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First post of the New Year.

Welcome back to Jonnys Blog, now with added GIFs, more words and -20% enjoyment. 

Sit back, this might be a long one...

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Intro:

A New Year and a New Assignment, (You don't get to know the grades for my last, they were, insufficient) which is named illustratively, "MANCHESTER". 

A brief summary of the task, is to create a pseudo game set in a specific genre (3rd Person Adventure) and create an enjoyable and well designed level for that fictional game; putting into practice the rules and theory behind the art of level design.

Ill chat about my thoughts and theories on this later in the coming weeks, for now, the post is themed around my current IDEA for the fictional game setting the backdrop for my amazing super-cool level.

So...

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Idea:

I decided pretty early on that the key to making a good level, is to set the level in a game with a solid foundation in its mechanics. Meaning that through level design the mechanics of a specific game can be used to maximum effect, complementing the overall experience and allow the user to enjoy the game to its total potential.

So, with that said, I needed some form of gimmicky substance I could call my "main mechanic" so that I might lean my level design in that specific direction; allowing for a more focused and (I think) professional design.

For this, I have chosen something which I enjoy virtually and....not virtually. Sometimes called platforming in video games and "being a dickhead" in reality, what I'm talking about is climbing. To better illustrate my points in moving pictures that talk, videos are below:

Basically, that.

Some of my most fond memory's and favorite moments in video games have come from interaction with the player avatar and the environment, rather than enemies or other NPCs.

I loved Enslaved because of Monkeys ability to climb and jump.

I loved Tomb Raider because it made platforming realistic.

And I loved Shadow of the Colossus because it was AWESOME.

Obviously when people talk about Shadow of the Colossus, its usually the touching an memorable story, epic graphics or giant monsters they refer to, but for me, nothing was better than climbing that tower. Climbing those mountains or trees and even climbing those monsters I mentioned. (They were big monsters)

The fact that they moved made it all the more intense and exciting. The mechanics and logic that went behind the intuitive climbing controls made it all the more fun and most importantly, for me, believable.

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Inspiration:

Games that I cite well and am taking major major influence and inspiration from include:

- Shadow of the Colossus
- Enslaved
- Tomb Raider
- Uncharted
- The Saboteur

This short list of games (I could go on) are examples of experiences when the simple mechanic of climbing and jumping appealed much more to me that the additional details like shooting or fighting. I could spend hours just exploring the environments, both vertically and horizontally, before I even paid piece of mind to the overall arching story or the guy shooting at my leg.

It was in the process of day dreaming about these games and my own experiences of being high...up. In high places. That I chose to focus my game (and there for my level) on exploration of the world and its environment as appose to challenges that come from battle.

Any excuse to use those photos...

Ideally, I would like to use one of the above images in my "photo reference" section and set my game level and theme in the wild, allowing me to essentially create a decent version of this:

(Man Vs Wild: The Game)

But, alas, the Project is called "MANCHESTER" for those of you paying attention / still awake / still reading.  

I couldn't decide how I wanted to implement this climbing or platforming mechanic and direction, in a city style environment. Obviously the go to place is rooftops and what not, but that felt a little tame and obvious. I mean, jumping between buildings would get old after a while and there exists games that have done it better. (Assassins Creed, Saboteur)

Which brings me nicely onto my second batch of research!

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Dark City:
Dark City is a crazy film, (its not great, I don't recommend) but there is a section in it with crazy moving buildings. You get a glimpse in this trailer:

Its around this time that I started to formulate the idea that, to create a climbing and platforming game which game me the same rush I felt when playing SotC, I would need platforming challenges that were dynamic, moving as the user played the level and forever changing their position and height. This, I felt, was why SotC was so enjoyable; because the structures were living and moving creatures.

Manchester, (or at-least its aesthetic) was chosen for me and that would have to be some element of building scaling and clambering if I'm creating a climbing orientated game. So, when Dark City and its crazy moving buildings popped into my head, that was my plan.

Buildings that moved. Hear me out.

This little idea I ran with and it fitted perfectly (I felt) into a Steam-punk genre. I am imagining crazy contraptions which resemble a sort of, macabre mesh of metal and moving parts that look somewhat like buildings.

Watch Judge Dredd with Sly Stallone and shake the screen at the same time Dredd City pops up, that gentlemen, is my vision.

My dream.

Imagine the giant robot spider at the end of Wild Wild West.....except a whole fucking city.

Yep.

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Summary:
So that's my plan so far, to essentially make Uncharted without all the shooting. Shadow of the Colossus without all the crying and Saboteur without all the Nazis.

You might also say without all the "fun" but in that case, you must be with the Nazis; and no-one likes the Nazis.

Ill be coming up with some concepts on aesthetic of the world and how the player will move through it, lending itself to some fun gameplay slices I can use in my level designs, but for now, I think this blog post is long enough.

Ill fill you in on more as I progress, but I will leave you now with an image I hope I can use for my main inspirational "photo reference" depending what Ben says.

If not, Ill just go recreate it somewhere in MANCHESTER.

Sweet Success!

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Here is the image by the way, its from Saboteur and I think its really striking: