Drosera had two different biomes we were to theme our levels around: "Jungle," and "Desert." Since the "Jungle" levels came before the "Desert" levels, this meant the levels of the "Jungle" classification were inherently easier. Shown below is an excerpt from our team's spreadsheet showing the hierarchy of level difficulty.
Shown below is how we defined our game's difficulty scale.
Shown below is my preliminary "Papermap" for Lush Forest. Please note that I had to design this level to be the easiest in the game, so I designed it to have straightforward pathing and combat. I designed this level in the aforementioned manner with the hope of allowing the player to have an opportunity to get acquainted with Drosera's mechanics and gameplay.
I received feedback from my team leader that I should consider removing the large tree in the middle of the map, and that I should add collisions to force the player closer to the enemy AI assets. The final "whitebox" in Unity before the "Decoration pass" is shown below.
Shown below is this same level after an artist completed a "Decoration pass."
Shown below is my preliminary "Papermap" for "Jungle Ambush." Since this level was assigned difficulty rating of "0," it would be considered the second-easiest level in the game. As such, I still wanted to give the player straightforward collisions and combat, just on a slightly larger scale.
I received feedback from my team leader that I should, again, consider removing the large tree in the middle of the map, and compartmentalize combat areas. The "Whitebox" collisions for this level are shown below.
Shown below is this same level after an artist completed a "Decoration pass."
Shown below is my "Papermap" for "Jungle Descent." Since this level was assigned a difficulty rating of "4," the player had to successfully vanquish approximately 3/4ths of the enemy targets present in the level, at which point they could simply exit or continue to fight the final 1/4th of the remaining targets. As such, I guided where I wanted the player to go with the placement of enemy targets.
The final "whitebox" in Unity before the "Decoration pass" is shown below.
Shown below is this same level after an artist completed a "Decoration pass."
Shown below is my "Papermap" for "Jungle Snare." Since this level was assigned a difficulty rating of "8," the player's start position was located so that they are attacked immediately by a "Brawler", which is an enemy that does heavy damage while having lots of health, and by the time the player has time to kill the "Brawler" they are converged on by an additional "Brawler", and 2-3 "Scurriers." "Scurriers" are targets that are easier to vanquish.
The feedback I received from my lead was to move the exit to the far-right side of the map, so that the player is forced to fight more targets, and add more "Brass Veins" (which give the player ammo), and more "Fruit Plants" (which give the player more health). The final "whitebox" in Unity before the "Decoration pass" is shown below.
Shown below is this same level after an artist completed a "Decoration pass." This level was designed to work with both biomes, so the image below has the placement of AI and powerups, however it contains the desert art assets.
Shown below is the same map with the "Jungle" themed art pass.
Shown below is my preliminary "Papermap" for "Sandy Dunes. Since this level was assigned a difficulty rating of "0," I decided to isolate combat to a specific area, and give the player the most straightforward pathing possible.
After receiving feedback, I decided to give the player 3 different possible paths through the level, and I decided to put a different quantity of enemy targets within each path. This level's "Whitebox" is shown below.
Shown below is this same level after an artist completed a "Decoration pass." This level is another theme agnostic level design, so an art pass was made for the theme of both biomes.
Shown below is the "Desert" art pass.
Shown below is my "Papermap" for the final level I designed for Drosera: "Trek to Oasis." Since this level was assigned a difficulty rating of "4," I decided to give the player 2 paths through the level; one path would be the "lucky" path filled with powerups, while the other path would be filled with combat.
After considering feedback I received I decided to keep the idea of having two different paths through the level, but I designed it so the player cannot avoid combat as much. The "Whitebox" is shown below.
Shown below is the "desert" art pass for that same level.
Shown below is the "jungle" art pass for that same level.
Shown below are the Game's credits:
More information about Drosera can be found at: https://atec-animgames.com/game-lab
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