Level Design Blog

  A lot of Progress has been made since my last update, and I unfortunately didn't get in as many screenshots before the artists came in on this level and did the lighting/skybox/environmental feel. Need to readjust the paths since this, but I can still point out what's been added. Changed intent for player to have free reign to explore each fort, to making them more ordered with a "linear" path. So now Farmadillo is split into 2 halves by the river. The first half contains the tutorial area and fort, the 2nd fort, and 2 main puzzle areas. In the first tutorial area on the left, we decided the bowl didn't fit well with the desire to create a framing moment. So instead we raised the land to make a big ramp to create this moment. Better view of the land ramp in this picture Adjusted tutorial area some as well. Firstly closed it off with Fencing to make it a safer area for the player, and also added an opening in the fencing to reach the 2nd spot in the tutorial area...

 Added some materials and textures to the landscape material to officially lay out the path the player must take. Also added an official water plugin to make it feel more real as an in-world reason for the bridge: Also started adding trees to the exterior to block the player from wandering off the beaten path. Attempted to use the foliage tool at first for this, but found it was too temperamental with the landscape tool and the trees were all point4ed in wacky directions. Was working again on using a water texture for the first major fighting area: Lastly have been working on trying to break up the bridge in a couple of ways, so it's not simply a straight path for the player to walk back on:

 Already made a good amount of progress on this project. I added a Landscape tool and attempted to create the look of a bridge on the side of a mountain. I used some shapes to outline the path. Here's a view without those pieces: A particular challenge to this level, is the idea I had of the player coming back over the bridge, after being denied entrance initially. Here's how I had it drawn in my LDD: So the challenge is breaking up the bridge and ensuring it's not just a long trek back to the gate. Here's one section I have where part of the bridge has fallen out, and the player must use some platforming to get across. Here is a quick glimpse into the inside of the Temple where you can loot the special item there: And this is the drawbridge I have that you see at the beginning and are finally able to lower:

 Added more farm buildings to the Dillo Farmland level, like the Barns, houses, and Silos.  Also added some elevation to the level to break it up and make it less flat. It can be hard to convey to the artists, the correct meaning of substitute objects on hills like the green block, which should be crops.   Also was attempting to apply some LD blockout principles, by using leading lines to even more point out the correct path, along with the conveyance shown by the broken fence.