Mission Design: The Factory
Hey ya, how are you? Term 04 is finally over. UHA! Pre-Production Phase finished and in one and a half week we will return with all energy to start the Production. But, for now, this post is dedicated to the Mission Design class that we have inside the Level Design Streaming of Term 04. As I’m having some problems with Vimeo these days, I will post later my Single Player Level that I presented some weeks ago in this post. For now let’s talk about THE FACTORY – ACT 02.
Each Member an Act
Basically, Level Design in Term 04 was all about to finish the last Single Player Map of the Term 03 Milestone, adding the final props and the Enemy AI with the Boss FIght, and, after that, to create a complete new level based in Acts. We were organized in Teams of 3 people and each one of the Team was responsible for one Act, based in the Storytelling Acts (Act 1: Intro, Act 2: Confrontation, Act 3: Resolution). Each Member was evaluated individually, based in their own level, but the whole Level was suppose to make sense and complement itself, following the same genre, story, and visual theme.
I was chosen to do the Act 2: Confrontation. To do so, the player would be presented for the first time to new type of Enemy AI and some kind of reward that could give an extra weapon to him, or something that could influence the gameplay. Each Act should have at least 3 main objectives, followed by 3-5 different enemies (Near, Far, Heavy, Minion) and 1-3 different enemy groupings using the enemy types that we created. Our Level’s name is The Factory.
Cell Diagram
As always I started with my Cell Diagram to plan out my level. Everything that we planed on implementing in our level from a gameplay perspective should be labeled in our Cell Diagram, identifying the goals of the experience, setup the conflicts that supports the goals etc. My Act ended up having a 05 – 06 minutes of experience.
The Factory: Act 02 – Cell Diagram
Paper Layout
Again, the Paper Layout is another thing extremely important to visualize a Top Down Map with Player’s Path, Objectives, Enemy encounters, Legend etc.
The Factory: Act 02 – Paper Layout
Beat Chart
For the Mission Design Document we did a complete paper describing each mission and player’s progression. But, for do so, we needed to also analyze the game actions and pace of the level. The Beat Chart is a chart format to show the levels of rising action and sections of cool down. For the Act 02, this was my Beat Chart.
The Factory: Act 02 – Beat Chart
The Factory
The Factory is a Single Player Level that has as Background Story a futuristic scenario in which robots have become a part of life. Our Level Concept was:
“In the future robots have become a part of life. As we continued our inexorable advance with technology in the 21st century, we unlocked that desired milestone of Artificial Intelligence. Robots now work alongside their human counterparts, shackled by the Three Laws of Robotics. If a robot was ever not constrained by these laws, it is unknown what would happen… until today.
At a remote robot factory a rouge AI appears to have been created. Its origin is unknown, but the military contract this company has leads the police to suspect secret research. All that is known now is that robots have taken over the facility and obey a different set of laws. Because of the potential danger to humans, a robot officer has been sent in to uncover and stop this AI before it can grow any stronger.
We begin outside the facility and must find a way inside and down to the heart of the facility.”
Act 02 – Overview
In the Act 02 of “The Factory”, the level will introduce the Second Base Area (B2) of the Old Robot Factory. The player needs to find a way to turn ON the factory system again – by finding the battery and plugin in the core – to be able to access the elevator to the third base floor. During all his way, the player will need to protect himself against two new Enemy AI, that will be activated right after the energy gets back. One enemy is in patrol mode and the other one hanging around. By restoring the energy and taking the new Time Weapon, the player can cross the laser corridor and finally access the elevator. By accessing the new elevator, the Act 02 ends.
Estimated Difficulty: 7/10
Estimated Gameplay Duration: 5-6 minutes
I didn’t recorded a video for this level but I have two different pictures showing the main mechanics and physics of the game. In the first picture the player is facing a “tornado-ish” physics that runs right after activate again the battery in the core. Because of it, the energy makes everything around the core fly around and start to shock between itself. The objects really reacts as physics objects.
The second picture shows the player with the Time Weapon, in which has the control to delay the time of object’s movement. In this case, the player is crossing the last corridor for the final elevator, and to do so he needs to shoot the mechanism in the top. By shooting, the lasers starts to move in half speed of the original one, and the player can see the spherical counter in the floor that shows how long he still has to cross the corridor. Basically, the way that I programmed the weapon was by delaying the real Matinee of the laser’s movement, recognizing only when the player use the bullet of the respective weapon.
To don’t make this post even longer I’m stopping here, ok? That’s all for today and stay tuned because I will update the website very soon with more information about the Final Project and also the gameplay video of my last Single Player Level. Thanks! 😀
Want to read the Mission Design Document?
Act 02 – Overview
In the Act 02 of “The Factory”, the level will introduce the Second Base Area (B2) of the Old Robot Factory. The player needs to find a way to turn ON the factory system again – by finding the battery and plugin in the core – to be able to access the elevator to the third base floor. During all his way, the player will need to protect himself against two new Enemy AI, that will be activated right after the energy gets back. One enemy is in patrol mode and the other one hanging around. By restoring the energy and taking the new Time Weapon, the player can cross the laser corridor by delaying the time speed, and finally access the elevator. Accessing the new elevator, the Act 02 ends.
Estimated Difficulty: 7/10 Estimated Gameplay Duration: 5-6 minutes
Objective 01: Find the battery Here the player begins in one side of the Base Area (B2) and needs to cross all the way to the other side, in search for the battery that will turn everything on. This first objective provides a good example of dark scenarios and dodging experience that the player will feel during the gameplay. To access the room that the battery is, the player will need to go to the top floor and destroy the glass floor, since the bottom floor has all doors closed from outside. The goal is to find the battery.
Difficulty: 6/10 Estimated time to complete: 2 – 3 minutes
Player Progression:
- Start the mission right after access the B2 Floor;
- Run and make your way ahead to access the next room. The player will face two different paths:- By accessing the ventilation tube, the player can go to the right and avoid the first wave of enemies;- By following the normal path, the player will face the first wave of enemies, but can also get a special Sustenance Reward: Armor Vest. – If the player loses, the game restarts from the beginning.
- Make your way to the second floor to be able to access the top room;
- Destroy the glass by shooting the pillars in the room, and breaking it with the impact;
- Get the battery and finish the first objective.
Objective 02: Plug-in the battery in the Core
Just after have taking the battery, the player will need to do all his way back to the Core central room. This second objective forces the player to explore the level again by using different paths and analyzing how the level will change after the energy is on. The goal is to plug-in the battery in the Core System. By connecting the battery in the Core, the player will get a Time Weapon.
Difficulty: 4/10 Estimated time to complete: 1 minute
Player Progression:
- Start the mission right after have taking the battery;
- Run and make your way ahead by exiting the room through the door which was closed by outside;
- Follow ahead avoiding the attack of the enemy of type 1 and access the stairs;
- Plug-in the battery in the Core System achieving a Access Reward with the energy ON;
- By connecting the battery, the player will get as a Facility Reward a Time Weapon and finish the second objective. 
Objective 03: Access the elevator
With the battery connected in the Core System, all the level will start to turn the energy on. Lights will start to glow and some environment changes will happen. The enemies of type 2 will also turn on, finally attacking the player in patrol mode. The third objective explores how the level is changed after the energy is restored to the factory. The goal is to cross the laser corridor by using the power of the new Time Weapon and accessing the elevator, finishing the Act 02.
Difficulty: 8/10 Estimated time to complete: 2 minutes
Player Progression:
- Start the mission after have taking the Time Weapon;
- Face the first wave of new enemies that are awake now: o If the player shoots the enemy he can paralyze it for a determined time;- If the player loses, the game restarts from the last checkpoint.
- Follow ahead and access the stairs to the bottom floor;
- Face the new wave of enemies 1 and 2 together;
- Access the laser corridor;
- Use the Time Weapon to slow the time and the movement of the laser:- If the player use the Time Weapon he can slow the time and cross the corridor; – If the player touches the laser he loses, and the game restarts from the last checkpoint.
- By accessing the elevator the third objective ends and also the Act 02. 
Enemy Types:
01. Hanging Robot – Far Type
Hanging Robot is one of the oldest robots AI created by humans. Different of most of the other AI, he does not need energy to stay awake. But in consequence, he cannot move around, as he is always hung in the ceiling.
Hanging Robot has standard range behaviour. He is always away from the player. By being hung from the ceiling, he reacts to the physical environment and can be easily manipulated by the player when the player shoots him. But he can’t be destroyed. Hanging Robot can only attack the ones who enter inside his radial range. Reward: There is no reward by shooting/killing the Hanging Robot.
02. Patrol Robot – Near Type
Patrol Robot is a recent robot AI created by humans. They need energy to stay awake, since they have very strong weapon damage. Their body are composed by metal pieces and very long legs.
Patrol Robot has patrol behaviour and they move towards the player. By being shoot for a number of times by the player, the Patrol Robot enters in paralyze phase and this is how the player can get advantage and run away. Patrol Robot cannot be destroyed. Reward: There is no reward by shooting/killing the Patrol Robot.
Enemy Groupings:
First Group: 3x Hanging Robot Group Behaviour: Controller
By being positioned and hung in the ceiling, the first group of Hanging Robots will manipulate the player in a way that he will need to choose between the best path to follow, and how to react according to the enemy position.
Second Group: 2x Patrol Robot Group Behaviour: Controller
As well as the first group of enemies, the two Patrol Robots will manipulate the player’s strategy and path, by attacking him after they are connected with the Core System.
Third Group: 3x Patrol Robot / 1x Hanging Robot Group Behaviour: Master and Controller
Finally, the last group of enemies will behave in two different ways. The only Hanging Robot of this area of the level will behave as a Master and Controller enemy, since the player will need first to find the best strategy to avoid his attack coming from the up area, being manipulated by them. And second, acting as Master Enemy by improves the damage caused by the other 3 Patrol Robots.
