Introduction
In this post, I’ll look at levels for different games to get some ideas on how I’ll create the levels for my game. After I have some ideas from this I can then make some basic designs for my level to use later on.
Research
First I decided to create a mood board on different games to help me come up with some more ideas for mechanics that I could put into my game. I made sure to choose some very different games so that I could get as many ideas as possible. I found that out of these games I liked the pixel art style the best as I thought it worked well and would be quite simple for me to do. In some of these games, I found collectibles which would be a great bonus to add to my game at the end.
I wanted to look at lots of different ideas so that I could then look at more in-depth at the best of them. I first looked at where I could have each of my levels set as I have previously decided I wanted my level set inside a monster. I then looked at what I could do with my enemies. For this, I wanted to make some unique enemies for each of my levels. I then wanted to have some good hazards in my game but I just need to have them fit with the background of my game.
I really liked the setting of my level as its quite unique and I feel like I could add a lot more to it. I think this would also allow me to add in some more interesting mechanics. It will also allow me to make a more interesting backstory that would further improve the quality of the game. I wanted to properly look into the background of my game as it is what all of my game is based on.
I then had to decide on what type of level layout I wanted to have for my game. I had to decide If I wanted a complex Metroidvania type layout or a simple Mario like level layout. I decided to go with a simpler level type as It would be easier for people to understand and play. I feel a more complex layout would confuse players too easily and would create a lot more work for me.
The one thing that I need to pay attention to would be the anatomy of the monster as the player will be able to see some of it when in the level select screen. However, I plan to have the player be transported around via the blood in the monster so that explains how the player can be transported to any part of the body. I also want to have each level set inside of a different part of the body with the endpoint being the heart. This means that I need to think about where I want each of my levels to be set. I like the idea of having a level set in some of the major places in the body eg lungs, brain and stomach.
Evaluation
Overall I think this went well although I did struggle to find some reference images as not many people have done this style. I did manage to find some images that I can use to help me later on though. Coming up with ideas for my levels went really well as I had lots of ideas for what I could do for my levels. Creating interesting levels are important because having too simple levels can make the game too boring. But making the game’s levels too complex can leave players confused and make them want to quit playing.
Games Design 