Background and Showcase

Fourto Temple was my second jump into level design.

In our aptly named Level Design II class we were given, essentially, the same project files as Level Design I. Same character, same premade model, and same creative vision document. The main difference this time is that we were tasked with development of a brand new mechanic. We spent a week brainstorming and planning, then another week prototyping. Then we spent the final 2 weeks implementing our mechanic in a brand new level of our own design. As with the last class we have to make collages of images that represented our creative vision for the level.

Unfortunately, just like with the Forgotten Kitsune Valley, I lost access to the game files… Thankfully, like before, I still had the pictures I had taken and I was able to grab the videos from past assignments!

Here are the pictures I took of my level’s key points.

Looks like I didn’t quite have pictures of all they key areas, but considering how big the area is, it would be best to walk you through it all. Case in point, here is a showcase of the level, played as intended.

And here is a showcase on how the rotating symbol puzzle mechanic works.

Reflection

Compared to my first endeavor, I feel I learned a ton more this time around. I was informed that Unreal had its own geometry system and that I could make a variety of things using it. With it I was able to create the huge ravine. I made the entire foundation a geometry block and used a bunch of subtraction spheres. While I feel there are better ways to do it, the process was quite enlightening. Near the end of the project, I used that experience to create a hollow tomb with an openable lid.

I will admit, I struggled with texturing the geometry. Because I used the transform tool in the editor and not the sizing tool in the details panel, all the materials got stretched when I applied them. This resulted in me recreating a few things when I figured out my issue. However, you may notice various parts of the level that have deformed texturing. To be frank, I didn’t have the time, nor the energy, to fix everything. While I would like to make it a perfect project, I had no plans on making it into something greater, nor returning in the future to build on it, so I didn’t fix everything.

Instead, I used it as a training ground on developing bigger, more complex levels. To be honest, the size of the temple this time is about the size I wanted to make my temple in the prior project, Forgotten Kitsune Valley. Through this experience, I learned how hard that can be. That really pressed home how time consuming the design process can be, and it gave me a bigger appreciation for the work level designers put in.

If there was any regrets that I had, it would be with my modeling ability and the restriction that everything must be blockmesh with the checkered texture. My tree models, while satisfactory for blockmeshing, weren’t satisfying to look at. I wish I had a better method, mainly, to make the giant tree look and feel better. As is, it’s a bunch of cylinders. The blockmesh restriction is completely understandable, though. Even if I would’ve liked to add nicer textures, I wouldn’t have had the time to. As it was, I got everything done only a few days before it was all due. While that may have been enough time, with how I was already struggling to make the checkered textures fit properly, I don’t think it would’ve worked out.

Another thing I wanted to do was create a landscape, but I didn’t understand, at the time, how to make the landscape material. In fact, I was given the opportunity back in Level Design I to use the landscape tool, but, again, the landscape material confused me. It wouldn’t be until a month later that I took the time to look into it more. While my understanding of it isn’t great, it is enough to get the job done for my skill level.

With all that said, this was a good project for developing not only my skills, but my appreciation for the art of level design.