Juan Hernandez Level Designer

What you set out to accomplish,

Our main goal to accomplish, was to design a game that was going to be educational but fun at the same time. Starting with a new game idea, we had to figure out if we could accomplish this game in one semester. We chose an age group and brainstormed some basic game mechanics.

What you accomplished,

We made a game that was both educational and fun. We chose a jungle theme for our first level. The game is easy to pick up and can accommodate 2 players. The game gives the players a chance to explore the environment and also to choose their own unique path to the goal. Our game is turn based and the questions are gauged for children in the 3rd grade level. We were able to add music, voice acting, and also sound effects. Inside of our game, we also have a mini game.

Why not accomplish all goals,

Originally there was going to be chutes incorporated and their function was to drop a player down when they answered a question incorrect. We left that idea out and the game functioned the same. There were also mini quest but we felt that would have lead away from the learning aspect of the game. The ability to find items and use them such as skip a question was also removed due to time. We wanted the core game play to function before we even attempted to add more features to the game.

Group interaction

The group got along very well. We met outside of class at least once a week and either or worked or discussed progress on our game. The director did a good job of keeping in contact with everyone. The work flow went smoothly in all departments and communication was a must if we were going to produce a game in one semester.



Lead Level Designer
Juan Hernadez

To see the early stages of this level coming together, check this link. Lead level Designer of Steps and Rails

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

I have been enrolled in a Level Design class this semester. We touched a lot of bases regarding the subject and I have broadened my knowledge on the subject even further. Critical paths and circulation elements was not my strong suite but now after this class I feel confident now in my ability to structure a level including those elements. I had to design 3 levels that were theme based. We had to do at least one revision based on the feedback from play tests. I will continue to practice making levels in my spare time. I will apply what I learned by making levels for a video game that was designed in a previous game development class made up of different groups. I was the level designer for one of the groups and by keeping in touch with the director of the project, I am going to be the level designer once again when the project gets started.

I have been coming up with ideas for a front end to my website. I think that I will pursue the Zelda style front end with a shop keeper selling items. Those items will be links to my other pages to my site such as the blog, demo reel, and my resume. The gimmick will be that they can move the character like they would in the original game and if they chose to not move around the character to the "links" then they can always just manually click the links with their mouse cursor. I will plan to have this done by next week and I will have an update with my progress and dealing with HTML 5. I am new to HTML 5 and this is going to definitely be an adventure.

 

                    

Have been working on my map based on O'Connell. I have about a quarter of the first floor shaped out with walls and its giving a good starting point for the project. This is a personal project and I hope to have the place infested with zombies soon. The elevator will be done as soon as possible and I am excited to start that. Once I have two floors done I will start incorporating the zombie portion of the map just to get a feel of how that will work. The textures I will take pictures of myself and get the correct textures for everything in the building. Some of the models for the inside of the building such as benches I decided to make. The benches included in the package were nothing like the ones you would see in the building  and I needed them to match so I decided to make them myself. Other items I will be modeling might be whiteboards and poster boards with flyers. I want to work on the lighting to be really dim and eerie. The lighting I will do after the zombies are running around so I can gauge how the lights and zombies compliment each other. I have video of the progress that I have so far which basically shows my progress to this point and I hope to make more videos soon.

I made a rough model of the first floor of O'connell. I have most of the walls up but there is a lot more to be done. Im looking into importing what I build in maya to the Hammer editor. There I will add detail for my map which is also in its rough stages. I have a short run though of what I have and I will be posting that.

Starting a fresh blog to update my work and keep a log of what Im doing. There should be an update of what I was working on during the week.

Quick update on my web dev class. I have started to make simple animated banners. Here's a basic one that I quickly made before class ended.


Simple and quick. I hope to make more in the future.