Researched how to use Unreal Engine 4 efficiently regarding the creation of a level. I looked at various tutorials for tools in Unreal 4 to create levels, such as the video embedded below. It was uploaded by Epic Games team themselves behind Unreal 4, and is an incredibly helpful official tutorial, as it explains a 'staging process' all level designers should know about. You essentially fill in and develop the game's levels in four different sections. You should start section 1 bu making your entire level as basically as you can (such as with simple boxes and cubes), to shape out the entire thing, so when you play test this early design it's very easy to amend things on the fly to shape/ resize them at will. Afterwards you continuously add different layers of detail (like detailed models and lighting) within the parameters you've already set, so very little testing is required and if anything does need changing, it takes much longer and you save a lot of time in the long-term designing a basic level before you make it pretty.
My end-product I'm aiming for will look more like a combination of stage 1 and 2, with basic decorations, lighting and materials. I will do this as this entire development plan for these 11 weeks is geared towards me learning various new skills and techniques behind making a good level structure, which I feel is a priority over giving it lots of eye-candy to gaze at. So this week I started creating the level's structure with basic shapes, as the design is the most important aspect. I can make it more pretty with lighting particles and decorations later on.
For this week I started implementing the level design learning theory of teaching the player by 'doing, not showing' which I researched on week 1. Where when the level loads, the player can turn to the right and see a huge staircase through a corridor. When they walk up it though, there's a huge gap in the middle with no feasible way to jump across with their character's default abilities. In order to subtly let the player know there really is a way to proceed, there are two up arrows placed on the wall on both sides and a floating dialogue box that reads 'what goes up, may come down!' This is in place so the player has no way of really knowing how to get up there, but they do know that it's something they can and should do.
To really take this further if the player jumps down the hole then there's a round bounce-pad down there, which is completely obscured by the stairs with the player having no way of knowing it was present before. However, because it's a big coloured disc on a grey mono-coloured floor, the player will instinctively want to walk on it, and if they do, it will rocket them up into the air by applying a set force of upwards velocity in its blueprint code. Once they've been shot high into the air, the player will be able to position themselves on the way back down to land at the top of the stairs and continue! So doing this I essentially learned how to teach a player how to use a bounce pad, without even telling them what it is or that it even exists! It's a very effective and professional tutorial method used in games, and applying it into my own level is evidence of me building upon my researched knowledge. It also gives the player the satisfaction and thrill of discovery, and allows them to toy with and get used to each new mechanic in their own time, and proceed with the game whenever they feel comfortable enough with it. Here's a step-by-step process of this sequence of events in action via screenshots below:
The player encounters an interesting staircase, and wonders what's at the top
They decide to head up and see
It's a dead-end, with no feasible way to get across, but the arrows point upwards regardless
If they look/ jump down, then they will see a bright object that stands out from the grey aesthetic.
If they have the curiosity to touch the bounce-pad, it will unexpectedly launch them into the air and safely up the stairs!
I also added invisible walls to the side of the stairs and building. Since death won't exist in my level and I don't want the player falling off the stage and into the water, these blocking volumes help guide the player along the right path without being visible walls that get in the way of the scenery.
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