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Level/Location Descriptions

For the task of writing my location descriptions, I was required to expand upon my concepts that I had for each of the individual levels/locations which are apparent within the game.

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Although for the exhibition, our game demo is planned to have only two out of the six levels/locations, I still wrote about all of the levels, as it would help me with some of my other tasks that I would need to carry out (such as my script, which I also planned to carry out in full).

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This page will show the process of creating/writing my level descriptions in full, as well as the level descriptions themselves.

Below you can find the process of this tasks creation, and then at the bottom of the page you can find the descriptions themselves

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Why I've done this task

The task of writing my level descriptions out in full was mainly for the reason of being able to portray my idea of my level/location concepts. Previously, during the pre-production phase of the project, I created a moodboard and brief description for each level, which enabled me to show my idea visually (this task will be further talked about below), but by writing the level descriptions out fully, I could show my idea verbally, and talk about the areas I could show via images on the moodboards.

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With the location/level descriptions, I could then write out my concepts for each level, and then pass the ideas across to the rest of my group (especially artists, level designers, and sound designers), so they had an idea of each level (although they only really needed to know about/focus on the first two levels, as that we’re hoping to have ready for the exhibition).

Level 1 moodboard.PNG
Level 1 description.PNG

Here is an example of how I referred back to my moodboards while carrying out this task, to help me when writing the location/level descriptions.

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The use of the moodboards allowed me to see the different themes/areas I had planned to make use of, and then I could write about them.

How I did this task

Before writing out my level descriptions I decided to revisit a previous section of work that I had created during the pre-production phase of the project. This task was my location/level moodboards.

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I decided that this would be an effective method, as the moodboards portrayed my idea for the levels in a visual way. Looking back to these moodboards, for each level/moodboard, I was able to spot the particular unique themes that I wanted each level to make use of (such as ice, volcanic, and mountainous). So by looking back to my moodboards, I was reminded of the ideas I had for each level/location, which made writing about them a lot more easy (as the pictures showed different ideas that I had wanted to include in our levels, such as the ruins of each island which would then link to the islands theme – Ice ruins, volcano ruins, etc.)
My location moodboards can be found on the page linked below.

Decision making

When writing my location descriptions, there were a few areas of decision making that occurred.

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Before writing the descriptions themselves, I needed to make sure that I was happy with the level theme that the levels would be about. During pre-production, I was aware that we would only be creating the first two levels for the exhibition game demo, and so those were the two levels that I made sure I was happy with. However, some of the later levels had concepts that were a bit vague.

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After carrying out my research into the level themes (this will be talked about further during the research section of this page), I was able to come to a conclusion on my level concepts, which then allowed me to move on and write about them.

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My next decision came around once I began writing about the levels themselves. During this time, I was required to finalise my ideas for each individual levels, and make my final decisions about what the different levels would include. This wasn’t too much of a task though, as I had already somewhat planned this with the task of my level moodboards and brief notes on them. The decisions made around this time were more so decisions for the islands we wouldn’t be creating for the exhibition game (levels/island 3-6), and so making these decisions thankfully didn’t have any impact on my group. The decisions made were more so about the building styles of the later islands (if there were buildings), and if there were even inhabitants on certain islands (and then if there were, what did they do?).
I decided that the third island, Glacies Island, would make use of buildings of snow and ice, which I would then be able to link to the lore of the island (being that the buildings never thaw out as the climate/weather conditions are always cold), then the fourth, cascade island would be uninhabited and have a lack of structures (apart from the ruins which I decided to locate behind the main waterfall of the island as I felt that was a fitting location for a hidden cave/ruins), and then the fifth island, Ignis Island, would make use of stone crafted buildings along with a volcano as the islands main feature (this being where the ruins are).

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Problems/problem solving

The main problems that I found appeared just before writing the descriptions for my own levels. The one main problem (that I have already briefly mentioned) was how I still wasn’t completely certain about my level ideas, especially for some of the later islands.
To solve this problem, I decided to go back to the beginning and try to strengthen my concepts for these islands (such as the volcanic island), and then explore how the story for this island could occur/be about.
To get around this problem, I looked back to the research I had carried regarding level themes, which somewhat helped me develop my ideas (this research task will be linked below).

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Another problem that I have found recently is that the first island was meant to include NPCs (as that was the initial concept, and is also stated within level descriptions that I wrote for this task), but then looking at our current game for the exhibition now, Its looking like there won’t be NPCs apparent (in our exhibition game). Although this goes against the concept and level description, I decided this would still be okay for the game shown at the exhibition, as that game will be comparable to a demo, but I still hope to somehow show that the first island would have NPCs.

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Decision making

There wasn’t really too much research that influenced me while writing, as the influence was from research I had carried out prior to writing.

Most of the research that influenced me while carrying out this task was carried out before I began writing the level descriptions.

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The first research piece that influenced me while carrying out this task was my real world influence research. This was my inspiration for the initial concepts of the different island, such as some of the themes, but the main influence this had for me was the building styles that each of the islands would make use of, which I was able to explore by looking at images of real places online. These images were mainly of islands or areas of a location, which portrayed a setting that was similar to that of what I had imagined my locations/levels to be like within the game. This then gave me an area to write about during the level descriptions (which was the task shown on this page)
The link to this research page is linked below.

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There was also another piece of research that influenced me during this task, but the influence was rather minor. During my questionnaire that I sent out to my audience, I found that they were a fan of games that allowed adventure, so they liked open world games. This was something I had hoped to be apparent within all of the levels. When writing the level descriptions I wanted to try and show this aspect to the levels (and how they’d be rather open and allow adventure).
The page to this area of research is linked below.

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Reflection/Evaluation

As this task was quite a minor task, and was only really a verbal description of my levels (as opposed to the moodboards which where a visual description) it wasn’t really too time consuming compared to some of my other tasks, which I was pleased about, as I have a number of production tasks to carry out, and not as much time as I’d like to have.

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As the initial plans for these descriptions were the moodboards themselves, I feel as though the level/location descriptions are rather effective in explaining what my idea about the individual levels were, although looking back at them I do have one problem.
Now I have read the level/location descriptions once again after having written/completed them, I can see how the writing began as more of a location description (which is what I wanted this task to be), but then quickly started to become like more of a level description.

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This is something I would like to go back and change if I have the time remaining at the end of the project, as I would like these to reflect location descriptions as opposed to level descriptions (where it’s more like a descriptive writing piece on the location itself, talking about the location as if it was like a writing piece where I was talking about a real place).

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However, I still feel as though there is some effectiveness to what I have written for this task, as It gets the idea across for the different levels/locations, which was a aim of the task.

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Impact on the project

Although my location/level descriptions weren’t quite like what I had hoped they’d be, they were still ended up being rather useful as, like mentioned previously, I was able to use them alongside my location moodboards to give a visual and verbal description of the different level ideas, which helped me when writing, but also hopefully helped me get the idea of the levels across to my group, making the creation of the two levels they were  creating a bit more simple (as  the understanding they had about my concepts was better).

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The level/location descriptions are shown below:

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Level 1 – Litore Island

Litore Island is a relatively small beach-like island, with its main feature being a small market village. The buildings of this island have a style similar to that of Tudor architecture, where the building makes use of materials such as wood (for supports) and stone. However there will be a number of buildings and structures that primarily/only make use of wood. The island is comparable to your stereotypical. Another important area on the island will be the island docks. This will be a simple wooden bridge like dock where the protagonist’s ship, along with the other ships owned by the people of the island, will be located.

The people of this island earn an income via market trading, with many trading and selling items. One of the islands more popular trades is the fishing trade. However, as of the stories/games start, this isn’t too apparent, as the village is being attacked, with many buildings being damaged and some even burning. After the island invasion is over, the panic has died down, although some of the effects of the attack are still visible (such as island village repairs occurring).
As this island has inhabitants, this will be reflected in the game with the use of NPCs. However, as the island is one of the smaller islands of the game/world, there will only be few.

 

Level 2 – Sandvine Island

Sandvine Island is uninhabited and has been for many years, which is apparent by the islands environment and conditions. The island consists of two varying biomes, with one being a vast desert, and the other being an overgrown jungle. Both sections of the island have visibly been left untouched for many years.

There were once inhabitants of this island, which explains why there are signs of human life apparent throughout Sandvine Island, such as the abandoned buildings of the desert that have been weathered and worn over time by the deserts infrequent sandstorms, and the ruins located in the jungle which are now overgrown with roots and vines as nature has been left untouched for many years.

As the island consists of the two different biomes, the landscape of the island will have two distinguishable sections. The desert section of the island will, of course, primarily make use of sandy terrain with the occasional appearance palm trees and an oasis. The second biome of this island is the jungle, which will primarily consist of overgrown jungle trees and other (overgrown) vegetation.

Inside these ruins is the first puzzle of the game that must be solved in order to obtain the second map fragment. This map fragment shows the location of Glacies Island, the next island/level of the game.

As the island is uninhabited there will not be NPCs. To begin with there will be one, as the sidekick is introduced on this island, but apart from this character and the first crew member, the only other beings encountered on the island would be the mechanical fiends that appear around the different sections of the island.

 

Level 3 – Glacies Island

Glacies Island is an island that is completely frozen over and experiences frequent snowfall and constant freezing temperatures. Although the island is constantly cold and frozen all year round, there are still human inhabitants that occupy the island in its village.

These inhabitants, however, have capitalised on these cold, harsh conditions by creating buildings that make use of the snow and ice that constantly builds up across the island. At first thought these buildings may have a major flaw being that they would melt during warmer seasons, but as the island does not experience a season with warm enough temperatures to melt the ice, these ice crafted structures remain standing all year round.

Although the islands conditions are constantly cold, there are still days where there’s the absence of snowfall. During these times the islands icy plains become a place of beauty, as the sunlight glistens off of the settled snow and ice. Surprisingly there’s also vegetation apparent throughout the islands icy plains that has managed to overcome the harsh conditions. Most of these consist of trees, some withered and some with leaves, but there are also other types of vegetation apparent such as flowering plants and herbs.

Located on the island, away from the village and on a section of the island that experiences the harshest conditions, are stone ruins that have been snowed and frozen over. Inside these ruins is the second puzzle of the game that must be solved in order to obtain the third map fragment. This map fragment shows the location of Cascade, the next island/level of the game.

 

 

Level 4 – Cascade Island

Cascade Island is an uninhabited mountainous island. Throughout the island there are a number of waterfalls, some small and some large in size. The largest waterfall cascades down the tallest mountain of the island and forms pools of water at each level of mountain that the water cascades down. The majority of the island is made up of mountainous land, but there are sections of sandy shorelines.

At the time of arriving to this location within the game, a beached shipwreck can be found on the sandy shoreline of the island. This will be the remains of the protagonist’s ship after the attack that occurs just before arriving at the island.

Located behind the upper section of the islands main waterfall is a hidden cave. Inside of this cave the islands ruins can be found. Inside these ruins is the third puzzle of the game which must be solved to obtain the fourth map fragment, which shows the location of Ignis Island.

 

Level 5 – Ignis Island

Ignis Island is different to the other islands of the world as it’s a volcanic island. The main feature of the island is the volcano itself, but there are also other notable features such as the village settlement that stands at the base of the volcano, close by the coast of the island. The island is located by the coast as although the volcano is unlikely to erupt, it has remained active since the inhabitants first settled on the island.

Across the island there are a number of areas that possess more of a natural danger than others. Flowing out from the volcano there are a number of lava lakes and streams that eventually come to form lava pools. However, these are primarily on another side of the island to the village settlement.

The majority of the island has a stone, rocky terrain, being the same as the volcano itself as the whole island is the volcano. Due to this, the architectural style of the structures on the island also make use of stone as it’s the most obtainable material on the island, but also since there’s the reduced risk of fires starting and spreading, like there would be if wooden structures we built on the island.

Although the people who inhabit the island aren’t completely safe as they live on a volcanic island, they live hand in hand with the island. Many of the people on the island make use of the islands naturally high temperatures during their daily lives. A number of the people on the island are a part of the blacksmith trade, and make use of the islands resources, such as natural high temperature and the metallic-ore deposits. Although a large portion of the materials used by these blacksmiths are materials that wash up on the island, as the island commonly has scrap washing up on its shores and floating around the island.

Inside the volcano is a path that leads to the islands ruins which are located deep within the volcano. The inhabitants of the island do not dare enter travel down this path to the ruins as the path to the final section of the ruins (the puzzle of this island) is treacherous path above the volcano lava pit. Located at the end of this treacherous (puzzle) path is the final map fragment, which shows the location of the final destination of the game, and where the Mecha Shark will once again appear.

 

Level 6 – Mecha Shark

After having collected all of the map fragments and completing the map, the final location of the game is shown. Upon arriving at this location, it is found out that it’s not an island, but is in fact where an island once stood. Instead it is now the Mecha Shark’s hunting grounds. Due to this, the sea is littered with wrecked ships. The sea around this area often becomes more rough and ferocious, but this is normally when the Mecha Shark arrives.

During the story the protagonist and his crew will be consumed by the shark, meaning a large portion of this level occurs within the stomach of the Mecha Shark. Inside this monsters stomach are a number of other ship wrecks. Previous meals. Although there are also be a number of metallic platforms and walkways that can be used throughout the level. As this is set inside of the Mecha shark, however, the main visible setting/theme is the mechanical interior.

Upon completing the objective received while inside the shark’s stomach, the boss fight against the Mecha Shark occurs. This takes place back on the sea again, with the shark becoming increasingly more damaged and enraged as the fight goes on.

Location dscriptions
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