Bootcamp Reflections: Level Design and Creating a Game (Tech for Good Part 2)

It was a fascinating start to our second week looking at how game engines like Unity can be used to try to solve or treat real world problems. We looked at various types of examples of research studies with Unity, for instance, an experiment conducted at Manchester Metropolitan University which was designed to create a supported exposure environment for people with a fear of heights. It was interesting to discuss ethics with this type of experiment and how much virtual practices such as this may help people in real life. It became clear to me that we need to be careful about how we identify what the problem is we are trying to solve, and what methods we use to do that. On the second day of examining research methods, we got to conduct own individual experiment to try to test the hypothesis that the perception of distance can be aided by additional decoration in virtual reality. It was fun to try out a test experiment and useful to think about what practicalities and procedures we may need to consider or alter when carrying out game research.

On the following day, we learnt how to add interactive elements to our terrain levels designed last week, using Unity to add features such as in-game text, collectable objects, and functional doors.

We then had two days to complete our environment level and create our game during our bootcamp game jam. I decided to base my game on my island level design using the game design concept I had come up with the previous week. During my idea generation and research process, I became unexpectedly inspired by an alien documentary I had watched that week, as well as paranormal investigations I had seen on YouTube. I found myself wondering what might have motivated these people to visit such scary places, in search of finding the truth or some kind of proof of another existence. It seemed to me to be about both fear and fascination, which can be two sides of the same coin. Fear can walk a fine line between our instinctual human response and feelings of fun, and fear of the unknown (in this case, whether or not aliens exist) can therefore both be scary and a fascinating concept. “Are we alone?” in the universe is the question that has also run throughout our history as human beings and therefore, this became the title for my game concept and prototype. Although many island video games already in existence tend to focus on a need to escape an island, ‘Are we alone’ would put the player in the shoes of an alien investigator, who intentionally set up camp on alone, a mysterious, remote island called Lunar Tides which emerged from the sea, in order to find and gather proof of alien life.?As a concept, it would be an exploration, mystery based game with elements of both fascination and terror. I enjoyed finding inspiration on Pinterest for my island to construct a design mood board (in this case, for my dome shelter tent or sanctuary pod) and also created my own game art for the game, as pictured below.

Over the next two days, I focused on adding interactive elements to my game including in game text to prompt the player, such as welcome text which can be seen below, which was coded to appear when the player walked up to a wooden post, and disappeared when they moved away. I chose white text to stand out from the dark terrain. I also added warm interior lighting to buildings to create a safe, warm contrast of my "safe" basecamp, compared to the eerie green point lights located throughout the terrain which also 'bread crumb’ the player toward the direction they need to travel. I also added an invisible collider?around the terrain to prevent the player from falling off the world, as well as a sci-fi, ambient music to add to the game atmosphere, and gave my first person character a free torch pre-fab from the Unity asset store which both aided with in-game lighting and added to the horror or mystery elements of the game.

Overall, I really enjoyed the game design and implementation process and it was really rewarding to upload and see my prototype game played at itch.io (https://gemmajohnson.itch.io/are-we-alone), including getting real-player feedback via a streaming review. The coding parts and learning Probuilder were challenging at times, but the experience showed how important it is for design to be aware of the capabilities, limitations and processes of games engines. It's definitely inspired me to continue making games and I look forward to taking part in more game jams in future. If you would like to learn more about my game design and implementation process on this project, I will shortly be updating my online portfolio with more information and explanation about the design choices made and development process from concept to creation at https://gemmajdesigns.myportfolio.com/ I look forward to seeing whether my game design and development journey might take me next.