Project C – ‘Ancient Maze’ Margaret Lewallen
When I had originally started this project, my first design was based on the traditional setup of an Egyptian pharaoh’s tomb. As I began working on the game level, the design and level evolved itself into more of a two-tiered maze of sorts. Keeping in mind the original ‘pyramid / tomb’ idea, I blended the two together to create what I have now.
These were the original designs for what I was going to do, based strictly on the pyramid diagram.
Maze Design Research When the idea started to develop itself into a maze, I took a look at a few traditional 2D maze setups. Generally, mazes are a bit tighter together, with lots of twists, turns, and dead ends all on one floor. I decided to spread mine out a bit more to two ‘floors’.
Statement and Goal I wanted to create something challenging and visually interesting to look at and walk through, that incorporated more than one ‘floor’. The original rough plan had been rather simple, with fewer rooms than came out in the end product. Different visual effects were added as seen fit, some of which included different items to decorate the room, and lighting to help with the mood.
Working on this project helped a great deal with getting a better grasp of the Unreal engine and how to build in it, as well as using the various assets the system provides. It has also made me realize there is still a lot more I have to learn.
Process and Progress:
Rather than starting with a hollow cube, I started with a flat plane, and started building up from that with the walls. When I had the rough layout I wanted, I started adding other rooms and hallways to the level. The walls vary in size for a bit of an odd sense of height, adding a bit of chaos to the field. I had to be sure to remember and cut out doorways too.
Lights are one of the first things you add as you’re building. Textures were added to the walls as I went so I could remember what was what. Decorations like the statues, rocks, and pillars weren’t added until the end, when all the rooms were constructed. The water was added fairly early so I could remember where I wanted it.
Thoughts:
Other things I would have liked to do: I found it a bit frustrating in my limitations on what I know so far on coding and the like for games – I would have liked to have been able to add in creatures and things to add an extra challenge to the level. I would also like to extend the level beyond the maze with further rooms and challenges.
Some other minor things I would have liked to have done would have been to create some extra decoration of my own to put throughout the level and interact with.