Level Overview:

Game Engine: Unity

National Mech League is a 9 - 15 minutes Single Player Campaign Dual Stick Shooter experience that consists of 4 Major Objectives with more than 3 conflicts per goal. 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 must face a series of tests in the first Section of the League Arena, 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.

Single Player Progression:

The player's progression through the Single Player Campaign occurs in 1 level and 4 sections. The League Arena is divided into four different sections. Each section differs by difficulties, enemies, hazards, advertisements, challenges and increasing environmental elevation. The player starts on the first floor and, by advancing and completing the Major Objectives, moves further to access new environmental elevation in their search to reach the top platform.

• Stages and Single-Player Time Projections

The following chart is a projection of the expected gameplay time for each level of the game and the associate difficulty progression. As the campaign progresses, the difficulty will escalate to challenge the player. There are also three game modes available with progressively more difficult gameplay: chicken, normal and badass mode.

• Single-Player Beat Chart

• Victory Conditions

The main goal of National Mech League is to reach the Central Top Platform of the League Arena. As victory conditions the player will be ranked and compared with other players according to their results in the end of the game.

• Environment Hazards

There are four different hazards in the League Arena of NML. All Hazards are there to strengthen and reinforce the concept of the “American Gladiator”, our biggest focus for our Arena Gameplay. The hazards are: Fire Hazard, Sand Hazard, Conveyor Belt and Magneto.

Stages / Areas:

The Paper Layout below contains a complete description of the unique level and 4 sections that the player goes through in NML, the League Arena.

• League Arena Stage Progression

The League Arena has 4 different sections, divided into 3 different elevations / floors. Each section has its specific Major Objective as listed below:

• Goals - League Arena:
  • Deactivate the Laser Gate by pressing x5 Power Buttons;
  • Control the position of the bridge by filling correctly the x3 Energy Targets;
  • Turn on the Pizza Box Elevator by placing x3 new slices of Pizza;
  • Press the button to turn on the Survivor Glass Room Door.

• Progression Flow - Sections A to D

Design Notes:

Our biggest challenge with the levels and the game design was the fact that the main game mechanic is the shooting. So, how could we vary the gameplay for each area of the game, considering that all that the player can do is shoot? How could we change up the missions to keep the player interested and invested in the game? In the end the decision to add different hazards for each section, and to relate the whole game with the idea of a Gladiator Arena, helped a lot. The player will always be facing situations in which the whole environment will react against him, while the crowd will scream and celebrate based upon your decisions in game. All missions and designs needed to relate with our theme.

[box type="info"] For a detailed and complete Level Design Document with all Enemy Spawn Points and Level Progression, please request via e-mail.[/box]

Screenshots:

Game Trailer: