Level Design and Development

As mentioned earlier in the blog, we are creating the game in a 1950s British countryside setting. After looking at existing levels in games and creating my own level features, the three of us set about drawing a level design. The video below is a time-lapse of its' creation (it's now hanging on the wall behind our desks!):



The level consists of four distinct areas: Hamlington village, a large field, a farm and finally a windmill and the hill it is on. We wanted to make the player move from areas of calm to areas of franticness and by spreading the four areas out meant that the player would have time to recuperate before entering the next area.

All the areas apart from the large field keep the player on a fixed route through them. The field is quite different. It is a large open space which gives the player the opportunity to freely roam it. The player enters at one end and have to exit at the other, but how they get there is totally up to them.

The image below is the level so far in blocked in in XSI. The models have been placed on the original plan but changes have been made during development - the start/finish line is on a straighter route and the farm has had an overhaul. My next task is to create the track and give it height to (the windmill is sat at the highest point and the field at the lowest).