Hi, this is Juan and I am the level designer for Xander and Sky Classroom Adventures.
I got a lot of inspiration from looking at older side scroller games such as the lion king and Donkey Kong.
Mostly I was looking at games that had you work your way up the level either by jumping on platforms or climbing up ladders.
I began with sketching up potential levels and sections to those levels.
Making these sections interchangeable makes it great for adjusting the level which we did a few times.
Placement of objects and questions had an impact on where I place the ladders for climbing up to the next section.
The player has side quest that he/she may be required to do when
collecting an object and I had to come up with the conditions for
completing the quest.
For any asset in the game, I ask the art lead to sketch up particular items such as animals or treasure.
To make the game more or less difficult I can adjust things in the level itself.
The questions can be adjusted by difficulty and therefore the facts
that are placed around the map that help the players become more
valuable if you don’t know the answer to the question.
The other thing that can be done is to adjust the difficulty by
adding more obstacles that challenge the player to be a little more
accurate with their jumps and movement. During the development of the
games we decided to add mini games so we could give the players a chance
to get ahead of one another. I originally came up with 6 designs and we
chose 2 of them to add to the game. Eventually any of the levels that I
finalize on paper are then colored out on the computer by our art lead.
The digital copy then gets sent to the programmer. What I have planned
for the future for level design is getting music for all the stages of
the game which are the start screen, level , mini games, and the goal
level. I’m looking for upbeat music with a jungle theme. The second
level for our game is probably going to be an underwater theme. Aquatic
life and treasure will be in the level, including also more mini games.
My job for the future will be to make up more items and really work out
the quest objects that have the player go retrieve an item which
enables them to progress up the level.
Lead Designer
Juan Hernadez
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
