The Subterranean

Dev log:

I first started off with coming up with a concept for my level, as seen below the other images, in the drawn sketch. Following this, once I had my idea on paper, I used the sketch to map out my level in game, first as a whitebox version without any textures, as seen on the side. In keeping with the theme of 'Dig Deeper', I had to where the player is descending downward in this cave-like structure, traversing over both static and moving platforms to get to the end, where I placed a gold coin to be picked up and finish off the level.

I originally, as you can see on the side, had in mind a boulder and a sharp object from above as hazards the player would have to overcome, but these were scrapped not longer after finishing the level layout, as they did not work as well as I'd hoped during playtesting. Instead, as you'll see when playing the game, following the whiteboxing, I added in moving lava with the help of a texture I made in Photoshop and a script that allows the texture to move at a set speed I choose, to give off the effect of a river of lava. This acts as the death zone for the player, where if they fall in, they instantly die and respawn back at the start.

I also had several other smaller streaks of lava placed around the beginning and later stage platforms that damage the player rather than kill, knocking them back as they lose a bit of health visible on the UI. These worked much better as an iteration. 

I also set up through code, as well as through Unity itself, my player character imported from Blender, from his animated movement, to his health and the way he takes damage, etc. I also set up a pause menu and main menu as well, which give the controls, what needs to be done to beat the game, and in the former's case, within the options, allows you to alter the volume of both music and sound effects in the game.

Both menus also allow the player to quit the game, and the pause menu, I made sure, actually pauses the game when active. Upon beating the game, I also made to where a UI screen pulls up saying "Level Complete", with two buttons below the text. One that restarts and pushes you back to the main menu, and the other which quits the game.

The rock texture you'll see used for the finished level was also made by me in Photoshop, and applied to every platform and wall in the game. Due to how enclosed the level is, I also had to bring in multiple directional lights just to ensure things were much more visible than they were initially with just one, right at the end.

The robot character itself is based directly off of a publicly available asset online that's free to use. Here's the link toward the robot character I modelled mine off of, for reference: https://quaternius.itch.io/lowpoly-robot

The music and sound effect were both found as royalty free online through these websites: 

https://incompetech.com/

https://www.videvo.net/sound-effect/lava-river-sub-low-la-hyp035201/249477/

Link for survey:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FWS6MSP