We were discussing our deathmatch levels—just a few minutes shy from submission—and he made the comment that he *never* creates a theme before starting to work. He prefers to just dive in. No story. No characters. No setting for the events to take place. No real events, even. He just starts working. And apparently, it's working for him. His map was clean and functional and he'll probably get a good grade.
I'm the opposite. Everything starts with a plan; a group orientation meeting; an impromptu design doc. I answer every question I can before ever start the work itself, and this allows me (and other stakeholders) to focus on that vision. I also spend way more time than I would bet every other student in class on any given assignment. I also iterate and detail throughout. My map (I'll post it below) is detailed, functional, and I will also probably get a good grade.
The difference? I'm betting I spent almost twice as long on my map. There's another time management lesson here—it's the same as the last few—and one of these days I'm not only going to learn it, but actually act on that 80/20 rule I keep talking about. ;) I'm sure my planning will be very helpful in my chosen career path, but for now I have to be careful that it doesn't burn me right out.
Anyway, I *did* manage to keep my scope down this time around—it's a four-person map, and it is straight-forward in its design. I wanted something that would be fast-paced and accessible to multiple play styles. And, of course, I wanted the players to feel like they were in a set of crumbling jungle ruins.
Though the Sonic series blows and I know you never liked it, many of the original Sonic games used a design process you'd likely appreciate:
ReplyDeleteThey'd draw an illustration of the over-encompassing setting (an example: the Floating Island from the Genesis games). The drawing had features on it from the artist: jungle areas, caves, ancient ruins, a desert w/ pyramid, etc.
Then the designers would point at a location and brainstorm the gimmicks, enemies, and level design said place would have, then go from there.
Me, I like Marc's approach: dive in then plan around the design. It seems more "gamey" to me, that the aesthetic has to make way for the core of a game than the other way around. To put it in SF terms: design a speedy dude with dive kicks and easy, damaging combos, where one of his big weaknesses is that he's a big target. Then they conceive a fat kung fu guy named Rufus who talks too much.
I feel like a jerk for not commenting on your DM level. So here goes:
ReplyDeleteI like it. Visually appealing from an overhead perspective and very likely the same on the ground. Several planes of combat: ground to ground, plank to plank, ground to plank, plank to ground, etc. The high ground is both advantageous and problematic to stay on.
Top left corner might be a bit safe-ish in my totally unscientific glance assessment. Otherwise very cool.
Nice analysis! :D
ReplyDeleteAnd you're right—you need the core gameplay to have a game at all, and starting there will inform all of your decisions (including the themes). I should have qualified my comment—I always start with an understanding of the core gameplay. I'm sure we all did/do (we needed an understanding of UT3 to build the map). My *second* step is to flesh out the theme. Marc's second step is to just start doing the practical work.
I see merits to both.
Thanks for the comments on my map, too. It's symmetrical in all respects, so any imabalance one one side would be mirrored on the other. I'm not sure there are any, but in term 2 we will be building our maps for play in UT3, and I will likely be sticking to this basic design.
Cheers,
Hey, this is Marc, Isaac makes it sound a little like theres no planning at all, but thats not what happens. I do go in with a plan in mind, but as Carlos mentioned, its more with the gameplay in mind than aesthetics. I prefer getting the map working Then making it look pretty after that. I find I work best that way.
ReplyDeleteCoolies. Makes sense. Didn't mean to make you sound like you don't plan at all. ;) See you in class.
ReplyDeleteCLASSREP!