Sub Terror(Chapter 2 Q.2)

Sub Terror(Work In Progress) is first person RPG set in an underground world lost in time on a foreign planet in society of steam punk buildings and weapons.

The back story to this game is: At Some point in time, the waste and pollution of man began to over throw the earth. An alliance of scientists started a campaign to travel to a other planet to live on. They began searching for a suitable replacement for earth, as they were searching, things on earth went from bad to worse in a number of months. The scientists pleaded with the leaders of the world to fund a worldwide evacuation.

The leaders were running out of options so they agreed to fund the evacuation by the time everyone was ready to leave millions had already died. One ship with only one million people manged to escape, a planet was not yet chosen but the scientists were running out of fuel and had to make risk decision to land on the first planet outside the solar system.

The ship crash landed with few injury's and no deaths, and this group of one million people were left to continue the human race. For a time things were good the people learned how to live on this strange planet and everyone lived in peace. Until the uprising began for the right to lead the people, fights started and people divided.

Eventually the people split into three groups one of those groups decided to go to the safety by going under ground in the planet, as for the other groups no one knows. 

60 years later and this is when the players story begins. You play as a man who grew up in the underground world known as  The Undervirse. His name is Lenard Wallace and he is struggling with an identity crisis at 25.

Lenard Wallace or Len  grew up with a difficulty talking to people, being very shy he only had two friends. He is now 25 years old and straight out the Sub Terror Peoples Academy, a young looking man with no real interests, that he knows of. That is up for the player to decide. There are also two other main characters of this story that both have a strong connection with Lenard and they are,

Ronald York brave, cocky and a little bit full of himself Ronald or Ron, has been Lenard's best friend since they're first day of school. Ron is huge build character very strong and very athletic but not so bright. The self proclaimed side-kick of Lenard. The other main Character is:

Nikole Biskup young, beautiful and smart. After Studying a extremely high science degree Nikole or Nikky, first met Lenard when they were in secondary school she was being bullied by some rich boys because she was different, Lenard just happened to be passing by and tried to stick up for her, sure enough he was out numbered and got the hell beaten out of him. Until Ron saw him and beat up the boys. Nikky never forgot the kindness Len and Ron did for her and has been the friends ever since then.

As you Begin you have a choice on how the story plays out, The three Characters have all graduated the Sub Terror People's Academy. or the S.T.P.A, now that all the study is complete the three characters all want to join the highest demanding organisation in the Sub Terror, The Explorers League or E.L. They each want to start training. You have a choice from the follow: Army, Engineering, Officers, Investor, or Science.

Each Class has it own features and abilities and the story and choices will play as you pick.  

         

Concept Game Idea (Chapter 2 Q.1)

My Idea is first-person RPG(role playing Game), the setting will take in an underground universe that is not exactly on planet earth. The player will control of the own main character that they can change almost anyway they please. The main Theme is a dark mystery, and the players will experience plot twists and ultimately make choices. What will make this game original is the time frame and the underground setting with different steam punk elements.

Like Skyrim there will alot of NCPs that you will run into and certain quest and activities that will grant you experience and rise in levels. This game will follow a basic RPG style game but with one difference. The main story line will be extremely flexible and each you play it, it will be different the name of my game will be

Sub Terror(Work in Progress).  

 

  

The Future Of Level Design(Gamasutra Question 3)

What does the future hold for level designers? With technology growing  increasingly more powerful, level designers will have to adapt to changes in systems. As complex as some story lines are today, with things like the next generation consoles Which are: Xbox One and The PlayStation Four.

What Is A Level Designer?(Gamasutra Question 2)

When video games started being created, due to the technology the main role that was responsible for most of the development was the programmer, their were also some artists that helped create characters but it was the sole responsibility of the programmer to but everything in its place.

For a time it was like this, but when video games started getting popular, money  technology became available through funding and more content was needed. The way video games were played began to change  which opened more positions in the industry. Level design became the main element of a game, which eventually opened the position of Level Designer.

A Level Designers role is to create the bare bones of a video game project. Back story, and setting. These are two main elements that video games have today. Programmers today are still a vital role in the video game process.

Level designers then were new and unheard of, with video games having stronger story elements and adding more in depth characters, level design then became a huge role in the process. Today Level design has innovated the video game industry adding deeper and more involving content.  

        

What Defines A Game Level(Gamasutra Question 1)

Game levels have been around since video games were first created in the 1970's, but what is a game level?A game level is in simple terms,  is the playing space in which you the player move around in.

A Level will consist of different enemies, environments, flora and fauna, items and objects. In Each level the player will be given a task or mission to complete to progress to the next level or next task. With all the different types of genres, levels can either be very open or linear. For Example: Assassin Creed Series(Open world maps), Call Of Duty Series(very structured and straight forward). 

Levels can have a wide mixture of problems and puzzles, which can reward you with items,hints,weapons, secrets,or cheat codes. What defines a good level is how well it represents what kind of setting it has, as well as the environment and events the will occur in the playing space. Setting the theme of the video game and portray what kind of style and genre. 

Game Genres And How They Work (Question 3)

Nowadays there are some many video game genres out there, but they all have their differences. The Levels, Environments,Goals,Puzzles,and Settings, these are just some of the main elements used in a video game. Lets look at three popular genres which are:

FPS(First-Person-Shooter)

Putting the player in the eyes of the character, you fight your way through enemies setting a more realistic view of playing, such examples: Call Of Duty, Battlefield, and Doom. 

The Common first-person-shooter will have different levels each with a different missions or objectives, giving you a range of weapons to defeat your enemies. As the player progresses the enemies get bigger and harder, some reward you with better weapons or gadgets. First-person-shooters design will vary of the type of shooter, for a example: Horror shooter or Army Shooter. Levels could be darker with scary elements, or loud with big things happening all at once.

Racing

Whether it is a car, plane,boat or bikes there is only one rule, get to the finish line first. Most Racing games follow the rules of real racing however, there are so many racing games that add unique features like weapons and power ups. Games such as: Twisted Metal, Diddy Kong Racing, and Mario Kart. Depending on the game the settings and environments can range from almost any kind of track circuit, depending what you a racing the levels may have different obstacles and hazards to prevent you from winning the race.

RPG(Role Playing Game)

Open worlds, sandbox worlds, these two main features that what make a standard role playing game. Making the Player focus on either one character or faction. Followed with big story lines and huge places to explore, role playing games designs really depends on what style the role playing game is set in, for example: Skyrim(Mountains/various cites/forests/dungeons), Grand Theft Auto(Streets/shops), Star Wars Knight Of The Old Republic(Planets/Space/mixture of environments). Each place well have different enemies, items, and weapons, to help the player progress through.

Each design of these genres will have many many aspects of a range of other genres to make something that the player will enjoy. 

       

   

           

 

80's,90's, Now (Question 2)

From the 80's to now there have been some great achievements accomplished in video games, from small begins for example: a yellow circle chasing ghosts around a maze for pellets to committing crime by stealing cars around a open world map. What has changed mostly in games today since the 80's? Setting, Environments,  and Levels. I played three Different games from three different decades of gaming Which were: Pacman, Starcraft, Batman Arkham City.

Pacman(1980)

You play as a yellow circle know as Pacman, you main goal is to collect all the white Pellets in a maze while avoiding the four ghosts floating around. 

Classic Style of game play, player starts in a maze setting the scene of the objective. The Environment of the game is the maze, rewarding you with points, as you progress through each maze the next level will start giving you a harder and more challenging levels.

 

StarCraft(1998)

A Real Time Strategy violent sci-fi experience, player chooses from three different races which are: Terran, Zerg, and Protoss, each race visually different and with a mixture of upgrades and technologies.

With a top down view player builds bases and units to explore and conquer their enemies, with a wide range of campaign and online maps created in  2-D environments with some 3-D aspects. Levels holding different terrain and features such as: Volcanoes, Mountains,Snow, and much more.

Batman Arkham City(2011)

You Play as possibly one of the best well known comic book heroes of all time Batman. Arkham City is a open world environment set in a action adventurer genre, you fight your way to defeat all the iconic Batman Villains such as: Bane,The Penguin,and Joker

With a 3rd person view, you progression in Arkham City will reveal more of the 3-D Environments within the city such as: underground subway,abandon buildings, and hidden streets. the map is a open has open world features which you can explore, with a tight story line, the Setting is the same but the environment becomes more harder.

To compare these games all with different genres, the design of there environments and levels are in my opinion they are fun to play and original and has shown what has changed since we first gazed at the video game, Pong.   

       

If You Where A Game Designer (Question 1.)

Looking back to the some what questionable golden age of gaming, what did that generation play the most? Out of the Sega and Nintendo, What games worked and and what games were played the most? From the 1980's through to the present, in a popular opinion side Scrolling is considered as the classic and casual way of playing games. Such Examples: Mario,Sonic,Metal Slug, and  Meteoroid.

Were I a game designer in the 80's, side scrolling would be my choice of genre and style. Reason being that, you are free to come up with a character and a goal. For Example: A plumper avoiding Barrels while having to ascend up each platform to rescue the princess from a huge gorilla. The idea sounds great on paper and in our minds.

However, limited by what technology I would have had at this time, i can only do as much as it would let me. I would start basic with a small shape to show a rough draft of the hero and then start writing levels Which would require trace and painting small drawings on paper or paint software, what kind of obstacles and enemies would be in each level.

later down the track i would then consider the different types of rewards, power ups, and to achieve that greater high score. The setting then has to be put in place what kind of background and what is happening in the background. For Example: setting Prison enemies entering from the right and small animations looping in the background as scenery changes slightly.

When all these things are planned and put in place, what you get is a side scrolling game. If this game is successful I would've done my job as a game designer.

in conclusion side scrolling in my opinion is the best type of game to design and play in the 80's.

Max Simpson