Other Work
Work outside of my day-to-day and schooling.
In week 7, assignments focused on guiding the player using risk/reward and affordance/denial. I used the coins included in the project as rewards, but I also considered more intrinsic rewards such as shortcuts and vistas. Risks involved creating scenarios with a high cost of failure (mitigated through loops), and platforming skill checks with varying intensity. As I went, I built specific affordances and denials into the level, and re-used them where appropriate to provide players a sense of mastery as they progressed through the level and could recognize them.
In week 8, focus shifted to emotive design - specifically planning a level through its emotional arc. I really enjoyed this approach to level design for its strong connection to narrative. My approach was to start extremely high level with a 1-2 sentence pitch.
Though the ancient civilization is long gone, their lands have been reclaimed by nature. You have arrived from the dungeon below to a valley where a sacred temple sits. Make your way out of the ruins, through the wilderness, and find a way to reach the temple and claim its treasure.