The Dreamer among the stars: the land design and level of the fallen star pieces

Level Design Document: DATS

Well a very good day to you all here once again to all the lads, ladies, chaps, old sports and everyone else in between to another one of my inn depth and lengthy chin waggle blogs of yours truly. So this document is kind of a continuation from my blog from last week about the Game Design Document where as I will discuss more in depth of my Level Layout to my game concept where I will be discussing some pieces of level or sections of my world layout, prototype sketches of character movements and other possible designs and animations for my main character Shimmer and any other character concepts for side characters (that I could implement into the likes of a 3d game engine down the road (more detail on that later) and I will discuss other pieces such as gameplay, how my main character will move and interact with the world around them (so more on gameplay aesthetics) and I will also discuss some of my Difficulties and Challenges and keeping on time with my deadlines and  planning out when I can do my stuff for this document. Anyway enough briefing you about what will go into this, let's get down to talking to you about it.

(let me describe and illustrate a world I am concocting and a land that I will develop down under all of the coding and assets of a game development engine and design Documents)

So as I said in the starting paragraph of this blog of mine I will be discussing the aspects while also giving examples:

- Designs of Levels or Sections of this vast world of mine

- Prototypes of some character movements, interactions and other characters designs (that will eventually be implemented into a game engine)

-Gameplay elements

-The requirements for making such a world (such as assets, music, pieces for the game etc...)

-Some challenges and difficulties that I have faced as of recent and I may face in the future

-How I have or haven't been keeping on track with my planned out time for doing some of this

So let me start with 

Level or world Design

So, there is a distinction as to what kind of art style that i am trying to do for with may games design concept and how I would lay out certain sections of this world. For the placement of the world I would need to look more into how I would place it out when I make up the layout of certain sections that I have making (they will be placed here). For the actual look to the world itself I am going for more a cartoonish fantasy style, rather than a more realistic tone to the world as i feel that my world that I am crafting from the deep depths of my mind seem to fit that aesthetic more and it would he;p be a better support to my story and genre of the game.

(may be a little faded but it is an early concept of the first location of the game known as Slumber Dunes)

(some concept art of the Star-Sea Dream-Walkers flying ships with one for each of the members of the Group)(designs coming along soon) 

(poster concept and the first piece of example location that the game will start in)

(these are some concept that I drew up myself that can help illustrate the style that I want to go for in my game and when I do get to designing the likes of the buildings and characters and world in a game engine I can use these are sources)

As you can see by the layout of some of the parts of the world and some concept of what the level of design of the world that I am trying to go for of the world of the dreamer among the stars (I will update as time goes on to include some concepts of other parts of the game, maybe even the location of the one responsible for the disappearing stars).

Making Life with my Characters designs

So, with this cartoonish fantasy that I have concocted, it need to have a hero for this adventurous tale of course. So, with this blog I have return the design of my main character of Shimmer and the introduction of one of the other interesting and quirky characters that the shimmering star will come across which I will introduce here as well as showing some sketches of them moving and how I can see their characters with their move cycles and how I will use as sources for when I implement their character movements and design into making a 3d models of them and making them move in the game engine when I start the development process. 

(this is Shimmer, his character design and some of the emotions that he will show throughout the game (possibly use one of them as the life bar icon if I implement a fight mechanic to the game))

(This is Daipop, a humanoid looking dragon and the leader of a group of intergalactic protectors known as the Star-sea Dream-Walkers, character design and some emotions he may have)

(This is some early prototype examples of what I will try and make with Shimmer's character movements set)

As you can see from some of these prototypes from above, I have looked into the likes of different styles of movement of character (mainly at the likes of frame by frames from the likes of animated movies and shows, storyboards, and even the likes of light usage of stop motion) to help to illustrate the kind of movement and motion that I am trying to implement into the characters of my game, as well as the emotions that they can illustrate. I will add more to this again to my Game Design Document as I have them designed and implemented into where they go into the story, including the rest of the SD crew and even the one responsible for the stolen or fallen stars.

Let's talk the gameplay elements now shall we

(working with particular design and gameplay elements can work well like so and can help to interact with the environment better within your game)

So, I have shown off the world that our characters will be a part of and what some of them look like, now it's time that we talk about the likes the gameplay. So I have discussed this plenty of times in the past so i can easily describe exactly how the gameplay will be in my game and how much I will be working to try and implement it all. As I discussed in the past few of these blogs this game will be of course an adventure game with the added elements of puzzles which would mean that their will also be a heavy emphasis on exploration and the slight uses of open world exploration to it all as well it will mix it with the style of linear gameplay to it too. So with the implemented main character (which you can choose the specifics of what they are) would be able to move around and do all sorts of stuff like run, walk, jump, push and interact with the world (the concept of fighting will need to be discussed and if it does I will have to find a way to implement it into the game in certain sections). This world of course will have many things to be interacted with that can help you solve puzzle in the game's world, interacting with the colourful NPC's of this land wondering what is going on and how you can help them with their dreams of their own as you explore this unique and magical and wonderful world that I am creating here. They will the sense of collecting some unique items that will of course help you on your long and wondrous journey as the story plays out as you find the answer as to why your wishing star seems to be being taken to and why all the other stars in the sky are falling or disappearing all together. It would also be the case that I will find distinct music and try and sync them up with certain sections to the game to help give this adventure a bit of a surprise where you may be walking across the vast terrain and then the music in the background starts to sync up with your movements and actions and while the story is being told in the background to it as well which I feel is a pretty cool concept to try and implement really well into the game itself, as long as I find the right music styles to help with it (If I can use some music that is already established as well as finding some free music to use as I kind of have an idea of some music tracks that I want to use in the background of some of these sectors but I will look into it for the time being). So, I feel like I have a clear vision for the layout of the game play and hopefully it won't be too difficult to implement.

The Tools and Things we require to make this game as good as it can be

(The important things that we need for making this game a reality, with technology actually being one itself)

So with the basic layout of the world, the gameplay, the characters and their emotions and some movement it's time that we discussed the important fixture that will be needed for this game concept that I will be making myself. So in terms of where it will be built on it will mainly be on a 3d game development from the likes of unity (or any other free 3d development software that I can use and has an easier to understand interface) I will also look at some examples and tutorials that will help get the basis of the style of world that I am trying got make in the game of my own. In terms of assets, I will have to scour the likes of assets shops or through the official pages of these 3d Game making engines to hopefully find the styles of the fantasy and cartoonish to help make the character, buildings, flora and fauna stand out and not make it look dull and boring. I will see if I can implement the designs of the characters in the same engine or if I will have to use a different type of software to help make the character models and skeleton movements and then import them into the engine but i will look into that when that time comes to add them in. For the system requirements I would make it that it would comparable with the likes of Macs and standard computers of maybe the last few years (and if I am going well with this development (if I ever reach that level) I can try and see if it would work on consoles but I am not going to overdo it) and that it is accessible to all ages with trying to add something for everyone into the game through the world or through the story (it will be interesting to see how I can implement these things when I am fleshing out the story further). For the music I have already discussed this in the gameplay aspect but to summarise that it would be to find a good use of music for the likes for adventure and a journey and then the distinct music for certain sections that sync up with the gameplay happening on screen (through finding free distinct versions of music and even some music owned by other games to help try a version to see if it works and what I am looking for and possibly use in the final game). That is all I have to discuss what I need for the requirements for the game unless I have missed anything.

The trials, challenges and difficulties that I will or have come across

(without the difficulties and challenges, life would be too easy and quite boring)

So, not everything is going to go easy for me when I start building out this world of my own game, but it is important that I talk about these things so I know exactly what I need to tackle. The biggest elephant in the room is of course the game engine, specifically Unity. I would go into greater detail about this but I have already discussed this in greater detail in a previous blog that is not connected to this game concept stuff (which you can read here to get the full picture of the problem that I am facing with the game engine) but if there is a way that I can use the likes of another game engine similar to to Unity that has a much easier way to develop world then it may be a solution to my problem that I am heavily facing. The other thing would probably be crunch time as I am doing a lot of this on my own I would need to find a lot of allocated time to get the stuff done (including to work in the handling of the game engine) and having to work around other stuff in college as well as my job on the weekends, but I am sure with the schedule that I made to work around it I am sure it will all work out and be on schedule. Speaking of....

Keeping on track with my schedule

(busy busy busy I always be, no sign of stopping me you see)

It is important that I have set up a schedule to make sure that I get a good amount of content done for the piece and that I don't fall behind when the time comes to get things done. Right now I have been good getting a good bit needed for certain things prepared for these and I will make sure when I need more that I can keep on top of stuff like design pieces, implementing assets and stuff into the game engine and making sure that I put in a good amount on certain days and work around that i get enough done for other modules in my college course and doing my shifts in my job while keeping gone top of all this.

All in all I do feel that I am going in a good direction and that I am on top of getting things done. Sure I may have a bit of a stumble with the likes of the game engine itself but I am sure that I will find the time (or I can get some help from someone to try and solve my lengthy list of problems with the engine) but I am sure with enough time i can solve this problem and get a lot of this sorted out and be on track to getting my game concept to become a reality. It may not be up to the level that I feel it will get to, but I will still think it will be great no matter what. Well that is all that I have to say on the issue for the moment, now if you will excuse me I have to go and attend my sister's graduation. So until next time..

Cheerio!!!

-Sam H