Die Natur Ruft - Third Person Walking Sim

Summary:

Brynn, a young teen girl, is on the train home when it tips over and crashes. Shaken and carefully climbing out of the rubble Brynn trudges forth through the woods to the station for help; however, she is not alone. A group known as Die Natur are hot on her tail, placing traps around the woods in order to capture her.

Project Breakdown

Drawn Level Maps

Same Corner, different mood, area is from the top right on the map

Took this corner from nothing into a point of interest for the player as they journey through the woods.

Having high and low points in the level was key, not only with elevation, but mood. Going from walking quietly with no creepy things to suddenly a bombfire with bones!

This project was done at the beginning of my journey into learning level design.

How can I keep the player interest in a limited space?

Execution:

Elevation!
- elevation adds a lot more movement and build up (or down) to what the player’s goal is
- This is clear in my first map as no elevation was thought out
  - my second map has some, but the end results had much more variation not shown in these drawings
Points of Interest
- having critical moments of “wow” that keep the player going

Why?

Work Flow

For this project my process was much more visual based.

Multiple Drawn Level Maps
White Box blockouts
Gradual implimentation of finished assets

What I realized:

Script levels!
- having a written “story” point by point on what I wanted to have the player experience is much better and would’ve made my process much smoother
Take more time blocking out
- I was too focused on the beauty aspect of having the level’s assets in that I should’ve spent more time blocking out