THE DAMAGED FRIGATE
The player takes control of a engineer in a mech suit tasked with repairing the critical systems of a recently damaged frigate so that it can be safely transported to the nearby station for proper repairs to be done. The player has access to a repair mode and a gravity gun mode which allows the player to pickup and move objects as the explore the ship looking for the reactor and any side objectives along the way. There are also hidden things scattered throughout the level for the player to find along the way as well as side objectives that the player may or may not complete.
The challenge of this project was that we were required to fit the level within a specific spacing requirement and that proved to be an interesting task to overcome while still allowing the level to be interconnectable.
This project is in my opinion my favorite and best work yet!
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Documentation
The Following Photos are from the designing phase where I spent a week creating mood boards, map diagrams and visual representations of gameplay mechanics to demonstrate how the prototype would function and play.
Level Start:
So to begin the level I wanted the player to start on their ship and move onto the frigate. This area that the player moves into has some objects for the player to mess around with and get used to the grab mechanics and a broken terminal that the player must fix to get access to the following areas. The design decision for this was that the player could take any path they want to reach the end and thus encourage exploration.
Maintenance Tunnels:
For the maintenance section I wanted to have a more mechanical feeling so to achieve this I decided to light the area in a red tone as well as run ductwork through the area. This is also the area where the sub-generator side objective is. To increase exploration there is an elevator in the sub-generator room that goes up to the habitation section.
Habitation Section:
For the Habitation Section I wanted a simple area that had some objects you would find in a habitation section. Due to the limited assets I used a couple chairs and a table along with some crates and barrels of different sizes to achieve this effect. I also added a storage compartment just above the hidden path to get to the final section of the ship. As this is the middle of the level it has an elevator down to the maintenance floor as well as a vent that can be pulled of the wall to access an airlock to the exterior of the ship.
Ship Exterior:
For the ship exterior, I wanted the player to have an area with low gravity and a couple of different ways to explore the exterior. To achieve this I have an area the player has to jump on boxes to reach a broken console which activates a staircase to get up to the upper sections as well as a side objective collectable that is on a lower section blocked by a hazard that needs to be fixed. In the upper section, I have the airlock that connects to the habitation section to add to the option of places to go. To reach the final section of the ship I envisioned a path of debris the player will have to navigate to reach the airlock.
The Core:
For the Core of the ship I wanted it to feel like a Main generator room so there are large power cores that link up to the central generator and once the generator is turned on the first time, the player must fix the broken power cores and then reactivate the core to finish the level.