You can find a short video walkthrough of my level here: http://vimeo.com/17016824

Summary

I really enjoyed creating my own level, modelling and texturing objects, fitting them in, and putting details in to my level, as well as the particle effects, lighting and skybox, all designed and created by me. The effort and obsession that goes into getting the placement of objects, and details in the surrounding environment is both exhausting and fulfilling. things can look out of place, or dodgy if you dont put effort into the details around them and their placement. particle effects have to be accounted for in your design, such as in my desert level, I put sand piled up behind objects, just like it would realistically be. Researching the environment can yield some amazing finds, from concept art, to incredible photos. It would have been amazing to have a year or two to really get into the design and keep working on it until it becomes amazing, with heaps of effort put into the design, and creation of objects and textures, as well as enlarging, and expanding upon the level itself.
Hopefully in the future, I will remember the design process that went into this level. Hopefully this will help me design levels if I need to.
This has been my reflection, my last look at my process, now that everything is done, it has been a wonderful experience.

Equality

To help the blind, audio instructions could be relayed through the headset, about the track ahead, and enemy vehicles around them.

To help the deaf, subtitles, and visual guides for certain important audio events could be set up.

Ive been looking at the idea of VR, and thinking about the controls in more detail, the suit would really only need hands and feet, to control driving, shooting or secondary weapons. They would work via some kind of motion sensor, and this would affect anything that the projected limb collided with, also rendering them in 3d, visible to the player, through their visor. The visor would change direction of view according to head movement, and relay sound to the player via a headset.

Here are a couple pics from my level, I like the sun through the broken fence palings. the skybox really works with the lighting and the level.

This is my UI:

Its simple enough to not confuse the player, but at the same time, has enough appeal to not be boring, it gives information about health, power, all three abilities, speed, NOS, race position, laps and map psition.

Here is my menu concept:

The background is of my level, but stripped of all objects, so its simple.

The battle track title is large and prominent, and the options are backed by white so their more visible.

If Battle Track was developed and released, the target audience would probably be ages 12 - 20, preferably with a interest in team effort games. The genre would be somewhere in between an fps, and a racing game, a little-known genre called Vehicular Combat. Vehicular Combat is more about full battle in an arena type field, it doesnt generally include racing, this is one mode of gameplay in Battle Track, another mode is Race mode, which while including the weaponry, puts it in a back seat to the racing. as a vehicle becomes more and more damaged, it gets slower and slower, and easier to overtake. Battle track would work well as both a PC or console based game, but the best possible medium would be Virtual Reality. A combination of a headset, which allowed the user to see and hear the virtual world around him/her, communicate with others via a michrophone and detect the angle and direction in which the user was looking, as well as a suit to control their facet of the game, be it driving, shooting, or the use of abilities. This link shows wikipedia page concerning Virtual Reality.

Here are my rocks, and their textures:

Heres my Wheel, and its texture:

Heres my Concrete Block and Texture, (just a 2 second box :P)

Heres my Cover, and its texture:

Heres my cactus, and its texture:

Here is a picture of my broken fence, and the texture it uses:

This is my texture for the sand, the texture for the cliff, and the road, as well as the finish line. For all I just took existing unity textures and edited them in photoshop, to get the right colour.

Ive put in the dust effect, lighting, and skybox, all thats left are the 3d models.

This is my level completely textured.

This is my level, now with the mesa, and desert dunes created in 3d, no textures yet.

This is my newly created terrain, I have big ideas for this little square.

ASSET LIST

Terrain
Sand Texture (desert and top of mesa)
Cliff Texture (sides of mesa)
Dirt road Texure (Dirt road)
Start/Finish line Texture
Dust particle effect
Cacti
Cacti Texture
Broken fence
Broken fence texture
Concrete Block
Concrete Block texture
Old tire
Old tire texture
Rocks (multiple)
Rock textures (multiple)
Shack/Wooden cover
Shack/Wooden cover texture

GUI design

This is my concept for the GUI, I think it would work well, its simple, easy to understand, yet has all the information needed, and has simple art in it too.

GUI design

The GUI should be simple and easy to understand, but at the same time be attractive and not boring. It needs a health or armour bar, possibly both, and a power bar. But at the same time, all the things needed for a racing game, speed, nitro stocks, position and map. On top of that, a bar showing available abilities, and uses remaining. Unfortunately all his makes it rather complex, i'll have to think about it and draw it up later.

Details

I have been thinking about the gameplay, my basic idea, a battle race, team-based game sounds awesome, but I really havent gone into much detail. I think that the races should lastquite a while, possibly 15 laps - 50, and the amount of special weapons and durability of the craft would perhaps be increased to accomodate for the increased length of the race. The racers should also be able to leave the track, therefore the inclusion of ramps and shortcuts is a possibility. a full race, even with just 2 vehicles would require 6 people, so ai should also be considered, and whether vehicles respawn, are destroyed for good, or simply get slower and weaker until a limit is reached is also an important decision.

All the rest :3

3. How does a game’s genre affect the way its levels and environments are

designed? Choose one level from three different games—each from a distinct

primary genre—and compare how these levels are designed with regard to

setting, goals, puzzles, and risk–reward system.

Game 1 S.T.A.L.K.E.R - Shadow of Chernobyl - FPS RPG - Set in present/recent past

Game 2 Empire Earth - RTS - set from prehistoric times to distant future.

Game 3 The Sims 3 - Simulation - Set in present, but with time machines.

Game 1 - All the mission goals in STALKER, whether primary or secondary, were tasks that you personally had to complete, such as killing a certain person, ridding a certain area of mutants, or obtaining an artifact. The setting was a post-apocalyptic world of carnage, with a clearly 3d landscape, enterable builings, and usable objects. The 'Puzzles' in this game would probably be the fighting, and the anomalies, which are transparent pockets of focused radiation, which can change gravity, or create small tornadoes, or rip flesh apart with wind, enemies must be killed and anomalies avoided. On top of this there are certain underground missions where you must destroy a certain machine which is halting your progress, or destroy a zombie-creating mind control device, or simply find your way through a secret underground area just to progress. The risk-reward is perfectly balanced, the more people you kill, the better the gear that they will be carrying, the depper you delve into the world, the more useful and more valuable the artifacts you find will be.

Game 2 - All the mission goals in the campaign of Empire Earth centre around the creation, or use, of an army, or pre-built defences, such as collecting supporters from differet villagers in a region, so you can then, with your army take over a walled town to use as a base, in which you can then enlarge your army, and then take over strategic points to weaken you enemy, and THEN attack them in full force, providing you have certain units. The game is set in a mostly 3d world, which includes simple lowered and raised terrain, which gives you or your enemies the advantage, based on who is higher, as well as most of the game objects; trees, units, buildings. The land is a basic template of terrain, either temperate, tropical, or arid (Both Hot and Cold). and the natural game objects are created appropriately. (Walrusus and snow covered trees in ice, Cactii and Prarie dogs in desert). The puzzles in Empire Earth are mainly to defeat a certain enemy with your men, to do this, it is best to counter their soldiers, i.e. Swordsmen beat archers, archers beat pikemen, pikemen beat swordsmen. also taking an enemy base with a limited number of soldier, using strategies such as taking out their defences with long range catapults, or artillary, and protecting those with a balanced, but small number of soldiers. For each objective you complete, you get points towards getting bonuses for your civilizations.

Game 3 - Their are really no objectives or missions in the Sims, except for those you set yourself, which are generally; becoming rich, getting to a certain stage in your career path, or acheiving your life dream. The setting is a pristine, sub-urban world, full of normal, and abnormal people, as well as your home, designed and furnished by you. There are very few puzzles, except things such as earning enough to get by, and the maximum level of comfort you can afford with those earnings. the more tiring and uncomfortable work and activities you complete, the better your sim will become at them, and the better his prowess in those things eventually.

1. Using some of the techniques discussed in this chapter, begin developing a concept for an original game idea. Discuss the central theme of your idea, and the methods you used

to bring your idea into existence.

Perhaps some kind of team game, where a single vehicle is controlled by 3-4 people, say, one to race the vehicle itself, one to control the main weapon, a gatling gun perhaps, or twin rocket launchers, another to control secondary weapons and abilities, such as scatter spikes, and if theres four players, one can maybe scout, or control some other facet of the craft. it would be 3rd person over-the-shoulder for the racer, perhaps isometric for the scout, and 1st person for the gunner, and the controller of the secondary weapons and abilities, or maybe first person for all. It would maybe be a race, or an AOS (like dota), or simply all out war, in an arena of some kind.

2. Create a backstory, environment, and three character descriptions associated with your

original game idea. How are these elements integrated and linked through a central

theme?

It is set on Yantuu, a desert planet, where many factions and tribes vy for dominance. Mostly flat, dusty, orange-brown landscape, with the occasional hillock, and cliff. Maybe on this planet the day/night cycle is very long, and during night, the unprotected landscape freezes over, and becomes an ice-world. The Factions and Tribes must survive both extremes, and while doing so, take control of the land. The planet has a prophecy, that whoever first unites these lands will know unlimited power. this is why they fight for this brutal world. Just like on earth, the sword made the club obsolete, the gun made the sword obsolete, and video killed the radio star, so too, on Yantuu has the armoured vehicle conquered the soldier. Instead of characters, i will describe three possible choices of vehicle.

First, The Grumm, a Large, Heavy, Tank-like vehicle, With 16 wheels and a huge engine, capable of bringing this giant to an unbelievable top speed, but its size and weight means it takes a long time to reach that speed, it has slow turning, but its armour means that it doesnt have to dodge much. Its main weapon is a large, single fire cannon, with massive EAP (Explosive, Armour-Piercing) Shells, which, if they hit, will heavily damage the enemy vehicle. Its special defence is Fireproof armour, fire will not affect it. Its secondary weapons are: 1: Contact bombs (Will explode upon heavy contact with anything, Strategies: 1.Throw it straight back when an enemy is right behind you, it should hit the front of their vehicle and explode, temporarily blinding the driver and doing heavy damage, 2. Lightly roll it out behind you, it will then serve as a mine.), uses: 5. 2: Flametrail (a barrel of slow-burning napalm is poured slowly out behind you, over a small fire, creating a wide, flaming wake, which slows enemies, and causes massive damage per second as long as their over it. Strategies: 1. (if its a race) Start using the ability on the far left, or far right of the lane, then zigzag back and forth across the lane, forcing them to go over it again and again, making it unavoidable. 2. let them catch up until they are right behind you then use it, try to anticipate which way they will go to avoid it, and stay in front of them.) uses: 30 seconds of constant, or otherwise use. 3: Earthshaker, a deep charge is released into the earth, causing a destructive ripple to blast outward from the Grumm's location, massively slowing every other vehicle on the track or field, and doing enourmous damage to any vehicle within a medium range, the Grumm can use the shockwave as a speed boost for a few seconds. Uses: 1.

Second, the Manta, a small, aerodynamic hover-craft, it only hovers slightly above the ground, but has great maneuvearability, and can reach its top speed, which isnt impressive, in a matter of seconds. It isnt armoured, but has the capability to avoid most weaponry, its main weapon is a single fire static charge gun, which does little damage, but good slow, on an enemy vehicle, its slick, aerodynamic body means its special defence is its inability to be slowed. Its secondary weapons are: 1: Hover (Hovers higher, avoids all ground based attacks), uses: 45 seconds of constant or otherwise use. 2: Opacitizer (a liquid-gas is released behind you, which, if it hits the enemy, will cover the craft, blinding the driver, the primary weapons operator, and possibly the secondary weapons operator too), uses: 3. 3: Stealth mines (an entire minefield (25 mines) is scattered behind you, as soon as these mines hit the ground, their cloaking devices activate, these mines will stay here for the rest of the race/battle, until an enemy venicle comes too close, at which point, the mines near the vehicle will explode, causing tremendous damage, these mines are not triggered by the manta) uses: 1.

Third, the Tipparu, the creation of a local, primitive tribe, but empowered by a powerful shaman, it has a good top speed, and great acceleration, and average handling. It is unarmoured, and has little maneuverability, and due to its primitive build, fire does double damage to it, its main weapon is a constant beam of magic, which does decent damage per second, and is very accurate. its special defence is evasion, 20% of attacks launched against it will miss. Its secondary weapons are: 1: Shell (a magic shield pops up around the ship, preventing any damage or other affect from hitting it. Startegies: Time the shield perfectly, so it pops up the instant a attack hits, and disappears the moment after, this can make 20 seconds of shielding last for an entire race or battle), uses: 20 seconds of constant or otherwise use. 2: Blast (a blast of electric energy is cast in any direction, damaging and temporarily confusing the vehicles controls, (reverses controls for driving)), Uses: 3. 3: Winds of Gaia (summons winds to ravage the entire track/field, slowing all vehicles almost to a complete stop, any airborne vehicles, weaponry, or abilities are affected doubly by the winds, and are pushed backwards for a short time, these winds also power the Tipparu forwards at a tremendous speed, it slightly damages all vehicles, including the Tipparu), uses: 1.

3. Document your concept with reference material and original sketches. How did you capture your reference images? Create thumbnails and silhouettes. Compile these images into an art “bible” to help guide your vision

1. Building on the original concept you developed in Chapter 2, create a

blueprint for your level. Make sure you begin with a series of rough sketches until your blueprint begins to take shape.

2. Create at least three gameplay mechanics for your level. How do these
objectives relate to your original story idea?

1. Turn. This enables player 1 to steer the vehicle around corners, making it possible to have tracks that aren't a straight line.

2. Speeding up and slowing down. This means player 1 can overtake other vehicles, and stop or slow the vehicle if an obstacle is in the way, this mechanic may also be affected by player 3's abilities.

3. Fire. This creates the possibility to remove obstacles or slow down, scare away, damage, or destroy opposing vehicles.

3. Come up with five level objectives that correspond to your gameplay

mechanics. How will you identify these objectives in your level blueprint?

1. Win the race: you and other vehicles all try to reach the end of a track. You must beat them to the finish line by whatever means possible.

2. Laps: you and other vehicles speed around a course. You must finish a certain number of laps before any other vehicles.

3. Team race: you and your team of vehicles must beat the opposing teamby finishing a track/lap a course a certain number of times. You must ensure that all your team members finish the race before all of the enemies do, do this with your weapons, abilities, or by blocking at least one of the enemy vehicles.

4. FFA Battle: Its a free-for-all fight to the death. be the last vehicle intact and win.

5. Team Battle: Its you and your team of vehicles verse the enemies vehicles. ensure that your team outlasts theirs.

Level Design 1, 2

2. Play three games—one from the 1980s, one from the 1990s, and one released after 2004. Compare and contrast how levels and environments are designed in all three games.

Games Played
1980's: Defender
1990's: Atomic
2000's: Call Of Duty 4

Defender was an incredibly addictive, though graphically simple, arcade game, apart from the complicated controls, it was alot of fun. The environment was a simple 2d, low pixel side scroller.

Atomic was very fun, and by virtue of being simple, it was easy to play, and interesting, the environment was a locked 2d pattern behind a maze-like level in which you had to assemble atoms.

COD4 was enjoyable and realistic, with great graphics and a fun story and multiplayer mode, the level was a detailed 3d environment, which reacted to weather conditions, and the players actions.

Level Design 1, 1

1. Imagine that you are a level designer working in the 1980s. Knowing the
limitations associated with this era, what type of game would you develop?

Probably a graphically simple, undemanding game, but one that was groundbreakingly original, like Portal.