exploration of Visual Design
- jblancharddesign
- Feb 9, 2023
- 4 min read
Updated: Feb 13, 2023
My aim for this small project was to develop a prototype of a mechanic that can be used to demonstrate the idea for a series of puzzles to a game development team.
More specifically I aimed to show the functionality of the puzzle so that a team of programmers could understand all the elements that are required. In addition, to add a basic level of art that gives the art team context as to what should be happening on a narrative visual level.
Below is the end product:
The Mechanic:
The mechanic I am aiming to develop is a power source that will emit a beam. This beam should be able to interact with a verity of objects, such as mirrors. The beam should hit a sensor that will then trigger an effect.
Emitter -
The power source emits a red line which in this case is our beam.
Reflector -
The mirror reflects the red line in a new direction.
Sensor -
The sensor turns the box to green when hit by the red line.
All these piece are the very bare basics of how the mechanic could function and are very easily demonstrated here. There simple piece were then translated into a prototype to see if a team could understand what I was trying to demonstrate.
Prototype Layout:
When thinking of how to demonstrate just how this mechanic can function to the other members of the team. I realized I needed to find a quick way to condense all the information about the mechanic in a small level.
I found several games that served as inspiration of how I can set my own level out. Games such as 'Moving out' & 'Overcooked' each starts by teaching the very base mechanic. For my own mechanic that’s the simple sensor and emitter. After each area they then add a layer of complexity by adding more components to it.
As you can see the image above follows the same structure as the games previously mentioned. We start by showing the player a simple a room and core mechanics and then solidify how they work and drip feed the features. Now this may be done over the course of a few levels but due to this being a sample for the team I created example rooms one after the other in order of mechanic progression.
3D Block Out:
From the 2D image I then blocked this out using Unreal Engines level building tools.
Image 1) depicts the first 2 rooms, which shows to the team that a door can be opened with a simple laser hitting the sensor. However, we can set it so that multiple sensors must be used to open the door.
Image 2) Depicts two ways the beam can be interacted with. A mirror that allows the beam to be rotated and a splitter that allows the beam to be split into two.
Image 3) Depicts how we can take the simple mirror mechanic and make a complex puzzle to open the door using 4 sensors.
Testing & Feedback:
To see if the prototype worked in demonstrating an idea to a team, I allowed my own team for an upcoming project to play the prototype. Both programmers and artist played the levels above, which allowed me to gain an insight to see if a whole team would understand the idea and be able to work from it.
Critical Incidence:
Most of the feedback highlighted two main issues with the prototype:
There was very little player feedback, people were unsure when a sensor became active of if they were able to activate a mirror or a sensor.
Majority of the artists were confused about the context of the level itself. With next to no art to go off they found it hard to picture how this would look in a game setting.
Player Feedback:
To solve one of the major issue I was having I need to look further into feedback to communicate what was happening in game to a player in a visual manner. Bellow is what feedback I added per feature.
Sensor Feedback
For the player to receive more confirmation that the sensor had been activated two piece of feedback were added.
The material will now change when the sensor is currently active. By using green as the main colour it adds positive reinforcement. We associate green as success or go.
When the sensor is not on screen and has been activated the player won't be able to see the green material and thus a sound que has been implemented to allow confirmation to be given for sensors far away. In addition, by layering up feedback for a player it further solidifies the sensor is working.
Emitter / Mirror Feedback
For the player to receive more confirmation that they could interact with the Emitter & Mirror two piece of feedback were added.
When the player walks within interaction range, a UI prompt will display in this case the letter E. By doing this we not only remind the player which key binding to use but also give them an indicate that they can interact with the object.
A sound prompt also plays, allowing the player to know that their interaction has been successful, and the game hasn’t broken.
Visual Context:
For the art I was aiming to demonstrate a low poly cave with ancient ruins with a feeling of magic. The overall tone should be warm and claustrophobic with a sense of mystery. Each asset also had the player feedback that I have talked about above incorporated into their design to give an example of how this could look.
Notice when active the three crystals have lit up, not only does this allow us to give yet another indicator to the player the emitter is functioning, but we can also use the gems to symbolism a count down. The longer the emitter is active the crystal one by one will deactivate when all the crystals have turned off the emitter will switch off. By doing this we can remove the need for a clock/timer on the HUD making for a more immersive game experience.
Notice in depiction 1) the door has the same glow and gem as in the sensor. That was to indicate to the player that the sensor and the door were linked in some way. When the sensor turns green so does the door which should solidify to the user that they are connected.
Environment Walls:
Sound:
Character:
