LIAM NORMAN GAMES DESIGN PORTFOLIO
Leveling Designs Virtually
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Parallel
'A war between man and Alien breaks out in the streets, who's to say is right' This is a project I worked on in my final year of University that had me push my skills to the limit. I set myself up with certain goals that I wanted to achieve:
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To learn how to balance a game around co-op/Multiple players.
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Create a Gamemode that is interactive with players.
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Develop a believable world.
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My main roles within this project were:
Level Design, Core Gameplay, and Multiplayer Testing.
Mechanical Design
Coming up to my third year in university, I wanted to push myself to the limit with this project and craft high-quality mechanics that would not only challenge me but push my knowledge of the engine even further.
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The project itself started off with a single character and an obtainable turret, eventually spanning into a multiple game-mode battle game.
By the end of the project, I had spent more than several hundred hours and developed the following mechanics whilst being the lead designer for the invasion game-mode:
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Turret claiming.
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Player interaction with world systems.
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Assault Rifle handling and firing systems.
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Shotgun handling and firing systems.
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Sniper Rifle handling and firing systems.
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Rocket launcher Special Attack.
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Cluster Grenade Special Attack.
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Player 'Ultimate Abilities'.
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Invasion Game-mode.
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Multiplayer Character set-up and deployment into in-game.
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Multiplayer Variables and assignment.
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Minion AI and deployment into the Invasion game mode.
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'Neutral 'Jungle' System for point gain.
We did not have anyone on the team who specialized in UI development/design, so ultimately the task fell onto me to develop. Leaving me with a wide area of expertise to cover during the development of this product, which made testing rather difficult as there was always something that needed attention but with the challenge, I found it fun and exciting to push the project through it's stages.
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One of the hardest things about this project that needed constant revision and iteration was the invasion game mode, due to the fact it was developed as a 2v2 competitive game mode. Frequent tests were held to see how players would play the game and what they chose to play. With this information, we'd choose to either buff or nerf certain parts of the game or scrap pieces entirely.
Level Design
While working on the core gameplay mechanics that were going into parallel, I wanted to push my skills as a level designer. For Parallel I had the idea to create a 'Battle Arena' based within a town. To do this I chose to create a three different pathways with variating obstacles along the way. One of the most important things I wanted to keep in mind whilst making this world is to make sure that the world stays symmetrical in order to make sure the world is balanced.
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Through testing and analysis from testers over the course of the development of parallel, the invasion map has seen many revisions to accompany the scale and spacing of players on the map. During development, I wanted to add a level of verticality to the map to make battles interesting and allow for unique fights between players. In doing so I give players the opportunity to take advantage of players using that same verticality adding to the competitive value that I sought to gain from the original design ideas/documentation.
