#projectascension

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[emotiontheory]

PROJECT ASCENSION Level Select ideas

Hi! I’m @emotiontheory​ and I’m a single guy making Project Ascension, a puzzle adventure game about life, transcendence, & architecture.

I’ve been looking around for inspiration for the Level Select screen in Project Ascension. I knew I wanted something ascending upwards, starting from the ground and ending up in the ‘heavens’.

I stumbled on this amazing photo by redditor f1p4 which hit me right in the feels. What a stunning picture of our beautiful world!

If I were cooking up an art piece, I’d consider a more gradual change from light to dark, and include some clouds about a third of the way up. Here are my plans for my Level Select screen.

The Concept

I drew this very crude map using my trusty Pencil & Paper, and here is what I roughly envision:

With the way level design is going at the moment, it seems that the Prologue & Epilogue will each be a level, while each Act will roughly contain about 10 levels each. That number is subject to change based on how level design continues to go.

The Visual Treatment

I imagine each Act having its own unique visual flavour. 

Act I will remain closest to home, being the brightest and most colorful, resembling that of our planet. This would feel like the lowest section of the photo above. 

Act II will go above and beyond the first layer of clouds, and will feel higher in the sky. I imagine it would represent the movement between dusk and night time. 

Act III will be in space, and will most represent the upper-half of the image above.

The Structure

I would say the Level Select design would structurally feel like that in Human Resource Machine.

At the same time combining the ‘progressive’ animation like that seen in Lara Croft GO - reinforcing the theme of Ascension in that you see yourself continually moving higher.

The Aesthetic Style

I recently commissioned this art piece by a friend of mine, and I think she did a good job of nailing that visual sense of structures existing in the sky that invites players to ascend.

Thanks for reading! Follow me and my work here:

What is Project Ascension (and why am I making it)?

emotiontheory.com

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[emotiontheory]

#ProjectAscension artwork made just in time for @ArmageddonExpo today in Auckland, NZ!

~

Follow me and my work here!

emotiontheory.com

What is Project Ascension (and why am I making it)?

Twitter | Facebook | YouTube

[emotiontheory]

Project Ascension is a puzzle adventure about transcendence and the power to manipulate remnants and architecture.

A large part of the appeal [which I’m trying to establish] comes in the majesty of manipulating and conjuring forth remnants which allow you to continually ascend to the heavens.

Links:

What is Project Ascension and why am I making it?

Developing a narrative around a game mechanic

Dev blog on TIGSource

A pinterest board of inspiration (lots of stairs - a common motif in Project Ascension)

Follow:

Twitter | Tumblr (Blog) | YouTube (videos) | Vine (short vids) | Pinterest (image boards)

[emotiontheory]

Responding to feedback

UPDATE: I’ve made a Concept submission on STEAM. I would LOVE to get all kinds of feedback on it. Check it out here!

I posted a very early demo of Project Ascension on TIGSource! You can find the post here and play the demo here.

An excellent gentleman by the name of Quicksand-S played the game and responded with a lengthy and helpful series of points.

I find it useful to collate points into an accessible format, so here are my responses.

I found that the movement of the character felt really sluggish. I mostly got used to it, but there seems to be a lot of back-and-forth travel required, so a little more speed would be nice. I was happy to see that sometimes I could open up shortcuts to get back to old areas, but maybe they should be more common.

I believe this will be addressed as better level design and puzzles are implemented. However, I have been toying with the player speed as well and will likely be bumping it up.

Aiming with the mouse felt a bit weird, since half the time when I aimed at an angle, the character fired horizontally or vertically instead. Maybe a visual indicator of the character's aiming direction before you fire would be good.

The mouse controls are hardcoded for the moment and it is my intention to create a "hold to aim, let go to fire" system with a visual indicator. I previously had it shooting simply in the direction you're facing, which I might try play-testing also.

Adding to this point: Changing the fire system was in direct response to my previous method of shooting in the direction you're in, so unless future methods don't work I will likely not go back to this overly-simplified method, as it proved to be flawed.

The exit graphic was a bit confusing to me. When I saw a key with a number 4 on it, I originally thought maybe I had to get keys in order and that was the fourth. Maybe the portal should be visible from the start (just deactivated).

This is a good point. It should be noted all the graphics aren't complete and such attention to detail will be thoroughly given to each and every object of importance within the game. Addressing the exit will certainly be one of them, as well as all interactible objects.

Adding to this point: An "exit" won't likely be a feature in my level designs. At least - they shall appear more naturally, such as a door, an arch, a staircase, or a hallway, as opposed to an "exit point" which you touch (like the flag pole in Mario). But there will likely be some detail that unlocks or opens based on collecting key fragments, similar to blocked doors in Devil May Cry that require a certain number of red orbs.

I hope you plan on changing the time to minutes and seconds. It would just be a bit clearer.

The time is simply a debug feature and will not be displayed in the game. The game will not have a HUD at all, in fact.

Adding to this point: The poster later mentioned the time in the "Level Complete" screen. I should note that such a screen won't likely exist in the end product of my game, with stats like time taken and what not. Instead I'll likely opt into a very simple, elegant camera change signalling the end of a level, with perhaps a small text saying something along the lines of Level Complete, Chapter End, Fin, or something appropriate.

If I shoot into a portal at an angle, it's weird that the projectiles doesn't come out the other end at an angle. That could allow for slightly more interesting portal puzzles.

This is another good point and something I plan to do. Portals in general need a little juicing up. The angles will factor into puzzle design, particular with lasers that are introduced later.

The stealth mechanics didn't work out that well. Being able to continue from a checkpoint without losing any progress just made being stealthy pointless. I also encountered one situation where an enemy was looking straight at me, with my in its light, and it didn't notice me (I was above and to the left of it).

The level you played was a very quick prototype of a "stealth level". Some of the patrols are a little buggy and the entire stealth concept needs to be overhauled.

Adding to this point: The stealth mechanics in the demo include simple drones with a view cone. Entering the view cone makes you start from the previous checkpoint. As you might imagine, this is a very quick and simple stealth implementation.

I like the background music. I didn't think the Zelda "puzzle solved" sound really fit, so hopefully when you come up with a new sound it'll be a little less Zelda. I had similar feelings about the Metal Gear Solid alert sound.

Good to know. They're obviously all placeholders, but I'll indeed be considering sounds more suitable to the style of my game.

Adding to this point: Placeholder music in the demo was from Journey, with sounds from Zelda and Metal Gear Solid.

The character looks kinda cool. It's too bad the camera angle doesn't show it off much.

It's a little unfortunate the perspective is predominantly top down, but occasionally the camera does change angle slightly and zoom in during places so there'll be moments where you get a decent view of him.

Apart from the aiming-at-angles issue I mentioned, the controls work really well. I found myself playing with the mouse for the most part.

I'm glad! I spent a lot of time on the controls and tried to make them simple and natural. Aiming is a big pain I realise but it's something I'm getting on.

Adding to this point: My intention is to implement as "hold to aim, let go to fire" system (with a way of cancelling your shot), which I hope to test and get feedback on.

My only real issue with the design is that many of the levels rely on trial-and-error travel through invisible mazes. It gets tedious after a while. I didn't encounter many puzzles that actually required thought, which was a bit disappointing. The actual mechanics are all there and working quite well, but I'd love to see them used in more interesting ways.

Everything you've played were prototypes; concepts made playable, ideas given form. Since the mechanics fundamentally work, what I'm now working on is creating levels and puzzles that explore what can be done with them, as well as some more challenging puzzles around this simple mechanic.

Thank you for your detailed feedback. I appreciate it!

Even though for now only a single person responded to my post, it has proven to be immensely helpful. 

If you’d like to see the game for yourself, please visit the game’s STEAM Concept page here! 

All feedback is invaluable and appreciated!