First Playable Level

Hopefully this works.

This is a short video showing my prototype and the basics of my first playable level. I would like to point out the character is able to jump I just didn't hit the button in time. 

PrototypeA

Leg It

Level Design

A Small Hand Drawn prototype of my level

My levels for Leg It will mostly follow a similar pattern, the player character (Green)  running across the cities rooftops, the Thieves Highway (huh another idea for a game with a good name), in order to get away from the Heroes he's running from.

Hazards are coloured in red, so the two lines at the bottom are drops between the buildings that if the player character falls down they will lose a life and have to start the level over again, or if I decide to add in a checkpoint system start from there.

The red character in the middle of the page is an enemy, who moves from left to right normally, but if they spot you they will run straight to you. Similar to the pitfall, if the enemy hits the player they will return to the start.

The Blue is an interactive object within the level, much like Mario's pipes, you can jump on it and proceed to go down it, where you will enter a new level or a sub-level where the enemies are lightly different and the level will be different because you will be inside a building or on the street below.

The items in circles are power-ups. The one above the enemy is the Stop Sign Weapon which the player can use to deal damage and to reflect projectiles. The power-up on the far right is the Freeze Breath power. The player can use it to slow down enemies and projectiles.

The end of a level will have a small building with a red door on it that the character runs into to avoid the Heroes.

Final GDD

The Main Character,
Yoink

This is the final blog for my Game Design Document.

I have updated my Dundoc and I hope that you find it interesting. It's the bible for my game so please don't treat it like the actual bible and completely misinterpret it.

Game Vision Statement

Introduction: My game is about a free-runner who is on the run from heroes because he is a villain who enjoys playing pranks on them, and has various powers to help him get away.


Game Genre: My genre would be a 3rd Person Action-Platformer, as it involves running, jumping and dodging.

Game Play: The game play will start with a screen, showing the player character walking up an endless fire escape. On the screen will be different options to choose:

Start
Customise
Settings
Exit

The Start will obviously begin the game. The Customise option will bring you to a separate screen where you can see your character. The screen will show the back and front view of the character. This screen will allow you to change your characters appearance.

The base model will be a male with a green hoodie and airsoft goggles. You will be able to change the gender, the colour of the hoodie, the emblem on the back of the hoodie and what he wears on his face.

My Rendition of what the
customisation screen will look like

Settings will just change things like brightness and sound, though I did have the idea to allow the settings to change whether or not the view is First or Third person. Exit will bring you out of the game.

You are running away from the screen and towards something on the other side. You can jump, slide and move from side to side. If I learn how I might implement a QTE (Quick Time Event) if you get hit by one of the obstacles as a second chance.

The thing I will have to focus most on is animations, such as rolling when you hit the ground or when dodging a projectile, there are many different animations that can be used, and I could use a default character to practice them. The game will be 3rd person to make it easier to dodge obstacles.

Resources: I will have to use Unity for this and go over my previous writings for the character. One resource that I will use is the Unity Cookbook to help learn about the many different animations I need to use.

Game Idea Research

The Game I chose is going to be the free-running one. I decided on this one because it's both the one I want to do most and the one I think people would have the most fun playing. The idea of being able to jump over buildings and treat the skyline as your plaything is something I think most people would enjoy.

One Game mechanic I was thinking of is collectibles. Some form of item that acts as a currency in game. Maybe a small coin or something you could pick up. The coins would be collected in order to change the characters appearance.

Oh, no micro-transactions. Cause they're an idiotic decision to put in a game.

Power-Ups is another mechanic I was thinking of, maybe ones that let you jump higher, go faster, or ignore all damage for a time. Should be... somewhat easy to implement.

Uhhhhh what other game mechanics are there...

Multiplayer?

Yeah sure that works. You can play multiplayer against a friend with the same game and they will show up within your game as a slightly ghosty looking character. The game ends when both players crash or fall or whatever ends it.

I might implement a Quick-Time Event where if the player get's hit by something they can hit it away with a weapon they have. You can change whatever weapon you use but the default would be a stop sign.

This is what the main character would look like.
(Drawn by my friend Ruth)

Game Brainstorm

So I need four ideas for games.

One of them is a 2d (Now probably going to be 3d because of Unity) game with two worlds that interact with one another based around Fire and Ice. You play as a Fire Person in an Ice World and an Ice Person in a Fire World. Actions you take in one world affect the other. I had this idea long ago and it would have a similar art style to the game Fire And Water. There is a similar system in that game where one player must press a button in order to let another player through, and they can press a separate button to let the first player through. However in my game you would be on your own, and have to press a button to switch the worlds and alter the objects in both worlds.

Engine: Unity

Another one... is... come on brain... think of things...

MEDIEVAL ADVENTURE

Yeah sure that works.

You play as a character who's only weapon is a sword going out into the world for the first time. You are immediately defeated by a slime. Game over. Just kidding. Two other people come to your rescue and you form a party, which is really what the game was about in the beginning- hah I tricked you. You will pick up more companions as you continue on your quest, and you will be able to switch them out at your leisure. Each of the companions would be different and have a specific skill set. You might need one companion to help traverse a volcano and another to help swim across open water. There would be a final scene where every companion you've gathered helps you defeat the Big Bad of the game, and I'm sure I would somehow make it heartfelt. There would be around... maybe twenty characters?
Each of them would have their own abilities, design, plot, personalities and dialogue. So, that would be a lot of work. Although I guess only nineteen dialogues as the main character, that is you by the way, would only have Yes, No or other options, and not really have to speak at all.

Engine: Unity

Uhhhhhhhhhh... Music... Explore... Digger...

Ok now to make a game using those three words.

You are a player with a pickaxe and you need to dig to the center of the world for... reasons... There is music playing and you have to swing to the beat. Well you don't have to but you get more points and will go much faster if you do. This sounds more like a mobile game, something like flappy bird. Maybe I'll make it so that if they aren't on beat they lose. I'm sure that would destroy a lot of screens. There would be a lot of customisation too, able to change what your pickaxe looks like and what music you listen to, maybe change what you're breaking too.

A RuneScape Pickaxe

Engine: Unity

FINAL GAME

AND THIS IS ONE I MAY ACTUALLY BE ABLE TO DO

A freerunning game where you, the player character, has to run across  rooftops in order to escape Something chasing you. There will be obstacles in the characters way, such as roof access stairs and clothing lines. 

The character will be wearing something simple, a green hoodie for example. But you can customise it by changing the colour and putting a logo on the back. It would probably be similar to several other chasing games but I'm sure I can find some way to make it unique, maybe with the various power ups I could implement and have a story to it. Maybe little hints as to why you're running, with the thing that is chasing you exclaiming or shouting things that will give away information on what the runner's background is.
The character is based on an idea I had for another character for a story who is basically Spiderman if he was a villain but still had the same joking personality. This character has many powers, which is useful as there will be an excuse for many powerups that the Runner can use.

Engine: Unity

An Example Of Free Running