Multiplayer Map Proposal

Time to design a multiplayer map!

Summary: Welcome to Hell, or the ninth circle to be precise. Players must battle each other in the hopes of becoming the victor in order to save their soul from eternal damnation!

• Where is it? In Hell, ala Dante's Inferno style. Players's souls are trapt in the Ninth Circle and must escape to save their souls.

• What time of year is it? It takes place in another dimension technically so it's not really easy to tell what time of the year it is.

• Who else lives here? Demons and the usual twisted abomination.

• What does the architecture look like? Very ancient looking rubble, stairs, and pillars.

• What major event happened prior to the player getting there? The Apocalypse has occurred and ravaged the Earth, which is the main reason why players have found themselves in Hell.

• Reference Images?

• Set design and props?

• Lighting and Visual Style? The lighting is going to be very ominous and dark with the occasional light from supernatural sources.

FPS Level Design Analysis

For my analysis I played the High Ground: Death Match map from Halo 3. I chose this map because I felt it was great for a basic FPS multiplayer map. It has plenty of spaces to use to the player's advantage and offers plenty of means for a player to fight back.

Game Overview

The Mechanics:

• Basic Aim, Shoot, Crouch, Jump, and Pick-Up.

Players can use a scope on their weapon to zoom in and have better aim at their target.

Players use a blue crosshair to help them locate and keep their aim properly on a target.

There are various items and weapons scattered throughout the level that players can pick up and use.

• Can Melee an opponent if you run out of ammo.
• Grenade pick-ups within the level act as secondary weapons if you run out of ammo. The player can also throw a grande and other certain pick-up items.
• Can use a scope for when you're aiming your weapon, especially if you pick up a sniper rifle.
• Player can access two types of vehicles within the level to navigate and attack with: 
• Ghost, Mongoose

• Can pick up various weapons and items scattered around the level to use against an opponent.
• There are explosive "barrels" littered around the map as well which players can use to harm an opponent or flush them out of hiding.

Players can shoot these objects which will explode after taking so much damage. Very useful if an opponent happens to station themselves near a batch.

"BOOM!"

• Can access power-ups:
• Overshield- Acts as a timed shield cover on a player.

• Active Cammo- Makes the player invisible for a period of time.

The Game:

• Halo 3 is the third, and final, game in the Halo trilogy. Players take the role of Master Chief as he takes part in the fight against the Covenant, a group of human and alien races. It's a First-Person Shooter game that features a main story campaign and various options for multiplayer rounds.

Setting:

• An old UNSC base named High Ground,  near New Mombasa on Earth in the future.

Environment: 

• The environment is both man-made and organic. You start in a UNSC base, with an additonal Bunker, and make your way outside into a nature-filled clearing. 
• Outside of the base, the playable area is surrounded with rocks, tunnels, tress, and a beach at a clearing. 
• The lighting is very warm and bright due to it taking place during the day. In the base however the lighting can be a little dark depending on where you navigate too.
• Advantages: The map gives players many opportunities to hide or ambush opponents due to the UNSC base's many rooms while the outside of the base has plenty of rocks and foliage that can be used as cover or a hiding spot.

Sections:

• Most of the portions of the map are very asymmetrical so a player needs to be aware of their surroundings.
• There are two main areas in the level map. The main area is the High Ground base. This section also includes a Bunker which players can use to hide or sneak up on another player.
•  The second area is the outside of the base where there's a bunch of trees, rocks, tunnels, and a portion of a beach.
• Some portions of the base area were good for for ambushing.
• There are two sniper nests located in the base.
• There's are two secret passages to use to move around the base.
• The largest part of the map is the outside of the base which has plenty of cover provided for the player in the form of rocks, trees, ledges, and tunnels.
• Advantages: UNSC base offers plenty of spaces to hide in or use as a means of ambush or quick navigation. It also has a few sniper nests for players to scope from. There are at least 2 hidden passages to also use, one of which is a part of the Bunker.
• The outside of the base is made of of mostly rocks, ledges, and foliage which can be used by the player as cover, for hiding, to jump on to gain footing to shoot an opponent or escape, etc.
• The map has plenty of items and weapons lying around everywhere. It also offers interaction with some of the environment. For example, players can get to a command module in the base to open it's main doors so they can ride out or into the base with a vehicle.
• Disadvantages: Due to how asymmetrical the map is, the player may have the map act against them in favor of the other player unless they know how to navigate it and use it.
• The map isn't as big as others so players may feel cornered depending on what section they're in.

Gameplay:

• The gameplay ranges from easy to difficult depending on the player's knowledge of the map. There are many places to hide to use as a vantage point to attack or ambush another player.
• Base and Bunker- Have multiple vantage points and levels players can use to attack or hide. 
• There's also a multitude of weapons and items to pick up. 
• There're a couple vehicles located in the Base as well which will give a player an advantage if they can make it to one without getting shot. 
• Two sniper nests can be found in the upper levels of the Base which can be used by the player to have the high ground advantage.
• Advantages: Many areas that players can use to ambush, hide, or attack. Plenty of weapons and items to pick up through this section.
• Disadvantages: If a player doesn't know the layout of the map it may harm their chances of winning if the other player is much more experienced playing through said map. 
• Players may find themselves cornered in a room in this section if they're not careful.
• Outside Base- Offers multiple rocks and foliage to take cover or use to jump on.
• There's a portion of ledges players can jump onto to take cover or get away from an opponent.
• There are two tunnels located on each side of this section that players can run through. In each tunnel there're multiple items/weapons to pick up and at least one tunnel has the Active Cammo power-up to use.
• Advantages: Plenty of rocks and foliage to use as cover.
• Also great for jumping on top of rocks to avoid other players.
• The ledges offer players the chance to get to higher ground and shoot at any players below them. Also leads to a power up for the Overshield.
• There are two vehicles located near the beach. Players can use them if they manage to make it to them.
• Disadvantages: The terrain outside the base may be bothersome to navigate through due to the uneven playing ground.

• Overall: The level offers a very fun gameplay experience as there's so many points in the map that players can use to their advantage and strategize their attacks.

Level Map

Racing Level HUD Preview

A preview of my HUD for the racing level! This one is the more recent version of it due to certain changes I had to make.

Programming:Destructible Part 2

Second to final part of my destructible asset. Unfortunately there appears to be issues with the trigger and the fracture material. The car can destroy the asset but the trigger doesn't seem to activate and the sound cue and particle effects connected to the fracture material seem to not be working!

Programming:Destruction Test #1

Here's the first testing for my destructible asset. It appears to have some issues when a vehicle collides with it but breaks pretty well when shot at or hit. May have to also go back and adjust the fracture material since it appears that the asset doesn't make any noises or produce any particle effects when damaged.

Programming:Destruction Inspiration

It was strangely challenging to find a good video, but I managed to find some inspiration videos for the destructible objects which will be in my level. I'd like to build a glass screen that projects scifi-esque graphics that the player can run through and break with their vehicles.

Visual References:

Programming: Exploding "Barrel"

Here's my exploding barrel project preview! Exploding robot drones, whoohoo! Anyhow, I still need to fix some issues with the smoke emitters but the explosions are bombastic at least.

Racing Level Intro Sequence

Lots of racing games have level intros that pump up a player for the inevitable race or exist to give you a mere glimpse at what your player is in for. Sometimes they're awesome, or they fall flat. Continuing with my racing level I have to look towards creating an interesting level sequence for a player. I looked for any and every type of racing game that could offer proper inspiration for this task, and believe me it's harder to one that actually has what I was looking for, and I ended up with Twisted Metal.

As far as level intros go this game has got some pretty good ones. Not only does the intro display the whole level the player will be racing in against others, but it also does a show-and-tell of what the player needs to accomplish for said level they're playing in. In my opinion it's a pretty cool way to do a level introduction sequence.

Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed also offers some cool level intros as well. They each display the "tracks" the player will race on. This is a good detail to show the player so they're better prepared for the obstacles they may face while racing and it also gives them a sense of the scale and appearance of the track which may help in their racing performance.

Racing Level: "Barrel"

We have to design an explosive object for our levels, something akin to a barrel. Since my level is based around a city being attacked by robots I thought it would be cool to create mini-robot drones that explode when the player drives near them.

The drone has a basic neutral state until the player runs into it. From there it should enter a damage state where it starts to spark and smoke. After taking enough damage the drone will explode and break into pieces.

Racing Isometric Map

The final isometric design for my level map!

Racing Level- PrePro/Research

For this semester's Game Design class we're moving onto developing an actual playable racing level based off of the theme most voted for by each of our classes, which we will then also have to develop and program live stunts into them. In my case, the class I'm in chose "Pinball" as our theme and I am excited!

The Research: Here are some videos I looked to for some inspiration in designing the initial stunts.

• Grand Theft Auto V, Car Stunt Montage
• Hot Wheels World Record Stunt Jump
• Gone In 60 Seconds End Jump (6:36-7:12)

The Level Theme: Scifi/Robots.

• The level will initially look like a pinball machine, just with a lot of retro robots and the occasional science fiction piece here and there.

• The level will be lit by various neon lights produced by the pinball level's constructs.

Look at those lights!

• The color scheme will be as basic as can be since I'm going retro.
• I feel going with CS 2 here would be more preferable. Bright reds, oranges, blues and purples are major in scifi.

CS1

CS2

Concept Statement and Story: "Race or be Replaced!"

• The story of my level is of course going to be loony being that it revolves around retro scifi and pinball.
• "Mankind has been taken over by evil robots! Having defeated the human race the new robot overlords have decided to use humans as guinea pigs by shrinking them down and forcing them to race in absurd pinball styled tracks set up in their labs. Will some human rise to the challenge and beat their games? Or is humanity doomed?!....DUN DUN DUN"

Inspirations:

Retro Robots

They look cute now....

Cylons from Battlestar. They still have that old scifi look about them that's so great.

Robot Pinball anyone?

More simple yet stylish robots. I feel designing the level to look retro scifi will make the time to to the 3D assets easier since it would be possible to make a lot of simple, low poly models. The textures are what will make the models really stand out!

Another pinball inspiration.

The Stunts:

• "Don't Miss" Long Ramp Jump

      Players will come to a ramp they must jump across to get to the other side of the track. In order to do so the player will activate a boost pad which will increase their vehicle's speed to jump to the other ramp. However, the ramp the player must land on does not stay stationary. It periodically moves up and down so if the jump doesn't have enough of a boost kick then the player may not make the jump.

• "Pyro Bumpers"

      The players will face numerous giant robot bumpers when they reach the last area in the track. These bumpers may range in size but are identical. Watch out though as they will open their mouths and shoot the player with a horrendous burst of fire if triggered.

The player activates a hidden trigger near the bumper if they get close enough.

When the trigger is activated the bumper opens its "mouth" and lets loose a torrent of flame.

• "Slammer!"

      Besides also acting as a landmark, this colossal robot is a major obstacle which the player must pass to get to the ramp jump and bumper area to finish the race.

The player will activate a hidden trigger which will start the robots "SLAMMING" mechanism. Once this begins the player must time their run accordingly.

If the player is hit then it's GAME OVER MAN!

The Initial Map:

• Here you can see the various obstacles and appearance of the track. 
• The major landmarks for this level will be the two titanic Robots.
• Very blocky, simple, and glowy.
• Curvy with a wide track space for the vehicle to move through.