Michael Van Zant
Game Design
Level - Mechanics - Narrative
High Concept:
A competitive 4-player First Person Shooter focused on Level Design and UI using minimal game mechanics.
Development: 01/2017 - 04/2017
Team Size: Solo
Engine: Unity 3D
The main menu is split into 4 screens with the title in the center. When one option is selected, it grows and the other options shrink to the bottom.
The game has 3 levels: a 4 base symmetrical, a system of forts and tunnels, and an open field with a hill in the middle.
Every piece was selected to be simple and easy to read. 4 different colours were picked to be colourblind friendly.
The game features minimal mechanics designed to force me to make the game interesting through level layouts. There are 3 levels built from the ground up using the same process; first a floor plan on graph paper, then building it in engine, then iteration through playtesting.
What went right?
Two of the levels required very little iteration to get to a functional state that players had fun with.
What went wrong?
The first level required a lot of iteration, and was left in a flawed state. Throughout its development, I was unable to draw players into the middle of the stage. It should have been abandoned and rebuilt with a more interesting middle area, but instead I stuck with it for too long.
What did I learn?
Feedback is difficult to get on a game with minimal mechanics. Nearly every suggestion from players was "add in more mechanics". On its own, that's not such a problem, but when you have repeat playtesters who start saying "I don't understand why you won't add in X", it gets frustrating.