Luis Zeno Jr
Horror Hotel //
As part of my final tenure at Full Sail University, I was task to collaborate with other team other students in creating a game. The group brainstorm on what kind of genre, theme, and game engine we would use for the game and each of us took several responsibility during our planning, including prototyping, video editing, and management.
When we began collaborating, we spread apart the prototyping roles. I focus on checkpoints, damage, and resetting the player on the level. I started off searching for videos that focus on scripting the player's health and resetting with Unity 3D. The challenge mostly has been making sure the player takes damage by collision and by the enemy's projectile as well as making sure the player gets destroyed. Checkpoints have been slightly tricky yet with the help of the team, we manage to use it as a resetting point in case the player dies. After we had done our task, we then separated responsibility among each other. I handled the first level which is introducing the player to the game and how it works. I focus on making the first level simple to follow and prepare the player for what comes ahead.
We accept the idea of having each level a boss at the end, ranging from a chase to a range game. Much like the first level, I was tasked with creating the first boss as simple as possible. I wanted the player to run from a boss chasing after the player and get behind the boss to attack its rear end. I figured it's a fairly common practice in most early levels of the game with the boss HP low and attack damage low as well. The level design I created did have a clipping issue, something that was new to me from the beginning, but thanks to a team member who caught it, and taught me how to fix it properly.
I was also given the task to work on the seventh level and boss as well. The seventh level focuses on two elements, finding parts to illuminate the room and dealing with enemies who poison the player. Meanwhile, the boss level focuses more on running from the boss first before reaching a room large enough to battle against the boss. Several games such as Tomb Raider and Crash Bandicoot gave me the inspiration of the player needing to run from an object to survive while collecting some items that are key to help them during their battle. The slight issue was of course the boss being too large, it easily phased through the walls while the player could only run along the walls. But in the true nature of the game, we agree this works since the boss is a ghost of the first-level boss.
We team up with a game artist and audio team from our college to further progress our game project. From basic shapes to cryptic ghosts, furniture, and a demon-hunting protagonist. Along with the updated graphics, the level design has also changed to stay as simple as possible.
When redoing the seventh level, we focus on two elements, the poisonous ghost and the acid floor. It was easier to handle both as a designer and as a player, helping players deal with an enemy that could deal damage over time but also include a healing package that cures poison and restore health.