Biome is a 2.5D isometric strategy game created using Unity in a upper-level game design course at SFU by team FROGFISHies. Biome raises awareness about the loss of animal habitat.
Level Design
My main roles in this project was to design the 3 levels in Biome. It was my job to ensure the story, game mechanics, puzzle mechanics, and balance of each level was cohesive and easy to understand and had a natural difficulty curve. I achieved this by designing the puzzles, the layout, and overall flow of each level.
The first step in creating a level was to design the concept of each level and the overall aesthetics and type of gameplay that would be featured within each level. I also had to ensure that the puzzles would get progressively more difficult from level to level. From a story perspective, I also had to progressively increase the stakes of each level and introduce additional elements of global warming and loss of habitat into each stage to increase engagement with the audience and to raise awareness about this topic.
Within each level, I also created a decision tree diagram and path layout diagram to help organize how the player would progress through the level and the different decisions that they would make. This helped structure the gameplay in each level and also made simplified things for balancing.
Personal Responsibilities:
Level Design, Game Systems Design, User Testing/QA
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Tools:
Unity
Process of creating Stage 2
Game Balance
Game balancing is always important in game design as it keeps the game fun for all type of players and will improve the longevity of a game. My role was to test the game and make iterations based on user feedback and experience. As a team, we tested players of all backgrounds to strive towards the goal of balancing equally for all genders and ages. We made sure to test the games in 4 main categories, mechanics, aesthetics, kinesthetics, and technology. This allowed us to critique our own game in different ways and to ensure good balance for all types of players and experience levels.