Let's Level Design! - Vertical Slice Hammer Editor Developed L4D2 Scavenge Map: Left 4 Evil Dead 1

Pre-Production

Left 4 Evil Dead 1 - Scavenge Map built using L4D2 Hammer Editor

Left 4 Evil Dead 1

Gametype

• Single Player or Multiplayer? – Multiplayer
• Game Type? (DM, Capture the Flag, Assassination, Warfare, Hostage Rescue, Traditional RTS, Platformer, etc.) – Scavenge Mode
• What game is this map for? (UDK, Starcraft II, COD, etc) – Left 4 Dead 2

Story

• Story behind your map. Why are the players there? Why is the place/environment there? Write the history of your environment. What happened to the place before the player entered the environment? – Coach, Rochelle, Nick, and Ellis are in a remote cabin in the woods. There they discover a tape recorder that a professor had used to record incantations from the Necronomicon XMortis – the Book of the Dead. When they turn it on, the recording releases a dark, sinister force from the woods. It unleashes horde after horde of undead infected upon the survivors. Now our heroes must refuel their 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 and escape or become… Dead by Dawn!
• What is this map about? – The survivors try to collect gas tanks and fuel up the car for points as the special infected attempt to kill the survivors. The map lasts for a best 5 five match system, the team with the highest points win. After each round the players switch teams/roles.
• Every player at every map/level has a goal/desire/object and it is either fulfilled or denied/blocked/obstacle. Do you have this? Does it rise? This is especially important in Single Player maps. – The survivor’s goal is to collect all 16 fuel tanks. More dangerous/father away gas tanks are also near desirable weapons and power ups to further the risk/reward system in the map. The special infected’s goal is to simply kill the survivors so they have a better chance of getting a hirer score when they are playing as the survivors.

Gameplay

• What is the objective of your map? – Kill, survive, collect points.
• Do you have a top down game play sketch? -
• Will there be any puzzles? If so, what are they? – No, just navigational routes to get to the gas tanks and better weapons/power ups.
• How would the level play out? Gameplay wise? – Frantic panic and lots of pew pews.
• How would you want the player to play through your map? Visualize this. What experiences do you want the player to walk away with from your map? – I want the survivors to be rushing to gas tank after gas tank working together and/or creating a daisy chain to get the tanks to the car for points. I want the special infected to be sneaky and surprise the survivors.
• How big is the map? – Relatively small be it feels larger because the survivors have to venture out from what would feel like the safety of the cabin in order to win the game.
• Who is your audience? Who is your player? What is your Demographic? – Fans of Bruce, The Chin, Campbell, and Evil Dead fans.
• How will you make the map memorable? – By bringing the amazing horror experience of The Evil Dead into an interactive horror experience.
• Do you have basic top down view and few location concept sketches? -        

Visuals

• Is the map original? What is everyone else doing? Don't make another "everyone" map. Be original and different. How will you achieve this? – There are no custom Scavenge Maps on the PC L4D2 server list. Most L4D2 maps are made to look like the Legend of Zelda, Minecraft, or Dawn of the Dead.
• Reference. Have you collected all the inspiration and research? What is this going to look like (proof of visual development). -  See above                  
• What is the time of day of the map? Season? Color? Reference. – Sundown, see above
• Feel and Atmosphere. Describe what you want to portray in terms of the feel of the map and atmosphere. – Frantic zombie panic!
• Will exploration be rewarded? If so what will it be and in what way? – Player’s reward for exploration will be power weapons additional aid/health items, and movie references.
• How will you direct the player? What methods will you use? Color? Noise and Sound? Guide the player without telling them where to go. Smart design. – Built-in functionality of L4D2 gives the players a highlight outline of where all of the gas tanks are.
• What are you going to concentrate on? What do you want to learn when you are finished? What aspect of design, gameplay, fun, crazy, atmosphere? – Fun and frantic competitive gameplay
• What is the visual trademark of your level? How will the players remember your map? – The Evil Dead.
• Are the environments/locations too generic? How does their design strengthen the story? – The cabin in the woods concept is a staple of horror and will enrich the overall terror experience.
• Custom content? Textures, Models etc. If so, what are they. – If I can figure it out I will be using custom sound to make the level more authentic.
• Have a drawn map of the level, below is an example: http://jdkevlar.wix.com/dersinexdesign#!left-4-evil-dead/cvvb

Derek holds a Bachelor's Degree in Game Design and has two and a half years of game development experience. To view his other work please visit www.dereksinex.com or his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/JDKevlar

Let's Level Design! - Vertical Slice Shadowrun Returns Editor Developed Campaign: A Pocketful of Nuyen

Pre-Production

A Pocketful of Nuyen - UGC Campaign built using the Shadowrun Returns Editor

A Pocketful of Nuyen - A Vertical Slice Shadowrun Returns Campaign

By Derek Sinex

Gametype

            This map will be created using the Shadowrun Returns editor, for Shadowrun Returns. As such, the map is a single player Action RPG map. With the target audience being the Shadowrun Returns core market.

Story

            The three family heads (bosses) of Tureen Industries, one of Seattle's leading tech corporations, suspects a mole inside of their organization. The player is called in as a favor by the head of the elven family to conduct an independent investigation since all three families suspect the other of being the mole. The player then goes on an adventure gathering clues and as they get closer to uncovering the mole's true identity, the family boss' private dealings lands the player in the middle of a much larger corporate scheme where they must use their wits and skills to escape with their lives.

            The player is put into the shoes of a retired corporate security officer that is reluctantly brought out of retirement for one last consultant job. They must use both their character skills during conversation trees and their character's combat prowess in order to be successful through the map.

            The player will experience the beginning of the story arch and follow the critical path to uncover the mole. If there is enough time once the critical path story arch is complete, alternative routes/branching paths will be built into the level. Regardless, the map will end on a cliff-hanger once the player gathers enough evidence to confront the boss who is most likely to be the corporations mole.

            As corporations started to take over the landscape of future Seattle, three former crime syndicate families agreed to join together to form a legit corporation as their only means of survival in the new world. Thus, Tureen Industries was born from the cooperation of the Wiley, Kiev, and Shepherd crime families. In present day (future) Seattle, profit shares have suddenly plummeted for Tureen Industries as their largest competitor has released Tureen's latest and greatest prototype ahead of them. This turn in the corporate atmosphere has made the corporate bosses to become suspicious of one another. The head's of the company: Terrance Wiley - the Human family head, Jazon Kiev - the Elven family head, and Leoric Shepherd - the Dwarven family head, have agreed that the only course of action due to an oversight in their Information Governance policies is to hire an outside contractor.

            Kiev sends a message to the player, a retired security expert who has helped and been helped by the Kiev family on several occasions over the years, requesting they be the outside contractor as they are the only one he can trust. The player reluctantly accepts on behest of repaying a final favor for Kiev's recently deceased father; and a boat load of Nuyen. The player ventures to Tureen Industries to meet with the three heads to get a first impression of the situation as all three bosses seem to have ulterior motives and are untrusting of one another due to racial bias and a long history of violence between the families in the olden days.

            Once the meeting is over the bosses grant the player the highest level of access in order to get to the bottle of the leak. The player progresses after the meeting by going down to the security office, gaining intel from either the security office or hacking into the company's server via security terminal. They also receive some combat training and equipment from the chief security officer. The intel they gain leads them to the R&D department where they again critical information from the head of R&D, Sheila, and Dr. Jonas - the corporation's lead developer which leads the player to smooth talking the three bosses secretaries. The player gains sensitive information on Wiley, the Human boss and Leoric, the Dwarf boss which could lead to either one being guilty at this point. However, for the critical path and to limit scope the player can only pursue the Wiley route (unless time permits) because his regular secretary, Abby, is mysteriously home sick from work. The player travels to her apartment to find her physically injured and packing a "go back" to leave Seattle. Upon further inquiry the player discovers that Wiley has deferred his immense gambling debt to Abby and she is skipping town to avoid the mafia run casino in town. At this point the player is alerted to a strange noise in the back of her apartment. The player can pursue the noise further which reveals gangsters hiding in the back of her apartment which initiates combat, or the player can leave. Leaving results in the secretary being killed by the gangsters.

            With this new information in hand (Wiley's gambling troubles) the player travels to The Little Gamblino Casino. Upon turning in the information about Wiley to a pit boss, the player is escorted to a back room where Wiley is conversing with the mob boss-owner of the casino. Wiley has sold prototypes off to their competitor and reveals that he used some extra Nuyen to have the mafia "relocate" the player as they are the only person left that knows the truth about the information leak. Wiley leaves to grab the last of his things from the office before leaving Seattle and working for their competitor. The player can attempt to talk their way out of the situation depending on their skills or take on the mafia in combat.

            Upon complete this section the player races back to the corporate headquarters to confront Wiley in front of the other bosses. However, Wiley has put in a contingency plan and the player, along with the other two family heads must fight for their lives in order to stop Wiley.

Gameplay

            For the critical path the player will start by going through the map's initial dialog which introduces the setting and goal for the player (discover who the corporate mole is and turn them into your employer). In order to play through the map, the player will have options to complete tasks through either dialog options or combat depending on their play style/character build.

            For the critical path, there will be 7 total map locations; the majority of which will be fairly small as they serve as either CQB, dialog modular set pieces, or tutorial sets. Ideally it will take the player half an hour to complete the "full campaign" if they take their time to explore the dialog trees and each modular area, but if the player breezes through each modular set following the critical path they will complete the campaign in a lot less time. The map will not contain outright puzzles; however, the player will need to collect objective pieces to open up the next section which involves exploration and talking with NPCs. Furthermore, the player will be rewarded for using non-violent (dialog choices) routes to solving combative situations as the combat in Shadowrun Returns can be extremely unforgiving. However, the difficulty of the map will be predicated around the player creating a new character from scratch.

            Since the map is set in the Shadowrun universe, the maps will be a combination of dreary futuristic dystopia and clean, surgical, corporate settings.

Paper Map

       

Visuals/Effects/Audio References

   




Derek holds a Bachelor's Degree in Game Design and has two and a half years of game development experience. To view his other work please visit www.dereksinex.com or his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/JDKevlar

Let's Game Design! - Vertical Slice Stencyl Developed Platforming Game: Lou's Adventure

Pre-Production

Lou's Adventure - Platforming Game based around Assistive Mechanics for people with cognitive delays, built using the Stencyl Game Engine

Lou's Adventure

Game Design Document

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Derek Sinex

University of Advancing Technology 

1. Table of Contents

---

1.      Table of Contents

2.      Technical Section

1.      PC

2.      File & Code Naming Conventions

1.      Stencyl

3.      UI/UX Conventions

1.      Fonts Used

2.      List of GUI components and configurations

3.      Introduction

1.      High Concept

2.      Game Description

1.      Summary

2.      Genre

3.      Target Audience/Key Demographic

4.      Game Flow/Pacing

5.      Artistic Direction

1.      Insert a concept image here

6.      Project Scope/Development Cycle

3.      Key Features

1.      Control Scheme

1.      Supporting Scheme

2.      Assistive Mechanics

1.      Supporting Key Feature

3.      Color Coding

4.      Background/Story

1.      Plot Outline

2.      World Environment

3.      Character Bios

1.      Lou

2.      Rory

3.      Janet

4.      Lou's Dad

5.      Lou's Mom

6.      Agatha the Doll

7.      Shirt Snake

8.      Toy Soldiers

9.      Dust Bunnies

10.  Ragdolls

11.  Soap Monster

5.      Game Design

1.      Gameplay Summary

1.      Game Progression

2.      Mission/Challenges Structure

1.      Puzzle Structure

2.      Objectives

3.      Mission/Challenge Structure

1.      Game Flow

3.      Controls

1.      PC Keyboard

6.      Art & Graphics

1.      Art Asset Breakdown

7.      Audio Design

1.      Audio Asset Breakdown

8.      Appendices

1.      Technical Design Document

2.      Art Assets

2. Technical Section

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2.1. PC

2.2. File & Code Naming Conventions

See Appendix 8.1. Technical Design Document

                   2.2.1. Stencyl

"Stencyl isn't your average game creation software; it's a gorgeous, intuitive toolset that accelerates your workflow and then gets out of the way. We take care of the essentials, so you can focus on what's important - making your game yours." - Stencyl, LLC (http://www.stencyl.com/features/)

2.3. UI/UX Conventions

See Appendix 8.1. Technical Design Document

2.3.1. Fonts Used

TBD

2.3.2. List of GUI components and configurations

To be included in Lou's Adventure HUD

·         Health Bar/Icons

·         Score

·         Item (such as key or laundry, etc.)

·         Idle controls

·         Highlighted controls upon player interaction

·         Highlighted controls + on-screen prompt as assistive gameplay mechanic

·         Visual feedback on-screen prompt as assistive gameplay mechanic

·         Audio feedback on-screen prompt as assistive gameplay mechanic

To be included in Lou’s Adventure UI

·         Level Select

·         Main Menu

o        Start New Game (Choose Difficulty: Super Fun Mode, Normal, Hard)

o        Load Game

o        Options (Audio, Video, etc.)

o        Quit

·         Level Win Screens

·         Level Lose Screens

3. Introduction

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3.1. High Concept

Lou's Adventure: A 2D side-scrolling platformer game based around assistive gameplay mechanics to make gaming more accommodating for people with cognitive delays.

3.2. Game Description

3.2.1. Summary

The goal of this project is to create video game gameplay mechanics that accommodate people with cognitive delays more than traditional mechanics do. The team will accomplish this by creating a user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) that actively assists the player in completing objectives and gives real-time feedback based on player performance.

An example of this mechanic includes: User Interface displaying translucent controls and glowing intractable at all times in order to assist the player. During times of actions, the appropriate action to accomplish the task will glow on the displayed control scheme. To further accommodate player's skill, they will be given in-game feedback based on their performance to encourage positive gameplay and deter from negative gameplay.

3.2.2. Genre

Lou's Adventure is a 2D Platformer Puzzle.

3.2.3. Target Audience/Target Demographic

The target audience is adults and children with cognitive delays.

This SIP idea stems from experiences shared with a former colleague who works as a care-giver for children and adults with mental delays. A large portion of his clients love video games but in his words, “they mindlessly just push buttons while playing games with no goal because game content is too complex for them to cognitively understand what is going on.” These people love games and they deserve a relevant and understandable game for them.

3.2.4.Game Flow/Pacing

The game takes a slower pace than the usual platform to accommodate for cognitive delay.

3.2.5. Artistic Direction

The art will be done in a cartoonish manner to reinforce the idea of the game world being inside of Lou’s fantastical imagination.

3.2.5.1. Concept Images

           

3.2.6. Project Scope/Development Cycle

9 Month Development Cycle.

      Number of Locations

               5

   Number of Levels

               5

   Number of NPC's

               14 (tentative)

3.3. Key Features

3.3.1. Control Scheme

Arrow Keys – Movement (jump, walk right, and left)

3.3.1.1. Supporting Scheme

Player Specific Actions

Movement

Simple platformer movement of jump, fall, walk right, and left.

Interaction

Used to interact with objectives or activate triggers.

              Combat

              Super Mario “head stomping”

3.3.2. Assistive Mechanics

Gameplay mechanics will accommodate people with cognitive delays more than traditional mechanics do. The team will accomplish this by creating a user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) that actively assists the player in completing objectives and gives real-time feedback based on player performance.

3.3.2.1. Supporting Key Feature #1

Control Scheme layout displayed at all times.

3.3.2.2. Supporting Key Feature #2

A dedicated color scheme that represents assistance from the game; one color for what the player is doing, a different color associated with interactables/pick-ups, a different color associated with enemies, a different color associated with assistive pathing/mechanics.

3.3.2.3. Supporting Key Feature #3

If the player is idle for X amount of time or cannot solve a puzzle after X amount of time a thought bubble appears above Lou showing what to do visually with animation as though he is thinking about what he should actually do (in order to assist the player).

3.3.2.4. Supporting Key Feature #4

If the player dies twice in a row in the same spot an assistive mechanic activates i.e. showing the correct pathing to follow, positive audio suggestion for what to do, positive text suggestion for what to do.

3.3.3. Color Association with Specific Game Objects

Yellow – Movement hint (jump here, move there)

Blue – Interaction hint (Open this, pick up that)

Red – Hostile NPC glow

4. Background/Story

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4.1. Plot Outline

The player takes control of Lou, a young boy with an overactive imagination in their quest to help Lou finish his chores. In the real world Lou absolutely despises doing any type of chore so to better cope and accomplish each task; Lou imagines each scenario as a fantastical adventure that he must endure to be victorious.

4.2. World Environment

Players will take on enemies and puzzles in five different locations: His bedroom, bathroom, his sister’s room, the laundry room, and his next-door-neighbor Rory’s house. Each locale contains unique textures, enemies, and collectables for progressing through the game.

4.3. Character Bios

4.3.1. Lou

As a wide-eyed 6-8 year old, Lou’s imagination takes over much of his life since he is tormented by his next-door neighbor and really has no support system at home. His parents are too busy to give him the time of day, his sister rarely talks to him anymore, and to top it all off; he has a seemingly endless line of chores to do! Essentially, Lou sucks at life. The only way he can get through it is to see his world as a series of adventures that he must triumph over.

4.3.2. Rory

Rory is the crazy kid next door. He spends all of his time tormenting everyone he meets because he feels the need to be the boss. Years of manipulation and hyperactivity has given Rory a false sense of superiority and no sense of sharing.

4.3.3. Janet

Janet is Lou’s older sister; 6 years his senior. Since she grew accustomed to being the attention-centric only child before Lou came along she has had a hard time adjusting to having a younger brother. The age difference also puts a strain on their relationship as they have drastically different interests. However, she saves face by being nice to her younger brother all the while secretly loathing him. However, her parents decreasing time and attention to either child has pushed Janet to interacting with Lou more than she has for years.

4.3.4. Lou’s Dad

Lou’s Dad is a very job oriented person and while he loves his family, business and work always come first. Due to this life approach he has become extremely introverted and only finds solace in reading news articles on his tablet while at home. Even still, all he can think about at work or at home is the W.E.N.I.S.

4.3.5. Lou’s Mom

Mom tries to be as loving and attentive to her family as she can. But, growing children means a growing mess. All she seems to have time for now is struggling to keep a clean house and meals on the table. Luckily, she has some free hands; Lou.

4.3.6. Agatha the Doll

Agatha is the leader of the ragdolls. She wears a sun-dress. As creepy and evil looking as a cartoon doll can possibly be. Lou projects subliminal feelings of loathing from his sister onto Agatha during the imaginative/alternate reality levels.

4.3.7. Shirt Snake

Dirty clothes wriggle and jump around the level as generic enemies. They attack Lou by striking at him as a snake would attack it’s prey.

4.3.8. Toy Soldiers

Toy Soldiers in the same vein as actual toy soldiers little kids play with. Generic enemies that march around levels and shoot at Lou.

4.3.9. Dust Bunnies

Giant bunnies made of dust. Hop around levels as generic enemies a-la goombas from Super Mario. Essentially the imaginative projection of what dust bunnies would look and act like to a child told to “clean up the dust bunnies” because “they’re taking over the house”.

4.3.10. Ragdolls

Generic Enemies. Patched together cloth ragdolls that walk around the level and try to attack Lou when he is within melee range.

4.3.11. Soap Monster

Hulking soap bars that attempt to crush Lou within the bathroom level.

5. Game Design

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5.1. Gameplay Summary

Lou’s Adventure is an Action-Adventure Puzzle game that takes place in an “imagination-world” represented in a 2D pixel art side-scroller as Lou attempts to successfully complete daily chores which present themselves as the game’s objectives.

5.1.1. Game Progression

Lou (the player) progresses through a series of levels by walking and jumping around a series of platforms and interacting with the world to complete “chores” or objectives. Each level contains mobs of enemies which need to be defeated and puzzles needed to be solved in order to progress to the next level.

5.1.2. Mission/Challenges Structure

5.1.2.1. Puzzle Structure

Puzzles progressively get harder and are comprised of a combination of movement puzzles i.e. moving blocks out of the way to unblock or form a new path in order to get to another part of the level/end of the level. Collecting items, interacting with items, etc.

5.1.2.2. Objectives

Objectives depend on the level but generally incorporate basic platforming and combat to complete.

5.1.2.3. Mission | Challenge Structure

Each level consists of an enemy mob and puzzle equal to the level. For example: Level 1 has one mob and one puzzle that must be completed to advance to level 2. Level 4 has four mobs and 4 puzzles that must be solved to progress to level 5. Etc.

5.1.2.3.1. Game Flow

The game takes a slower pace than the usual platform to accommodate for cognitive delay.

5.1.3. Controls

5.1.3.1. PC Keyboard

Arrow Keys – Movement (jump, walk right, and left)

6. Art & Graphics

6.1. Art Asset Breakdown

Asset Name	Priority	Completed?
Lou’s Bedroom Background	High	Yes
Lou’s Bedroom tiles	High	Yes
Lou’s Bedroom Ambient assets	High	Yes
Lou’s Bathroom Background	High	Yes
Lou’s Bathroom tiles	High	Yes
Lou’s Bathroom Ambient assets	High	Yes
Janet’s Bedroom Background	High	Yes
Janet’s Bedroom tiles	High	Yes
Janet’s Bedroom Ambient assets	High	Yes
Living room Background	Moderate	Yes
Living room tiles	Moderate	Yes
Living room Ambient assets	Moderate	Yes
Rory’s House Background	Low	No
Rory’s House tiles	Low	No
Rory’s House Ambient assets	Low	No
Lou all sprites	Critical	Yes
Rory all sprites	Low	No
Janet Assistive Dialogue	Moderate	No
Lou’s Dad Assistive Dialogue	Moderate	No
Lou’s Mom Assistive Dialogue	Critical	Partially
Agatha the Doll all sprites	Moderate	Yes
Shirt Snake all sprites	Critical	Yes
Toy Soldiers all sprites	Moderate	Yes
Dust Bunnies all sprites	Moderate	Yes
Ragdolls all sprites	Moderate	No
Soap Monster all sprites	Moderate	Yes
Shampoo collectables	Moderate	Yes
Clothes hamper collectables	High	Yes
Sock collectables	Moderate	No
Toy collectables	Moderate	Yes
Level door objective	Moderate	Yes
Health	High	Yes
Assistive Pathing Assets	Critical	Yes
Assistive Hints Assets	Critical	Yes
Assistive Keyboard Assets	Critical	Yes

7. Audio Design

7.1. Audio Asset Breakdown

• "Jump" sound file by "Stencyl, LLC"
• "Stomp" sound file by "Stencyl, LLC"
• "Title Theme Adventure" sound file by "Metal Renard"
• "Happy Theme" sound file by "Metal Renard"

8. Appendices

Appendix 8.1. Technical Design Document

Technical Design Document containing all technical specifications for Lou’s Adventure.

Appendix 8.2. Art Assets Including Concept Art

Folder containing all art assets for Lou’s Adventure. Directory is located on Product Owner’s local machine and can be found on team’s assembla page.




Derek holds a Bachelor's Degree in Game Design and has two and a half years of game development experience. To view his other work please visit www.dereksinex.com or his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/JDKevlar