches and light sources where going to be.

I then coloured them accordingly, making the doors green, traps orange and torches red, the same as my initial key that I created for the final layout of the level. I ensured that I tried to keep them similar colours so that it became obvious when looking at them that they where the same thing.

Once the level had been completed I decided that now was the time to take it into Unity and get a third person camera in there to test that the jumps where possible and the coridors weren't too narrow for the character to get down. For this, as I had not created my character yet in Maya, I used the pre-set third person controller that comes with Unity Pro and set him up to be the same size that Keith is going to be in the final level.

This was a very useful exercise as I learned that some elements in my environment were too long and the character struggled to get over the jumps, things that I can alter now that I have tried and tested the level.

I then recorded the first playthrough of the video showing the elements of jumping and platforming, but when playing through there were some elements that did need changing so that the player can actually progress in the level.

The first problems that I had where that I couldn't get over some of the platforms in the pit rooms, which I did expect would happen as it was hard to image how high the player can jump in the creation of the level. This was a fairly quick fix, just making the lower or higher where appropriate

The next thing I changed was where I had pits in the corridors, these where positioned too close together meaning that I couldn't jump over with ease, this was resolved by moving them further apart so that it flowed smoothly.

The last thing was that the orange squares where too long, these represent the spike traps, and the player just couldn't jump that far. This again was an easy fix that just involved making it slightly narrower so the player can jump over with ease.

I then created this final walkthrough video, again as a test to ensure that game was playable, which is was, although there were a lot of falls that occurred while recording, and I also added in the ceilings into this part as well to ensure that they where high enough in all situations, which they where, and so that it became smaller and the player didn't know how long the level was, making the level seem longer.

I then finally went through the level and adding in coloured blocks for where the energy cans are going to be along with the collectibles. This was a good way of looking at positioning them as I could see the entire map, and see if the place I had decided to put them was indeed the correct place, and in most cases it was.

Doing this test overall was such a huge help in the creation of the environment, but I do feel that the level is still slight too big. The playthroughs that I have been doing take about 5 minutes, but that is without all of the exploration that needs to happen. This may be alright in the end, as it creates a more detailed environment that people want to explore but I have to make sure it isn't going to take too long so people get bored of it.