Peter James Nelke
Forest Of Torment
This was the most challenging and most rewarding project of my level design experiences so far. Through my Udemy level design course I was inspired to create a demo that demonstrates what I have learned through the course. Focusing on constructing all aspects detailed in my level design document which included difficulty curves, playtime charts, environments, OCR's, level flow/pacing, platforming and puzzle game play, visual dominates and more. Throughout the development, I also learned much about Unity's general interface and functions and more specific tools such as pro builder, terrain editing, poly brush, and bolt visual scripting.
Responsibilities:
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7 Exterior Gameplay Sections
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Enviornmental Level Design (Weather, layout, lighting, set dressing, clutter, SFX, FX, finalization)
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Gameplay Level Design (Puzzles, platforming, and content pacing)
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Created Logic Via Visual Scripting (Scenes, mechanics such as stasis fields, moving platforms, plant bombs, plant turrets, and destructible roots)
Environmental Highlights
Gameplay Highlights
Start
Enviornment
The player begins in small cave isolated from the elements, getting warmth from the last flames of the fire. He begins his journey, through the dead forest on the outskirts of the village, to locate the mysterious source of magic. As quiet as it seems he isn't alone.
Gameplay
The first section to start, is a simple platforming sequence introducing jump and crouch mechanics with tutorials, and simple root hazards to avoid. It's important to keep things very simple as the player gets used to the locomotion of the game play.
Investigate Village
Enviornment
The player enters the beginning of the magical and malicious Forest of Torment. The presence of dense colorful foliage, light emitting flowers, stasis fields, and floating objects make the scope of fantasy and mystery stronger. The abandoned homes, shops, and corpses scattered across the forest floor provide a much darker tone. As the player nears the end of this OCR, near a logging site, he gets a better glimpse of the creature stalking these woodlands.
Gameplay
A larger OCR that includes 2 platform sequences. The mechanics introduced here are the foundation for platform traversal and interactivity throughout the demo. The mechanics introduced are stasis fields, player sword, root barricades, moving platforms, and jump enhance fields.
Approach Cathedral
Enviornment
Following a slight descent down hill and rings of near by church bell, the fog thickens and the player realizes he is surrounded by tormented villagers, villagers of whom are barely clinging to life as the roots of the malicious forest absorb their soul. The presence of new plant life, lethal or not, hint at the players progression deeper into the forest.
Gameplay
The one platform section in this OCR introduces the plant bomb, and the moveable crate mechanics. The idea here is to teach the player how the crate can aid in traversal and interact with the plant bombs. This knowledge will be required in future puzzle and platforming sequences in the demo.
Enter Forest
Enviornment
Cobblestone paths, stone structures and banners lead to a towering stone church of which is the visual dominant of this OCR. The imprisoned villagers and blood covered tools make it clear this wasn't your common group of religious believers but rather a sinister cult. Perhaps some of them deserved their fate?
Gameplay
Here we have the first puzzle of the demo. It introduces the telekinesis ability, activated via sources of energy placed throughout the level. Because it's the players first exposure to this ability the difficulty is low to create a more comfortable learning curve.
Escape Forest
Enviornment
The player adventures deeper into the forest searching for answers to this madness and sanctuary from the forest. More hazardous plants sprout from the forest floor and more corpses, twisted and strangled, suspend from the trees throughout the forest.
Gameplay
The game play here has a steeper difficulty increase for the largest OCR of the demo. The player has had enough time to get comfortable with the mechanics so far. It includes one puzzle and two platforming challenges. The new plant turret trap and falling platforms or introduced, they add a challenging timing element to the platforming. The puzzle is a fair increase in difficulty due to its increase in phases and hazardous elements.
Cross Cemetery
Enviornment
The last stretch of the wilderness is a swampy cemetery at the edge of the forest. Forest grass grows thick through metal fences and pockets of murky water surround broken grave stones and cobblestone paths. All the victims, deserving or not, lay in rest here, or so it seems. Perhaps the limbs of the forest have even claimed the dead.
Gameplay
The final game play focused OCR includes a moderately challenging puzzle and the most difficult platforming sequence in the demo. The puzzle is moderately difficult, primarily to give the player some breathing room before the platform challenge. The platform challenge encompasses all the mechanics the player has learned so far with some final twists on timed moving platforms.
End
Enviornment
The fog clears up, flora becomes more sparse as you make it to the forests edge. Large energy fields are present above the forest floor and seem to be releasing magical energy, the first potential hint on what could be going on. Rain begins to drop and lighting strikes in this zone as the owl watches you leave the Forest of Torment behind.
Gameplay
No gameplay elements of note are present in this last section of the demo.
