Level 2 Design: Furnace Area

One of the more exciting places that the player sees the role of lighting is following the toy factory area.

Mike was very concerned in placing all sorts of environmental obstacles throughout the game. In the first level we had giant snow balls to avoid, and following the toy factory he placed fire that shoots from the pipes. The player needs to time when he should jump from box to box in order to avoid the fire. Careful use of lighting helped give this corridor and the shooting fire the effect we were going for.




While the toy factory was well lit, and the corridor was illuminated by fire, the next big room is a bit darker. Perhaps that is a function of he confusions that Mike and I encountered design in this area. An earlier iteration of this room had a large gap that could only be crossed by a narrow rail. As I said, Mike likes environmental challenges. However, during play testing, neither of us liked the effect that this area was giving. The player simply traversed the challenge to quickly and easily. So the room had to transform, and instead of a semi-challenging bridge, it became a winding corridor.

This turned out well for a couple of reasons. First, we were able to place more enemies and this have a couple of nice fight encounters. Another thing is that by slow in the player down, he could enjoy the fantastic machines that Krystal designed.





We had originally wanted these machines to be placed in the toy factory. After all, that seems like the most reasonable place for machines. However, a quick glance reveals that these designs clash with the primitive shapes that form out the factory. For a while we had tried to force them in place, but they looked forced, and it just didn't work. We didn't know where a nice place for these machines would be, and we actually considered leaving them out of the game completely. We were also considering placing them in this area when there was supposed to be a bridge and gap. But then the player would race through too fast to he able to appreciate them. However, after turning this space into a winding corridor, placing them was easy, he effect of these furnaces really shined.

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