Second steps

We thought about a few more tweaks to the game, adding some environmental powers to the wizard giving him more agency and god like powers, and some kind of a camera mechanic for the seeker that after a few moments of vulnerability could blind the opponents looking at it, and at the same time reveal the identity of the items in your field of view. Some other environmental hazards and powers that are played from the map (a neutral hazard affecting everyone)

Now that the mechanics are more or less decided and i feel comfortable with the direction of it, i could give the mechanics design ownership away calmly, and take the level design role.

Things i should consider for the level design:

- having different sizes and maps that can accommodate 2v2 up to 2v2v2v2v2 (10 players)

- having maps small enough to encourage encounters and push players to the chaotic nature that the game intended.

- make systems in the level to appeal and think about both roles at play (third person and top down)

- having more then one area or style in the map to allow players different tactics.

I had a few ideas for the general level design, first about the setting, i want the levels to be inspired by real "pet" worlds, for example some kind of dog park, where you have different "games" and obstacles. There should be a mix of walls (for the seekers) and roofs (for the wizards).

In class we talked about good multiplayer level design and in our group it was unanimous that a great timeless level was "Nuketown" from call of duty. a small map that push the players for encounter and chaos with 2 houses facing each other and the open ground between them.

With this inspiration in mind i started drawing some sketches for a basic arena level. a small symmetrical level that is pushing players to interact with each other in the main open middle, while having a suburban area where you maneuver through tighter walls and need to navigate more cautiously. having both parts of the map spawn collectibles will make players play at both areas and both styles. adding some roofs in the arena area to make the ground POV stronger, and wells on the exterior part making the top down view stronger.

After some sketches and some math calculations i built the gray box level in unity so we could test the mechanics in the environment in which it will be played. i added a script to work on the "ceilings" prefabs so we can reuse them and adjust their size freely later on and in other levels.