My goal for this project was aimed at showcasing my level design skills, in the form of a basic looping level. Throughout the development of this project I was heavily inspired by the original Spyro trilogy, and was seeking to replicate a number of the game and level mechanics that made them so popular. I am overwhelmingly satisfied with what I have managed to create, as this project pushed me in ways I hadn't wholly expected, and looking back on it now, I am honestly surprised at how many elements and techniques I not only used, and how many new methods I learned while doing this.
I managed to stick relatively close to my initial level layout, with only minor alterations to the positioning of the islands. Though one of the major changes was the exclusion of the cave systems, as they were not melding well with the overall theme of the level.
As my main focus for this project was to replicate some of the core elements of the Spyro games, one of my primary goals was to recreate the gems mechanics that features heavily in all adaptations. While the design and animation of the gems was relatively simple, I had to step out of my comfort zone for the collection of the gems. I have very limited experience with coding, and so was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the challenge of writing and implementing my own scripts into the level.
As well as this, I found myself experimenting with the Particle System of Unity, something I had never touched beforehand. Each gem gives off a range of coloured particles.
Gem Rotation/Particles:
Gem Collection/Counter:
While the scripts I used for these mechanics were rather simple, I still am quite pleased that I was able to not only understand and implement them, but that I was able to modify and adapt them as I needed.
Another new technique I had to learn for this level was respawning, as I had never created a game that required it before. As with the gems, I was able to both write and modify a respawning script so that the player would be brought back to the starting point if they fell off the map at any point.
Respawning:
The music I used in this level is not my own, as they were downloaded from freesound.org. The background music was created by Jeremey Marsan (http://jeremeymarsan.com/).
Overall, I feel like this project not only challenged me by forcing me to use areas of game design that I had never had to before, such as scripting; but that it also greatly helped me to hone my preexisting skills in both Maya and the Unity Engine. I had to revisit a lot of methods that I had neglected since my first years at university, and though I was occasionally waylaid by my lack of understanding or skill in certain tasks, I am nevertheless happy with what my project has grown into. I feel much more confident in my abilities, and in where I can take these skills in the future.
Full Run-Through of Level:
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