Unity Brawler Shooter
For the Unity Brawler Shooter project, my role as a game designer involved the critical tasks of level blocking and level implementation. These steps were essential in shaping the player's experience and ensuring that the gameplay was engaging, intuitive, and visually appealing.
In addition to the level design and implementation, I was responsible for the encounter design in the Unity Brawler Shooter project. To ensure that each encounter was engaging and balanced, I employed a player-centered design technique. This approach focuses on understanding and catering to the needs, preferences, and expectations of the player, resulting in a more immersive and enjoyable gaming experience.
- CLIENT ONE BUTTON SOLUTION LLC
- YEAR 2024
- CATEGORY GAME DESIGN, LEVEL DESIGN, ENCOUNTER DESIGN, COMBAT DESIGN
CHARACTER AND ENCOUNTER DESIGN
I was responsible for the character roster design and the encounter design in the Unity Brawler Shooter project. To ensure that each encounter was engaging and balanced, I employed a player-centered design technique. This approach focuses on understanding and catering to the needs, preferences, and expectations of the player, resulting in a more immersive and enjoyable gaming experience.
Player-Centered Design Technique
Player-centered design is a methodology that prioritizes the player’s experience in all aspects of game design. By considering the player’s perspective, I was able to create encounters that were not only challenging but also fair and rewarding. This approach involved several key steps:
I began by analyzing what drives player engagement in the game. This included identifying what players find fun, what frustrates them, and what challenges they seek. By understanding these motivations, I could design encounters that kept players invested in the gameplay.
The goal was to create encounters that were challenging enough to be exciting but not so difficult that they became frustrating. By carefully adjusting the difficulty of each encounter based on player feedback and testing, I ensured that players felt a sense of accomplishment after each battle.
Recognizing that different players have different playstyles, I designed encounters that could be approached in multiple ways. Whether a player preferred a more aggressive, fast-paced strategy or a more cautious, defensive approach, the encounters were designed to accommodate these varying styles.
Balanced Roster of Characters and Enemies
Using the Player-centered design technique, I also created a balanced roster of characters and enemies. Here’s how this was achieved:
Each character was designed with a unique set of abilities and attributes, ensuring that no single character dominated the game. By analyzing player data and feedback, I was able to fine-tune each character’s strengths and weaknesses, resulting in a roster where each character felt viable and fun to play.
The enemies were designed to complement the player characters, offering a variety of challenges that tested different aspects of the player’s skills. Some enemies were designed to be vulnerable to certain abilities, while others required more strategic thinking to defeat. This variety ensured that players had to adapt their strategies based on the encounter.
I paid special attention to the interactions between characters and enemies. For example, certain characters were designed to have synergies with specific teammates, while others were equipped with abilities that countered particular enemy types. This added a layer of strategic depth to the encounters, encouraging players to think critically about their team composition and tactics.
To keep the gameplay fresh, I implemented dynamic encounter designs that adapted based on player actions. For instance, enemy behavior might change if the player took too long to complete an objective, or additional waves of enemies might appear if the player was performing particularly well. These dynamic elements ensured that encounters remained engaging and unpredictable.
Level Design Overview
For the Unity Brawler Shooter project, my role as a game designer involved the critical tasks of level blocking and level implementation. These steps were essential in shaping the player’s experience and ensuring that the gameplay was engaging, intuitive, and visually appealing.
Level Blocking and Implementation
Level Blocking: This initial stage involved creating a rough layout of the levels, focusing on the placement of key gameplay elements such as player spawns, enemy positions, and objectives. The purpose of level blocking was to establish the flow of the game, ensuring that players could navigate the environment naturally while facing appropriate challenges and obstacles. The blocking phase is all about ensuring the foundational structure supports the intended gameplay mechanics before adding detailed assets and textures.
Level Implementation: Following the blocking phase, the level implementation involved refining the layout, integrating final assets, and ensuring that all elements functioned as intended within the game engine. This phase also included the addition of environmental storytelling elements, interactive objects, and the fine-tuning of enemy encounters to match the difficulty curve of the game.
Principles Followed in Level Design
The levels in the Unity Brawler Shooter were designed to offer a challenging yet rewarding experience, keeping players engaged through diverse environments, dynamic gameplay, and thoughtful design choices.
To create a diversified experience, I designed levels that offer multiple paths, varying heights, and distinct zones that encourage different playstyles. By including dynamic elements such as destructible environments and interactive objects, each playthrough can offer a unique experience. This approach aligns with the principles outlined in top-down shooters, where replayability is key to maintaining player interest.
Levels were designed to subtly guide players through the environment using visual cues, lighting, and enemy placement. This ensures that players can easily understand where they need to go and what they need to do, without relying on explicit instructions. The goal was to create an intuitive navigation experience that enhances immersion.
Each level was carefully balanced to ensure that players of varying skill levels could enjoy the game. This involved placing cover strategically, ensuring fair enemy placements, and providing players with opportunities to recover or regroup. The level design aimed to challenge the player without leading to frustration.
The Perfect Level Design Process
Fine-tuning level design in a top-down shooter or brawler involves several key steps:
Start by defining the level’s purpose within the game. What is the player supposed to feel or achieve in this level? This step includes sketching out the basic layout and identifying the primary gameplay loops.
Create a basic version of the level using simple shapes and placeholders. This allows for testing of the core gameplay mechanics and ensures that the level’s flow and pacing are aligned with the overall game design. Adjustments are made based on playtesting feedback.
Refine the level by iterating on the prototype. This includes adding more complex geometry, testing different enemy placements, and tweaking the layout to improve gameplay. During this phase, the level is repeatedly tested and refined to ensure it meets the desired standards of gameplay and balance.
After several iterations, the level is finalized by adding detailed assets, lighting, and sound effects. This step transforms the level from a functional space into a visually and aurally immersive environment that enhances the overall game experience.
The final stage involves polishing the level to ensure that it runs smoothly on the target platform. This includes optimizing assets, reducing load times, and ensuring that all interactive elements work seamlessly.
Gameplay Features
MELEE AND RANGED COMBAT
Players can switch between close-quarters melee attacks and long-range shooting, allowing for diverse strategies depending on the situation. Whether you're up close with a powerful melee weapon or taking down enemies from a distance, the game provides options to suit different playstyles.
COVER MECHANICS
The environment plays a crucial role in combat, with full and half-cover options available for shooters. Players can strategically use cover to shield themselves from enemy fire, peek out to take shots, and outmaneuver opponents. This cover system encourages thoughtful positioning and adds a layer of strategy to every encounter.
BALANCED WEAPONRY
Weapons in the game have been meticulously balanced, not just in terms of cost but also in terms of power. Each weapon has been fine-tuned to ensure that its effectiveness matches its price, making sure that players can choose their loadouts based on their preferred playstyle and strategy.
COMPREHENSIVE BALANCING PARAMETERS
Both characters and enemies are balanced across several parameters to create a fair and engaging gameplay experience. These parameters include:
– Price: The in-game cost of acquiring the weapon or character.
– Currency Type: Different weapons and characters may require different types of in-game currency.
– Damage: The amount of damage dealt by a weapon or character.
– Range Radius: The effective range within which a weapon or ability can hit targets.
– Fire Rate: How quickly a weapon can fire consecutive shots.
– Spread: The dispersion of shots, affecting accuracy, especially at longer ranges.
– Power: The overall strength and impact of a weapon or ability.
– Bullets Per Shot: The number of bullets fired with each shot, affecting both damage output and ammo consumption.
– Bullet Speed: How fast the bullets travel, influencing hit probability and reaction time.