Mystic Forest
Timeframe: 1 Month
Role: Level Designer(Level 4) and Gameplay Programmer
Tools: Unity, Visual Studio
Skills: C#
A 2D platformer developed in Unity and focused on level design. Made alongside a team of 5
where every member was tasked to create their own level that flows nicely into all the other
levels created by the team. I created the fourth level around the concept of entering the
dark forest and using lights placed in the level to make your way through the darkness.
The player is able to jump, wall slide, wall jump, and dash in 8 directions. They can dash
into certain tiles to break them and activate lights and switches to progress through each level.
Movement is done through manipulating the player's velocity with input processed using Unity's new Input System.
Both Dashing and Wall Jumping are implemented as coroutines so that every dash and wall jump will go the same
distance at the same speed. This is done to avoid floatiness and to simplify the movement. The player is also able
to cling to walls and slide down them slower while holding in to the wall.
The level uses a tilemap for all of the base ground, wall, and spike sprites. Additional sprites are placed on top
of that as their own game objects. My level also uses Unity's newer 2D lights which are optimized better for 2D but
aren't currently supported with WebGL.
- Challenges:
- Making each of the 4 paths that stem from the main room traversable both forwards and backwards.
- Creating a level more on the difficult side that doesn't feel unfair.
- Giving the player a keyboard control scheme that feels natural
- Managing to have my level still fill the same role in the overall game even with multiple project-wide changes over the course of development.
- What I did well:
- The darkness of the level adds to the atmosphere but also factors into the gameplay of the level.
- Give the player platforming challenges that makes them use all of their available mechanics.
- Added variety to the level design so each of the 4 paths are unique.
- Designed a swinging light puzzle which has its own mechanics exclusive to my level.
- What I would change/improve:
- Allow the player to use a controller for input and map the keyboard controls to any keys they like.
- Give the powerup that lets the player dash twice in a more intuitive and rewarding way.
- Hold more playtests and balance the difficulty of the level so it's not harder than it's supposed to be.