Death’s Door
Death’s Door was the first project I created by using blueprints and Unreal Engine 4. The goal of the game is get out of the dungeon before your health runs. In order to accomplish this task the player must navigate through the dungeon while avoiding turrets and other traps. It is important that player also keeps an eye on their health and pick up health potions along their way. Once the player has collected the key to the exit, they must navigate all the way back to the top level of the dungeon.
Design breakdown
Dodging Cannonballs
The first major challenge that the player will face in the dungeon is a room with 3 stationary cannons that fire cannon balls that the player must weave in and out of. If the player tries to save time and goes in a straight line they won’t make it out of the dungeon alive. The way that I allowed for the player to weave in and out of the cannon balls is to the have them fire at different rates from each so that they would be gaps.
Taking Cover
Near the end of the dungeon is the next challenge featuring a cannon. Unlike the previous challenge this one can rotate and there is less room to avoid hits. At this point of the game the player is running out of time and there’s no room for error. When designing this challenge I wanted it to make it feel cinematic and act as a major test of player’s skills before they had to return to the top floor of the dungeon.
Lighting the way
One thing that I wanted to focus on while building out the maze section was guiding the player through it in visual way. I feel like the player would need some guidance of some sort or otherwise they would be lost. The best way that I found of navigating this problem was through lighting. The color method that I used was light areas of danger in red, areas of importance in purple, green for your destination, and secrets in purple. I want secrets to standout from the tradition green because otherwise players would miss them.