Blog5:Redo the map design

 After the final presentation, we changed the style of our asset because we felt that a sweet and fantastical style should be created more. So we looked for a new style in the hope of achieving a cartoonish and cute atmosphere. Therefore, I found some reference pictures

 

Then, in order to conform to the visual style of our sweet pastry kingdom, I finally chose this set of assets to build our map design

https://youtu.be/1uJaIf_Br_E

Platformer 3 Chocolate - Low Poly 3D Models Pack | 3D 环境 | Unity Asset Store

Meanwhile, I drew a rough planning diagram for our map Settings. Here, we updated the Settings of maze and boss room. When players reach the end of the maze room, they will enter the boss room. Then, players who die in the boss room will have a chance to be revived by re-entering the maze room and taking a new route back to the boss room

 

Based on the materials and the draft of the map design, I began the design work of the first map

Trap and combat room1

Overall layout description of the room

There are a total of three routes in the room. Two of the common routes are to reach the red area by jumping over the traps, defeat the monsters generated in this area and then choose the door to go to. Another hidden route requires players to have superb jumping skills. This route won't encounter monsters, but the jumping difficulty is relatively high and it also takes the least time. Complication

In the design of this room, through three distinct clearance routes, it provides players with space for free exploration and strategic decision-making, while also enhancing their ability to make trade-offs among "time - difficulty - risk".

Overview of the route structure

There are three main paths in the room, which are specifically divided as follows:

1. Normal Route A/B (Battle + Jump Route)

2. Hide the difficult Route C (High-skill Jumping Route)

Route A/B (Basic Route - Red Area Challenge Path) :

Players jump along the path in the direction to pass through the trap area set in the room and reach the red danger area. After entering the red area, players will face multiple waves of enemy generation. Only after successfully defeating all the enemies will the surrounding exit doors be activated. These two paths are regarded as the "standard clearance routes", with medium difficulty, stable structure, and a complete combat rhythm, but the clearance time is relatively long.

Route C (Hidden Route - High Difficulty Jump Shortcut) :

This path is located in the edge terrain of the room structure and is not conspicuous, but in the map design, there are deliberately reserved special smiling face cookies for hints. This route has no enemies blocking it, but it is full of the challenge of high-precision jumps and has an extremely low tolerance for errors. Once successfully passed through, this route will bypass the battle area and directly lead to the platform where the exit door is located, greatly saving time. It is an ideal choice for expert players to improve their efficiency in clearing the level.

Design concept and mechanism goals

The game of risk and reward: Although the hidden route does not involve combat, its high-difficulty jump setting means an extremely high cost of failure (falling into lava, forced restart), reflecting the design of "high risk, high reward".

2. Encourage skilled players to explore: My design is intended to guide experienced players to master the route through practice and pursue higher efficiency, while not affecting the progress of new players.

The visual effect after adding asset

At the same time, the multi-route design method has been established and will be continuously updated in my subsequent map designs.