OLIVER JONES
Level Designer
Chrono Rogue
Role: Level/System Designer
Team Size: 7
Engine: Unity
Development time: 9 months
Play a fast paced speed running game that will test both casual and hardcore players alike. Enjoy 4 levels that will make you grapple, shoot and wall run through hordes of enemies as fast as you can. Share your times with your friends and try to beat your friends.
Personal Contributions
​Level Design
Systems Design
Pitching
Additional Contributions
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Git Management.
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Working with Programmers and giving feedback with each new mechanic added.
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Working with Artists to ensure that weapons and enemies feel the fit of the game.
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In charge of running Playtesting sessions with various groups of people to enable for different types of feedback.
Level Design
With this project being done in my first year, this was my first introduction to Level Design. However, since the game was based around speed running, it was important to teach the player how the mechanics worked. To do this, I decided to make a tutorial level that taught the controls and had a shooting range/sandbox area which would allow the player to get used to the movement and weapons that they have access to. This meant that when they went into the first level, they would be able to focus on beating the level in the fastest way possible rather than get confused on the movement mechanics.
When designing my levels, I wanted there to be a focus on replayability and exploration. I wanted to think about how the player would be able to use all of the mechanics and space to get the fastest time possible.
Specifically in this level, I wanted the player to be exploring each path, traversing the environment and forming questions in their head such as:
- Which path is faster overall?
- Which path has more enemies (and therefore more skill?)
- It is easier to skip enemies rather than fight them?
- Is parkour or shooting easier for me?
- Are there any mechanics that I could use to my advantage between paths?
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These questions would be answered through replayability which would allow them to find out what works and what doesn't. All of this results in each run being enjoyable as even if the player does not care about getting a faster time, they might enjoy exploring the new paths that they did not previously explore. The player will inevitably be getting faster times as they get used to each level, contributing to the overall game's goal being about speedrunning.
Systems Design
Since we wanted the overall goal for the game to be around speedrunning, I had to think about and pitch the different mechanics that could help the player achieve this. These mechanics were:
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- Wallrunning
- Grappling Hook
- Slow Motion
- Health System
These mechanics were easy to understand, but hard to master. It also felt like there were a range of mechanics for the player to learn, but didn't overwhelm them with too many things to learn at once either.
Wallrunning - Allowed for a more interesting range of movement. Primary focus is on the player having to keep moving forward as if they stop, they will fall. This encourages the overall theme of speedrunning and makes the player have to commit to a decision when wallrunning.
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Grappling Hook - Allowed players to swing across open areas and gain momentum by hooking onto eligible blocks. Players could use the momentum gained to fly across areas, however this is a high risk high reward skill to do, as they could end up flying off the map if they're not careful. But if done right, they could end up skipping sections of a level which would drastically help their submitted time.
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Slow Motion - A mechanic that allowed players to slow down time. This made it easier for players who might not be able to deal with the pace of the game, giving them a breather to take in their surroundings and make a more informed decision about their next move. This was made to be put on a cooldown so that players could not abuse the feature.
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Health System - Allowed the player to take damage from enemies. This meant that players had to think carefully about how many shots they are able to take, and whether its worth to dodge the enemies' shots or take them out. However, taking down enemies could replenish the players health, which might be a worthy trade off in order to complete the level.
Enemies were also added to slow the player down, but I wanted the player to have an almost "superhero" like feeling being able to grapple hook around and shoot mid air. This meant that if players were rewarded based on skill as if they could hit the shots ahead of time, they would most likely have a faster time, as enemy shots slow the player down and eventually kill them.
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A variety of weapons were also added to help the player kill enemies according to their playstyle. For example the assault rifle was better for players who liked to shoot their enemies at longer distances, whereas the smg was better for an up and personal approach. The player could also swap weapons mid level. This allowed a variety of ways to take out the enemies, which all had their own effects on the total time to complete the level.