University Work - Level Design
Updated: Jun 28, 2023
This was an exercise where we had to create the beginning of a level using Unity's '3D Game Kit'.
Quick made up game cover
Documentation -> GDD ULTRA ANNIHILATOR 17
Initial sketch of the level.
10x10 meters as suggested is way too small to do this level, so I’m going to do something bigger, not very big, but just enough to be able to implement the main parts of it.
Also, now that I have the 3D Game Kit, I can see I’m going to have some limitations, so I’m going to have to change the layout as I experiment with the Prefabs that come with the kit.
Blockout
After doing the blockout and doing some tests, I’ve had an idea. I decided to change the design of the level by adding a hidden access to the second room that the player will only see if they turn around, and try to scare the player as soon as they get into the second room if they don’t use the hidden path.
Added the platforms to access the hidden path. I was having problems adding enemies, but after a bit of research it’s all fine, so let’s test the combat. First proper blockout test.
To make the combat more interesting I’m going to increase the life of all the enemies from 1 to 3.
I want to get the gameplay right, not too difficult nor too easy. I also want the players to lose a bit of life in every combat, there should be a certain level of threat to keep the player interested and excited and also give them a reason to use the Health boxes that I'll add later on.
Enemies seem to go through walls when you hit them despite the mesh collider. I’m going to add some additional box colliders, see if that makes any difference.
A bit better, but still happening. Don’t know what else I can do about this. Maybe I’ll ask in the next class. Otherwise, it’s pretty easy, so I’m going to increase the life of the enemies a bit more (from 3 to 4) and add a few more of them.
This is the final placement of the enemies:
I found that having a few melee enemies to keep you busy while a few of the ranged ones attack you ends harming you but is still fairly easy to kill. In one way or another, you always get hit a few times in the chaos of the battle. This creates a reasonable sense of danger but without punishing too much. Suitable for a level one I think. So yeah, the Dark Demon Squadrons of Death have been born (lol) and they go in groups of five, three melee and two ranged ones.
Unfortunately the enemies are very slow to attack and make a lot of noise when doing so, so when the player gets into the second room finding the enemies behind you it is not so impactful. I’ve tried to increase their speed value exponentially but they still move at the same speed for some strange reason. So I don’t think I’m going to manage to scare the players coming into the second room, but anyway, at least they’ll get the surprise.
Now is time to add the items and other props. I added 3 boxes representing the Arcade Machines, a bunch barrels and 2 Health Boxes.
Version 0.1
I scaled down the size of the Health Boxes. Initially I was afraid they would stop working due to the scaling, but they still do their job perfectly. They had some annoying particle effect looming above them that made the hidden one on the platform very easy to spot, so I got rid of that.
Extra Colour and Shape Language Research
Now that I’m about to start with the lighting and then the texturing and I have a more clear idea of the style I’m going to go for, I’m going to do a bit more of environment research to get some extra inspiration and ideas for the level in terms of the environment and interior design.
Lighting
OK, initially I had some idea of what I wanted, but then I discovered that whenever the character attacks, the staff she uses creates light and illuminates the entire scene, that gave me a better idea. What if the player had to illuminate the places using their attack? Using very few but strategically placed lights and some neons to guide the player, this could create a really dark atmosphere.
Initially I had a lot of problems trying to make the whole thing completely dark as there’s many lights and systems activated on the scene that were creating some kind of illumination, but with the help of the lecturer I managed to get rid of all the unwanted lights. Then after adding some of my own, and removing the annoying particles from the Health Boxes this is the result.
Version 0.1.5
I quite like the idea, and after adding some neons, this could look pretty cool. The problem is going to be the texturing. I’m going to have to use some kind of light that is similar to the one created by the player’s attacks so I can create the textures and see how it looks and then test it with the character.
Texturing
I decided to go for 512x512 size for the textures. 256 doesn’t have much resolution while 1024 it’s a bit too much I think for this type of game.
Let’s start with the floor. Since the floor tiles are going to be small and it’s going to be pretty dark, I don’t think I need to do super detailed textures, I’ll start with something simple, and I’ll add more detail if needed.
Texture and Bump Map
Since the floor is supposed to be dirty, I just added some “dirt” to the texture and the Bump Map should do the rest.
I added the texture in Maya and then I exported to Unity. Unfortunately once exported the Bump Map didn’t work. After a frustrating fight with Unity and it’s texturing system, I found out that Unity allows you to convert grayscale Bump Maps into RGB Normal maps, sorted! The result:
Now the lower wall textures.
Texture, Emission Map and Bump Map
With this I went for a brush metal effect with the neon light along it. I also added some panels like Bump Map effect, plus the Emission Map to make the neon self lit.
The texturing was quite annoying, as Maya was not assigning the UVs properly, so I had to do all UVs from each wall manually. Once I finished I tested without activating the tiling. Because the corridors are quite long, the textures appeared really stretched creating a really nice and smooth but subtle look on the wall. Loved it straight away, so I decided to leave it like that.
Since the upper walls are going to get much less attention, and the ceiling none at all, I decided to reuse the metal brush texture, but without the neon light and no Bump Maps. If it looks too boring I may add more detail later.
The result:
Was too colourful, so I made it darker. I also changed the lower walls Bump Map and lowered the ceiling a little bit.
New Bump Map for the Lower Walls
All together looks like this:
Version 0.2
The upper walls look dull, but right now I rather do the whole thing first and then pollish and embellish at the end.
Doors and Pressure Pads
Back to my very first sketch of the level I realized I’ve included a pressure pad and a door, and completely forgot about it. Shame on me! Anyway, the layout has changed considerably with the blocking out, but I decided to add two of them, one for each room.
Since the doors have a triangle of light that can be seen in the darkness, I removed the lights above the doors as they were no longer needed anymore for the player to spot where to go.
I also realized that the Health Box on the second room ground floor didn't have the light above it to highlight it and to make sure the player misses the enemies hidden on the left hand side when entering the second room. So I fixed that and did some minor changes (aka moving and removing some barrels). The result:
Version 0.2.5
Assets Exporting
OK, let’s start with the platforms, as right now, they are very hard to see and jump on as they don’t have their neon lights on.
Platforms
Texturing:
Using the same brush metal texture. Looks pretty non-exciting, but in the dark environment should be OK. Maybe I could make the texture more interesting or add some Bump Maps to it... I’ll leave that for the embellishment phase at the end. Let’s get things done first to a decent standard first.
Second and third platforms
Barrel
The barrel was easy, a cylinder and a bunch of bevels.
When texturing I had to add more neon details than what I had in my original design as in the darkness you could see very little of it. I also changed the original color to orange to add a bit of variety in terms of colour. Took the inspiration from my reference board.
Textured and in the scene
The Arcade
OK, we are getting to the exciting part, or the more complicated one.
I wanted it to be realistic in terms of proportions so I used one of the rigged characters that come with Maya to get the lengths right. It took me quite a while to find out the way to move the bloody character, but I managed at the end.
I decided to add some extra details on the sides and the back compared with the initial design I did in ProBuilder, as with Maya I can do fancier things.
Nearly there
I had a copy of the model without the bevel, but Maya didn’t seem to be interested in saving it, because I don’t recall deleting it and it’s not there anymore. Anyway, that means I’ll have to work with the beveled model. Final model with cleaned mesh and last bits added.
Now texturing.
This is going to be the texture for the screens lol
For the base:
Texture and Emission Map
For the Arcade itself I did a first a UV capture with Maya and then did the texture with Photoshop:
Texture and Emission Map
UVs
You can see I reused the textures for different parts of the Arcade. And on the right middle side, I have all the UVs that don't need any neon.
Textured Arcade
There’s a weird effect on the bottom of the base, and I can’t find out why. I’ve tried changing the hardness of the edges, but it doesn’t work. Luckily it doesn’t transfer into Unity.
I think I added too much detail in the modeling, most of the bevels where unnecessary. I think I got a bit too enthusiastic when adding details. I should have tested it before beveling it, and unfortunately I lost my non beveled version. Anyway, lesson learned.
Back to Unity the colour of the neons looked boring as the background and the general lighting is of the same colour, so I decided to change it. After trying a few options, back to my reference board I found the solution, a sexy orange :)
3D Game Kit Props
Annoyed to see the stone and moss textures of the Game Kit props, I decided to replace them with something a bit more suitable.
I left the Normal Map that comes with the door as a Bump Map and I used it as a reference to create the emission map. Then I applied a slightly changed version of the Upper Wall’s texture (rotate it 90 degrees and made it a bit more blueish). I have to say, it looks pretty cool, it was meant to be a temporal fix, but I may leave it like that, the Health Box needs changing late.
New texture for the upper walls
The upper walls texture looks boring compared with the lower walls one.
Texture and BumpMap
I made the brush metal effect for subtle, added some dirt and the Bump Map. The result:
Now that looks much better. I’m pretty happy with how it’s looking so far.
Version 0.3
Neon Lamp
OK, I need a neon lamp for my lights. Something simple as this is the kind of thing that is there to be ignored, but adds to the atmosphere when present.
The 5 Ws
Who made this and who is it for?
A company that makes lights for industrial purposes and sells them to many companies and organizations.
What does this do?
Illuminates.
Where would you find this?
Everywhere where there’s electricity.
When was it made?
Some time in a far and dark future...
Why was it made?
To illuminate.
How was it made?
It was mass produced in a factory with immigrants used as slave workforce.
Reference Board
Well, there’s nothing really to highlight in terms of shape language that stands out apart from all being long and cylindrical with a bit of square shapes on the casing. For the colour I’m going to use previous reference boards. I’ve decided to go for the wall mounted ones instead of the ceiling ones.
Sketches
Since it’s not going to have any textures, I’ll model it straight away.
I decided to go for the enclosed one because it illuminates less than the others, and this is all about darkness.
I can’t get the Global Illumination and the Emissions to make the neons emit light and illuminate other objects in the scene. I’ve tried every option and I’ve checked lots of tutorials online and I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I’ll have to try some alternatives.
Fixes and Problems
Well, I had some major problems with my character and my environment. Then after nearly a whole day of fighting with Unity I managed to fix them, I’ve also done some minor fixes. The result:
Version 0.4
The enemies haven’t changed so I have removed them and I have activated a directional light so it’s easier to see the environment
Feedback
I had some feedback from some friends and relatives I asked to test my level.
The feedback was mostly positive, but they gave me some constructive criticism too.
Changes:
Now the Health Box is facing the player so it should be difficult to miss with the neon cross on it.
Now the player is forced to open the first door with the pressure pad, and since there’s no other items in the corridor, it can’t be mistaken for a decorative prop.
Version 0.5
I noticed that the UVs of the upper walls didn’t match in the corners, so I fixed that, plus the changes from the feedback. After a lot of trying and experimenting, I found a way to use Spotlights to create a fake neon light effect.
Result:
Review
I just had a talk with the lecturer and gave me some feedback.
The barrels are too tidy and perfect, they look unnatural, a bit of chaos needed.
Done, fixed!
Add a bit of light, just a little bit, instead of being in complete darkness.
I’ll like the idea of it being in complete darkness with bursts of light when you attack, but the bit of extra lighting makes it actually better. It’s very subtle, but the floor has a slightly different tone and you can just get an slight idea of your surroundings, and that makes it feel a bit more… real?
I have lots of overlapping UVs and apparently it’s a thing for Unity.
OK, overlapping UVs is good as long as you make sure your game engine generates Lightmaps UVs so there’s no problem when baking the lights. Good thing to remember.
Big Pipe
The 5 Ws
Who made this and who is it for?
A company that makes pipes for industrial purposes for any type of building.
What does this do?
Transports tons of coolant into the Reactor Energy Core.
Where would you find this?
Everywhere where there’s liquids or gases moving around.
When was it made?
Some time in a far and dark future...
Why was it made?
Industrial purposes.
How was it made?
Made in an automated factory.
Reference Board
It’s all pretty average and uninteresting with the exception of the dodecahedron shaped ones, I like that.
Sketches
Again, I feel ashamed of my sketches. First one is an attempt of an octagon, second a dodecahedron, then a sphere and the last one I think is the shape I may end up using for the pipes. I just wanted to do something different. Then some sketches of the joints. May go for the one in the middle at the bottom.
Model Sheet
In Maya:
Version 0.6
Environment run:
Final Version
After a few twitches here and there, I’m finally settling for this. The level layout has changed very little, but anyway, here it is.
Smart Run
Kill-Kill Run
After thoughts
It feels strange. I’ve been working on this for so long (starting with the first reference boards) and I have spent so many hours, even entire days in front of the computer doing this, and now it’s all suddenly over. I just have this weird feeling/sensation I can not explain.
Anyway, I’m quite happy with the result. Considering the amount of work to create it and the simplicity of it, I’ve got big respect for level designers.
I could see this becoming a full game, different to what I had in mind when it was a 2D idea, but can’t think why it couldn't.
Initially I started doing a two parts level, starting outdoors and then getting indoors. In a 2D game, I thought it would be feasible, but in a 3D game where environments require much more time and resources, to create an entire outdoors set just for the very beginning of the level, it may not be worth it. This 3D Game Kit comes with a set of outdoors prefabs and environment assets, so it would be pretty easy, but in a game you had to do from the ground up, it may not be useful unless you had plans to do more outdoors levels, which wasn’t the case in my initial idea.
But if you take the theme and add some bigger more intimidating demons, and create a satisfying combat system, a bit of exploration and a good itemization system. You could make a pretty fun game.
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