Hooked
ROLE
Game & Level Designer
DESCRIPTION
"Hooked" is a 3D first-person puzzle game in a sci-fi environment with one core mechanic.
The game revolves around the players' grappling hook bow, which can be used to pull objects as well as to navigate oneself through the levels and over obstacles.
Hooked was a third semester student project and was developed within 10 weeks.
GAME DESIGN
The gameplay in Hooked revolves around one core mechanic, the grappling hook.
Our goal was to focus on this one mechanic in order to use it to its full potential and to polish it as much as we can.
Our motto was: Quality over quantity.
The first thing we did as designers, was to create a verb base design document.
This helped us to define our gameplay and to figure out which mechanics and objects would really benefit the game and which ones are unnecessary add-ons that can be cut.
Mechanics:
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simple WASD movement
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jump with space
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aim follows the cursor
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shoot first hook with the left mouse button
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shoot second hook with the right mouse button
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activate the pull mechanic with E
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cut the rope connection with Q
LEVEL DESIGN
My main task as a level designer during this project, was to create multiple rooms which slowly introduce the player to our mechanics and included objects.
In total I created 12 rooms: 5 of our main levels, the exit-room behind each level as well as an additional story-related room and one of our two bonus level, which consists of 5 more rooms.
Our vision was to develop the first few levels of a game, so naturally the puzzles I created aren't the most complex or challenging.
However, I believe that creating a clear, functional tutorial is just as hard as creating a complex puzzle.
To make designing these rooms easier, my co-level designer and I first brainstormed the design goal of each room and documented our decisions.
After deciding on the level number and order, we also created a pacing chart, to specify how many steps would be needed to solve a puzzle / clear a room.
Incorporating our flying companion and its behavior into each of my levels was a very new, but fascinating task.
It gave me another way to guide the player through my levels or have it hint at things withouth being too obvious.
Every level has an individual path for the companion.
I also placed multiple trigger points onto its path to change its animation from flying, to gliding or to idle-mode, to make it look more realistic.
This was the first project in which I developed multiple levels from start to finish.
First I brainstormed an idea and made a very messy sketch of it.
Usually, I already asked for feedback after this step to see if someone else would be able to understand and solve the puzzle just by looking at it.
Then I transformed this idea into a simple but fully functional 3D blockout and ran playtests through multiple iterations of it, until my team and I were satisfied.
Once everything seemed to work I started switching the blockout assets with our modular asset kit, added the companion, did the level art, and placed some lights.
Narrative Design
For the narrative of our game, we strived for a simple and classic story.
We wanted it to complement our environment and give our players a reason to be there as well as a goal to work forward to.
But we still needed it to be subtle enough to not distract from our gameplay.
After brainstorming with our team, it was my task to define our world-building, create the storyline, come up with a personality for our companion and write all its dialogues.
I imagined it as a mix between the beginning of Alice in Wonderland combined with a sassy companion similar to Navi (LoZ) and GLaDOS (Portal).
Playtest
Our playtests for this project were probably my favorite ones so far.
Watching players solve my puzzles, find new ways I didn't even think about, and break my levels in hundreds of ways was incredibly interesting and I learned so much from it.
Sometimes, when testers found a new, creative way to solve one of my puzzles, I incorporated it into my design.
I thought if someone has such a creative idea, they deserve to solve it like that.
Also, I just loved to give them more than one strict, straight solution.
Even if the goal was the same, I enjoyed adding different steps the player could choose from.
