Personal Projects
FPS Game
Color Wars
Rafael Pineiro
Level Designer
Escape
Game Details
Role
Level Designer
Development Time
2 Month
Game Engine
Unreal 5
Team Size
Concept
Escape is a Puzzle game That takes great inspiration from Portal Games.In Escape you have to use a number of different objects to solve puzzles such as physical cubes a jump pad and a control panel that moves objects. Each level will throw different kinds of puzzles at the player and as you continue the level the puzzles will get more complex
Solo
Genre
Puzzle
Level Design
Level Sketches
The rough sketches were made with the idea that each room on a level would have a different kind of challenge. similar to Portal where each room would have some sort of a level mechanic the player would use To solve the puzzle for that room. These rough sketches will give me some sort of idea of how I wanted the puzzles to be laid out from beginning to end
Levels Overview
The player begins to level with a simple puzzle he just has to put the physical Cube on the button to open the door.
1
In the second puzzle, the player learns about the impulse mechanic allowing him to move him and objects to a certain location
2
In the third puzzle for this level, the player learns about the anti-field that blocks objects depending on the field. The player also learned about the control panel that moves objects
3
In the final puzzle of this level, the player must deal with multiple anti-fields and another moving object puzzle.
4
The player has finished level
5
The player begins to level learning about how the lasers and Laser sensors work.
1
The player in the second puzzle Learned about the physical laser Cube that allows the player to bounce off the laser from the cube to hit the sensors
2
In the third puzzle, the player learns about the computer console that allows him to change what kind of weapon he has he can either use a laser blaster or a laser
3
In the fourth puzzle, the player must use the laser to get rid of the walls he must then use a moving laser platform to unlock a physical Cube to hit a button to move on to the next puzzle
4
In the final puzzle of this level, the player has two lasers and two physical laser cubes. He must use these objects to hit all four laser sensors to unlock the door to complete level
5
The player has finished the level
6
The first puzzle in this level challenges the player to hit all of the laser sensors by only using two physical laser boxes
1
The player must figure out how to get the box to the other side to hit the button to unlock the next room
2
In the third puzzle in this level the player must already use what he has mastered with the mechanics he's already given to figure out a way how to get the Box on top of the platform to unlock the next room
3
In the fourth puzzle of this level, the player must use the time manipulation machine to find out a way how to get the box to the other room before the door closes. When the player figures out that part of the puzzle he must now move the laser platform in a way that will reach the laser sensors to unlock the box to complete the puzzle of this room
4
In the fifth puzzle of this level the puzzles are now more complex the player must do multiple things to unlock the next room
5
The player has finished the final level
7
For the final puzzle of this level the player must figure out a way to move the Box so that the laser will hit the laser sensor then he must use that box to get to the button
6
Level Beat Chart
Design Techniques
Visual Language - Shapes
When the indicator has a cross it means that the object is deactivated when it has a green check mark the object is activated
Visual Language - Color
When the cables are black it means that the object has no power, But when the cables are turned green it means they have power on and the object is activated
Visual Language - Color
The silver boxes can be picked up and placed to be put on buttons or other objects they cannot redirect lasers. The blue boxes can do similar things to the silver boxes but they can also redirect lasers
Visual Language - Color
The anti-field Allows certain objects such as the player, blocks, or even lasers to be passed or not be passed through the field. Depending on what color the field is
Gates & Valves
Doors will not be open until the player activates them by doing several things such as putting a cube on a button or activating a laser input
Light lines
The light strips ensure the player That they are going the right way after each puzzle is completed
Post-Mortem
What went well?;
-The level of difficulty went well. I would say that each level is balanced and provides different levels of difficulty for each of them. Each level has their well-developed level curve
-The variety of level mechanics I was able to use. I was able to use several level mechanics for each level so that the player wouldn't be bored or have repetitive level mechanics for each level. This means that the player is always learning and mastering new mechanics at each level
-The complexity of the puzzles is from level to level. Thanks to the great amount of level mechanics I was able to make or one that was already in the game kit. The level progression of each level was varied and I did not see much Repetitiveness. The pacing of each level was well made and I feel confident about each level's pacing
What went poorly?;
-Since this was the first puzzle game I made I would say that some of the early-level puzzles were not well made or were too easy or too hard for the player to beat.
-The amount of testing needs for this puzzle game. I underestimated the amount of testing needed for this genre of the game since this was my first time making it a puzzle game. It took a lot longer testing each level and finding the right balance between too easy or too hard of a puzzle
-Scrapping some early ideas for level mechanics in pre-production. Well, the game kit did bring many-level mechanics. I also wanted to make my personal own And because this is my first puzzle game I would say I made a large amount of level mechanics simple and big that wasn't able to fit in only three levels. This means some ideas were cut during pre-production. When I decide to make another puzzle game I will make sure to limit myself to a small amount of level mechanics
What did I learn?;
I learned that puzzle games Are more complex than they seem seeing this is my first puzzle game. I learned many different things and aspects of puzzle game design And this was a great experience for me to try different genres for making games
-I learned that puzzle games require more Testing compared to my other projects such as FPS and third-person platformers. This is something I will add more time to during the development cycle of my project.
-I was able to make many different types of level mechanics that I normally wouldn't make for my other genres of games. This allowed me to experience level mechanics that I will now be thinking of putting in my new projects.