Mountain Level Design: part 1

Somehow, early in the development of "The Elf Who Killed Christmas," we decided that we wanted the protagonist to begin in a mountain level, where the hero would shoot his way up the before getting the level boss, then onto the next level.

Mike was very clear that he wanted certain game mechanics in this game to be introduced in the first level. Earlier versions of the game included slippery ice, deep chasms to jump over, and large snowballs to dodge. As games develop, lots of things change.

It so happens that the one such environmental element that survived to the final version of the first level of "The Elf Who Killed Christmas" was the giant snowball. If this hits the player, the player dies. However, the snowball could be dodged, and even be shot out of the way.

With certain goals (like environmental elements, and the mountain setting) in mind, this helped us solve the problem of level design. In the case of this first mountain level with giant snowball boulders, this meant that we were designing a level with ramps for the player to hike up, and for the ball to roll down.

Visit the game's website, and download the demo!
http://elfwhokilledchristmas.com/
http://giveupgames.com/