The binding light
Project Intro
Project Type: Solo Project
Genre: Puzzle – Platformer
Status: Prototype Complete
Game Intro: Use the power of mystical light orbs to power both ancient mechanisms and yourself! Reach the archtowers and find a way back home.
What i learned from this project: How to make a consistent set of 3D low poly environment assets, Designing levels that slowly introduce mechanics & controlls one by one, making a level with an evolving difficulty that tests previously learned skills.
Extra Info: All art and code are selfmade except for the charactercontroller.
Development Process & Creation
The main goal of this project was making a solid level design with an increasing level of difficulty, as well as using an existing game’s art style as reference to make a consistant line of assets for a 3D game in unity.
For the game i used a main mechanic where you have a certain amount of ‘orbs’ that you can use to power different machines found throughout the levels. This gave me a lot of freedom for level design since I could make any kind of mechanism, as long as it was able to be powered by the orbs.
During Development
During the design phase I learned a lot about how to set boundaries for the player, and about how handy it is to split the main level into smaller sections that either thought a mechanic or challenged the player to show their skill/mastery of a mechanic. In this way I first let the player run around and play with the movement, as well as letting them go through a small platforming section in a safe and foolproof zone where the player couldn’t die by falling off of the map. After introducing the base controls, I then introduce the player to the game’s main mechanic, the light orbs. They start out with a single orb which they have to use in order to power a mechanism which forms a bridge to the next part of the level.
For the rest of the level they are then further challenged with more and more complicated puzzles that they need to complete in order to progress as well as multiple light orbs that can be used to power different mechanisms at the same time.
Reference & ArtStyle
For the artstyle I used reference images from the game Monument Valley (see left image). From this I made an artbible to get a better understanding of how to apply the artstyle into the game project. I
Conclusion
As i was working on the project I could find myself struggeling the most on creating boundaries for the player, so that they were limited to exploring only one part of the map at a time. Creating the art assets went smooth as well as creating the base look for the game’s environments. Designing the puzzles took quite some thinking as they should be self explanatory as well as being on a tailored difficulty. The one thing that didn’t work out as i wanted was getting a character model I made for the game to work, as I had conflicts with the rig and animation of the base player controller I used.