Level Design Ideas and Concepts.

LEVEL IDEAS AND CONCEPTS

The general concept for the game level that I will be creating is travel. It will be a 2D side scroller.  I want to create a level that connects multiple iconic locations in the world together. The way I want to link them is with paintings or windows. The player can enter one and come out another and each painting/window will take the player somewhere different. In each of these locations there will be platforming and puzzles that the player will have to complete in order to progress to the next painting/window. I want to use an apocalyptic situation to make the level more intense.

The player's score will be determined by how fast they complete each level, the faster the better. In each level there will be collectables that, when picked up, will add bonus points to the player's score. I want the main incentive for progressing through each level to be discovery. I want the player to want to see where the next painting/window will take them and how the apocalyptic environment is affecting each location.

Some locations that could be featured include; The Sydney Opera House, The Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, Mount Rushmore, The Great Wall of China, The Golden Gate Bridge and more. The Sydney Opera House portion could feature a deadly meteor storm, forcing the player to move quickly. It would start at the bottom of the building and have the player climb to the top, ending with the player running across the top of the building. The Eiffel Tower level could use a deadly earthquake as it's apocalyptic scenario. The camera would pan to the top of the Eiffel Tower to show that the painting/window is at the very top to show the player where they had to go. As the player climbed the tower earthquakes of various magnitudes would shake it, causing some platforms to fall/move which will cause the player to think fast and react quickly. As the player reaches the top quarter of the tower a giant earthquake (think 9+ on the Richter Scale) will cause the tower to start to fall. The player will still be playing while the tower topples over. It would be designed that the player reaches the painting(which is falling as well) just before it hits the ground.

There will be three main characters in this game. The first character will be the that the player controls, he will be a museum guard that got pulled into a 'magic' painting, this will be the beginning of the game. This character will be nameless as well as a silent protagonist. The second character will be the Senior Exhibit Designer, he will be an older man and will tell the player his overarching goals, he will also be the one to tell the player how to play. His name will be Gregory Henderson, Greg for short. The third character will be another guard from the museum, she would have entered the 'magic' painting before the main character. She will be the one to tell the player where to go in levels, usually in the form of hints and, at some points, she might be in the level with the main character. Her name will be Zoey Klerks.  

I will be posting more thoughts and ideas for each section either in another post, or in an edited version of this post.