Project Chameleon

Project Background

This was an MFA project that I was assigned to in the first year of my Masters Degree.  The project was a part of a graduating students thesis project which explored balance in video games, more specifically hide and seek player versus player games such as Dead by Daylight or Deceit.  As a part of this team I worked with the Project Lead and Programmers to create levels and environments that represented locations of the seeker characters.  While working on this project there was significant trouble in getting the core gameplay function to work properly.  While the gameplay and loops of the flow of gameplay could be mapped out, the gameplay itself was not there which made designing environments for gameplay challenging. 

Personal Goals

On this project my goal was to create levels that heightened the experience of players.  However with many delays with creating the scripts for the core gameplay it was not realistic to create levels designed for gameplay.  Instead my focus shifted to exploring different lighting methods, how to better utilize the standard unity lighting, and providing visual and navigational direction to the other level designers on the project. 

Project Achievements

With the lack of meaningful gameplay to work with I created a level representing the wild west of Butch Cassidy.  Using art packs from the Unity Store (Modular Saloon), I designed a level which creates spaces representative of many western locations, such as a rundown town with a saloon, farms or ranches that stretch across large fields, and some sparse forests for logging.  In these spaces despite not having gameplay, I tried to express different forms of spaces, tight cornered areas for juking out the seeker, and larger open areas for the seeker to spot out hiders. 

explain choice of mix between crowded, forest spaces where people can get lost vs open field spaces with some chunkier objects to use to try and obscure yourself in the more vulnerable state