Author: Charles Heikkila
Level Design Goals
Our most prominent goal for Grape Juice City’s level design was to provide fast-paced platforming in a multilayered city. The two central layers to the level design are the rooftops, as well as the streets, with each intended to provide their own set of benefits and drawbacks. The individual buildings, while meant to appear realistically laid out, are designed with easy platforming gameplay in mind with a stepped structure embedded in every block. Every step we took in this process allowed us to solidify our understanding of how we want our game to feel and play, culminating in an experience that we can all be proud of.
Blocking Out
Before jumping in to polishing and populating the level design, our first necessary step was the block-out phase, where we experimented with both jump mechanics and building layout. Our first iteration was very streamlined, with individual blocks that could be snapped together on a grid. Each building was flat and nearly identical for more streamlined population. However what we found was that the overall layout was far too bland and didn’t match what we were trying to convey, so it was eventually reformatted in the second pass.
Phase Two
Our second pass involved creating a unique layout with different angles and unique buildings. The stairway approach was carried over for platforming, but the street layout was hand-built to better orient the player within the level, while also providing a control point at the very center for players to battle over. Level design at this stage was focused on ensuring every rooftop could be easily accessed by a player on the ground. The biggest drawback of this design, however, made it difficult to implement modularity—In essence, it would have forced us to decorate each building by hand, one window at a time. So for our final phase, we ended up taking another pass at the way we design our buildings.
Final Phase
Ultimately, our final design consists of a mixture of hand-built and modular buildings to provide a unique setting full of charm. Our streets are wide enough to allow the player space to look around and search for advantages, and our rooftops are easily platformable with ample points of maneuverability. Another element that has become pivotal to our level design is the idea of bouncable objects, specifically awnings, umbrellas, and cars that all allow the player to quickly reach new heights. This allows us more flexibility towards the structures we build, creating different forms of platforming wherever it is needed.
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