The Level Design of NML

Posted by Matheus Pitillo on Oct 1, 2012 in Life at VFS | 5 comments

Hey ya! Milestone 02 was completed and now we are working hard for Alpha Phase. (YAY!)  I’m here today to present the Level Design behind National Mech League. Finally, the part that I am doing. 😛 Mostly everything that you are going to see here was created during the Pre-Production Phase, but after the last few weeks we had a lot of changes in the Design of the game, so the Arena and the Sections needed to be transformed too. So here I am with the result of these transformations. 😀

The Environment
To better explain our Level Design, first I will talk a little bit about the whole universe around it. National Mech League takes place in a futuristic universe in which the most exciting sport is Mech Matches. The game features a game universe focused on how the marketing and brands expanded in the world in a way that controls even more of people’s lives. Everything in NML is related to products, sponsorship, sports and machines, and at the same time parodying famous brands and sports. The World of the League Arena is full of lights, flashes, explosions, colours, giant structures, platforms and bots. Everything is futuristic, everything is connected, and there is marketing everywhere.

The game takes place during a Match of the National Mech League. The whole game will pass during night time, to highlight all the illumination, flashes and explosions in the game.

 

The Level Design
The Single Player campaign is the only Game Mode available in National Mech League. The player takes on the role of a new pilot that wants to compete in the new season of the National Mech League. As the player progresses through the Single Player campaign, they will move to different areas of the League Arena and Training Centre.

As the player progresses through the single player campaign, they must first pass through a series of tests in the Training Centre, to learn the basic mechanics of the game. After that, the player will navigate their way through the environments of the League Arena – divided into sections – to reach the top central platform and fight against the League Boss. The story begins with a new pilot entering himself into the new season of NML and completing the fundamental training to gain his Mech License, allowing him to participate in the biggest League.

The villains in the game are the sponsor bots that are there to destroy the character, stopping him from reaching the top of the arena. Besides these obstacles, the biggest challenge the player faces is the final Boss Fight against Fatvertiser. To reach the victory, the player needs to destroy it and survive.

The short story is communicated to the player via small dialogues between the commentators, always highlighting important situations that the player is facing at the specific moment. The end of the game will close out with the Main Character winning the League and being crowned the new victor.

The player’s progression through the Single Player Campaign is done in 2 levels and 4 sections.

Campaign Overview Scheme

Campaign Beat Chart

• Training Centre (Tutorial Phase)

The first level has a unique section which represents a Training Centre. The player needs to pass through this area to learn all the basic game mechanics that they will use during the rest of the game. The Training Centre is a small and simple level that works as a Tutorial.

Training Centre Paper Layout

• League Arena

The second level is divided into four different sections of a League Arena. Each section differs by difficulties, enemies, challenges, hazards and difference of environmental elevation. The player starts on the first floor and, by advancing and completing the Major Objectives, they move further to access new environmental elevation in order to reach the top platform and fight against the League Boss.

The League Arena is where the main part of the game takes place. The player needs to complete a Major Objective in order to move ahead to the next section. Major Objectives are followed by Minor Objects. Minor Objectives are not obligatory, however they give more Sponsor Points and Achievements to the player.

League Arena Paper Layout

“Gladiator Arena” Gameplay
Our biggest concern about the levels and the game design was the fact that the main and single mechanic of the game is the shooting. So, how we could differ the gameplay for each area of the game, since all that the player can do is shoot? How could we vary the missions? In the end we decided to add different hazards for each section and to relate the whole game with the idea of a Gladiator Arena. The player will always be facing situations in which the whole environment will react against him, while the crowd will scream and celebrate with your decisions in game.

NML will feature four different Hazards: fire, sand, conveyors and Magneto.

Level Design coming to life…
Finally, after all the new designs and decisions, I can present to you the 3D Model of the League Arena. Close shots will be taken later.

For more details and each section / objective description, I will provide the Level Design Document later. Stay tuned here on the website and check for new updates. I hope you guys liked. Leave a comment with your opinion! 😉 Thanks for visiting!