Mirror

2 weeks prototype

GENRE

3D, Singleplayer, Puzzle

Team (2 people)

Daoyuan Shen, Luyao Zhao,

GAME ENGINE

Unreal 4

MY RESPONSIBILITIES (Design Lead)

Used Trello to manage the team progress
Designed gameplay and levels
Built the Levels in the Unreal
Built and adjusted the lighting in the levels
Made 3D models in Maya
Made textures in Substance

Inspiration

Original Version

Our initial idea is to make a puzzle game with portal elements. Players use portals to access different areas of the map. All portals are fixed at an assigned location, and before they can use the portal, they have to switch its color so that another door that has the same color can be connected with the first door. However, we finally find out that since all portals are fixed, there is little room for us to implement puzzles. All the things players need to do is keep switching the color of a door until they see the desired color. So we decided to make some changes.

Revised Version

The elements we added in our revised version are the activation station and light guidance. Players need to find the correct ball and place it inside the plate in order to activate the portals and switch their colors. Also, to help players identify which doors are activated by the plate and which doors are controlled by the switch, we added light with the same color to each component.

We also adjusted the difficulties to smooth players’ learning curves. We made the first and the second levels linear so players have space to learn all the mechanics that will be used in the third level gradually.

After players have gone through the first two levels, the difficulty of the third level increases. To avoid getting players stuck at a point, we added more affordance such as light and color differentiation to guide players.

Level Design Document

By Daoyuan Shen and Luyao Zhao

Metrics

Important metrics are listed in the table above. Since our game is a puzzle game, actions are not our focus. We only designed basic actions for the character including walking and jumping.

Also, since part 1 and part 3 of our game require players to think a lot, these rooms are restricted in a smaller size compared to that of part two. In part two, more adventure elements are added, so players need more space to explore. Part 2 helps to balance the game rhythm by giving players a space to relax before entering an intensive level.

Features

The Story

The android, K. starts to have human thought, which brought him to a chase between him and the android making organization. At this time, a mystery man starts to talk in K’s mind, saying if K. wants to live in the human’s world, he has to get through a series of tests.

The goal of players is to solve puzzle problems using the device provided such as portals and switches.

Portal

Figure 1

After activated, portals can transport players to a location where another portal is placed. Portals have different colors, and in order to teleport from one door to another, these two doors need to have the same color. For example, as shown in figure 1, players can transport between the two yellow doors, but the red door doesn’t have any associated one to transport yet.

Portal activation device: plate and ball

Figure 2

When there is no image displayed on the portal, it means the portal has not been activated. Once activated, images will pop up on portals showing the view of the other portal. As shown in figure 2, when the blue ball is placed inside the blue plate, the two doors of the same color are activated and can transport players through each other.

However, only one set of doors can be opened at one time. Activating one plate will result in the deactivation of another set.

Switch

Figure 3

Figure 4

The color of portals can be changed by pressing the switch. One switch is linked to several portals, meaning changing the color of one portal results in the color change of other doors. Figure 3 and 4 show the use of switches. After pressing once, colors shift so players can transport to different doors.

Steel Gate and Gate Switch

Once pressed, the steel gate will be opened.

Narrative Description

The level is a tutorial level, including three parts. We distributed the mechanics players need to learn in the three parts so that players can learn gradually.

First Part

In the starting, the player can see there are two doors and one switch. There are two windows in the first area. For the left window, the player can see the exit in this part, which is a foreshadow for the player. For the front of the window, the player can see the door in another room. The player should use the switch to change the door colors to go through to another room. In addition, the player can see a going down channel from the front of the window. We used a bright light to put in the channel, which is a guidance.

The player will go down the stairs, and will see a red ball. And the play can see there is a red plate in the next room. The player may figure out, use the red ball to put on the red plate to open another door. Firstly, the player should use the switch to change the door color to go to another room. Secondly, the player put the red ball on the plate to turn on the switch and doors. At this moment, the player can see another door color changed in the next room. The player needs to change the door color by switch. After that the player gets to another room. The player will see a gray door.

The player goes through the gray door to arrive in the next room. The player will get a surprise, because the player goes back to the beginning room. We want the player to feel the portal.

The player will see a clear “Exit”. We used a green light to highlight it, which is the navigation. Exit and Enter door we used unique modeling. It is also navigation for the player. The player will go to the next level by this door.

Second Part

After players have finished the first level, they are teleported to a new scene.

First a gate is placed in front of the player, blocking the way. Here the player will learn that the gate can be opened by pressing the button on the ground.

Following the gate is the first obstruction. The difficulty increases a little bit. Standing on the ground, the player will see a ball nearby and a plate of the same color on the platform. The player probably will try to carry the ball and jump to the platform, but soon he/she will find it is impossible since the player needs to step on the ball if they want to jump to the platform. Therefore, the player needs to jump to the platform first and press the button to open the gate. After doing that, the player can carry the ball and walk to the plate through the slope.
The combination of gate opening and portal activation gives players a chance to practice what they have learned in the first scene and at the beginning of this level.

If players enter the room on their right, they will find there is a button and a gate under the current room. That’s the foreshadow, telling players there might be something interesting under this room.

Then the player enters the basement. On their left are several rooms. Curiosity might attract them to go inside where they’ll find a ball. Maybe they choose to carry the ball. If they choose not, it’s fine. They’ll soon find they need the ball to activate a set of portals. Moving forward, the player will find a stairs going upward. Once they jump to the stairs, they find that they need a ball to activate the portals. However, when they try to retrieve the ball in the room and bring it upstairs, they find they can’t. The ball drops when they jump on the stairs. Therefore, they might walk around and try to find another solution. When they press the button on the ground, the camera will move towards a gate, showing a gate is opening. Once the gate is open, players can carry the ball through the slope.
The puzzle is designed for players to learn that the ball will drop if they carry the ball and jump.

Standing on the ground, the player will see a portal and a blue ball on the platform which is too high for the player to reach just by jumping. If the player chooses to ignore it, he/ she will soon find they need the blue ball. He/she might choose to grab it through the portal since they’ve learned that the ball was always useful.
To reach the platform, the portals need to be activated first. However once the player places the red ball on the plate, he/she will notice that other portals that have already been activated are turned off. In order to move forward after they retrieve the ball, they have to find out only one set of portals can be activated at a time, and once they remove the ball from the plate, another set will be activated again.
The puzzle is designed for players to learn that if they activate one set of portals, other sets will be deactivated.

Trird Part

At this part starting. The player will see the two color balls at the center of the map. The map is a hexagonal building. There are two floors in the building. We use a spotlight to highlight the balls, which is the navigation for the player. We want to tell the player, you will use them for this part.

When the player moves to the center of the map, There are a lot of doors around the player. The player may be confused about it. So, we used the light color to lead the player. In the beginning, the player can see the purple light door is opening. Because the purple light is turned on. And there is a purple light on the switch. It is navigation, too. The player needs to use this switch to change the color for these three purple light doors.

If the player decides to enter the right purple light door, which is a dead end. After the player transferred to the right purple light door. The player will see a red plate. The player already learned from the second part. So, the player needs a red ball to put on the plate. If the player takes a red ball from the first floor to put on the plate. The red light door is lit up, and the purple light is off. From the last part of level, the player already known only exists one kind of light at the same scene. So, the player cannot be back on the first floor because The purple light is turned off. And the player cannot go through the metal gate at this time. The player has to drop off the red ball to go back to the first floor.

The player transfers to the left purple door, which is the correct way. The player can see there is a switch on the floor. it can open the left metal gate. The player should open and go through it.

After that, the player can see a blue plate or the player can see it before on the first floor. The player should bring the blue ball from the first floor, and put the ball on the plate. The blue light the doors will turn on the light, the purple light doors will turn off the light. The player can see the blue light switch is turned on the blue light on the second floor, which is navigation. The player can go through the blue door to use the switch on the first floor. At this moment, the player should think how to open another metal door and put the red ball on the plate. The player can see there is another switch on the first floor in the cell, or the player can see it before on the first floor. The player needs to go to that place to open the metal door.

The player goes through the blue light door to transfer to the first floor cell. The player uses the switch to change the door color, and go to another blue light door location. And the player through the gray color door to the first floor cell. After that, the player can use the switch to turn on the metal door.

After the metal door opened, the player has a way to take the red ball to the red plate. The player should go the same way back to the blue plate place. The player needs to drop out the blue ball from the blue plate. Because the player needs to turn on the purple light to back the first floor. And the player should take the red ball back to the second floor. The player can take the red ball go back to the left purple light door or the right purple light door whatever the player wants to go. Both ways can go to the red plate place. The player put the red ball on the red plate.

The red light door is opened, the red light will light up. We reduced the difficulty at the last part. The player goes through the red door. Next, the player keeps going to go through the next green door. The player will be transferred to the first floor cell. The player keeps moving to go through the left yellow door. The player jumps to another yellow door on the roof.

The player will see the exit door in the end.

Summary

In summary, There are a lot of foreshadows at this level. When the player enters the level on the first floor, the player can see the exit first. The player will see the two switches inside the cells. And the player could see what color of the door in the cells. The player may remember their location. The memory could help the player to pass this puzzle. In the other way, the player can see some door and switch on the second floor. That may help the player, too. In addition, we designed to use the color of light for guidance to players.