Fern Griffiths

Though the majority of this week was dedicated to getting the level ready for the final package and submission I started the week by addressing the final peace of feedback from the last playsession, adding in an additional side path to the beginning of the level.

From the playsession feedback a lot of players were intrigued by the destroyed ruins on the otherside of the river and wanted to be able to explore them so I added a platforming and climbing path to this side of the river with a collectable as a reward for doing so.  I left this as the final task as though it was something that came up in the playtesting it wasn’t the most important thing that came out of playtesting session and was more of a nice extra than a critical part of the level.

Since I has some time at the beginning of the week I decided to add it in as a fun little optional exploration area. Adding in this section also provides an additional area for players to be able to master the climbing mechanics as it’s a safe area free from enemy AI. It also introduces the idea of jumping across chasms before they reach the larger, more risky crossings later on in the level (fig 1 -3).

I then moved on to finishing the smaller jobs I had left before I took the level to the final play session. I continued adding colliders around the edges of the playable spaces to prevent players from getting stuck in areas they shouldn’t be able to enter and added an ambience waterfall looping (Nox_Sound) sound effects to the waterfall areas of the map.

The final playtesting session went really well but I realised that if a player trys to complete the lumber yard combat section in complete stealth there is a stronger chance of them being spotted as they climb up the cliff face and that the end of the climbing section with the overhang wasn’t as fluid as it could be. The view of the temple, which acts as the guiding landmark had also become obstructed by the foliage and needed to be added back in.

I changed up the climbing section to prevent the player from beign spotted as they climb up the left side of the wall and exstended the hight of theis section so that the temple was once again visible over the trees.  I used the climbing path to reposition the player so they approach the jump point from the side, framing the view of the temple so it is directly infront of them. I then updated the placement of the foliage so that the temple is nicely framed in the distance (fig 4 – 7).

Changing the height of this climbing also meant I had to raise the section across the river that the player jumps onto as the fall damage at the original height instantly killed the player.  By raising this section the temple is also nicely framed in the players view. Peaking over the trees one last time before the player losses sight of it as they get closer to it (fig 8 – 9). Making these changes meant I was able to ensure that each view of the temple had impact and worth. Through out the whole level, every time the player sees the temple they are presented with a view that is both closer up and from a different angle helping them to cement this key landmark in their mind and build their cognative map around it.

With the last of the changes completed the final few days were spent recording a fly through (fig 10) and playthrough of the level (fig 11) for my final presentation and packaging the level up for submission.

“The healthy human mind doesn’t wake up in the morning thinking this is its last day on Earth. But I think that’s a luxury, not a curse. To know you’re close to the end is a kind of freedom. Good time to take… inventory.”
Captain Price – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

References:

NOX_SOUND. “Ambiance Waterfall Loop” Freesounds [Sound effect] Available at: https://freesound.org/people/Nox_Sound/ [Accessed 23rd August 2022].

Figures:

Figure 1: Screengrab from Jungle level blockout

Figure 2: Screengrab from Jungle level blockout

Figure 3: Screengrab from Jungle level blockout

Figure 4: Screengrab from Jungle level blockout

Figure 5: Screengrab from Jungle level blockout

Figure 6: Screengrab from Jungle level blockout

Figure 7: Screengrab from Jungle level blockout

Figure 8: Screengrab from Jungle level blockout

Figure 9: Screengrab from Jungle level blockout

Figure 10: Video of level flythrough

Figure 11: Video of level playthrough