#trialsevolution

I recently made my first Trials Evolution track so thought it would be a good time to explain my design choices throughout the project.

Having a USP

The first thing that I had to determine was the theme and concept of the level. The importance of this is actually important as creating a track that stands out will have an impact on how many downloads the track will get. It’s similar to developing a game with a unique selling point. For my theme I picked a prehistoric landscape.

Design Decisions

After doing some research into the most popular tracks it seemed that users were impressed with creators that had manipulated the landscape in such a way that the original game world was unrecognisable

In order for me to capture the correct feel I set out to create a newly discovered land filled with vegetation and the reminder of life that lived there. Some design decisions had to be made in order to keep in line with this. First of all, I had to think carefully about the type of equipment and objects the player would come into contact with.

This is because using things such as oil drums and train carriages would look very out of place in a world that is set in the prehistoric era. By adding something as simple as a door that replicated the entrance to Jurassic Park (from the film of the same name), this reduces a lot of the barriers that would affect player immersion. I now had room for a small margin of interference from man but still couldn’t go overboard. So with this is mind I used equipment that wouldn’t look out of place at an archaeological dig site in addition to primitive looking equipment such as wooden platforms and supports.

Difficulty Spikes

Players are familiar with the concept of a level that increases in difficulty the longer it is played. The level I have created follows this principal and I wanted to create an experience that got gradually more challenging. In order for the player not to feel overwhelmed, the rate at which the build-up to the next obstacle grew in difficulty was at a more comfortable rate.

Just before a player reaches the next checkpoint, they will have had to complete an obstacle that up to that current point is the most challenging. Then after a checkpoint has been reached, it was intended that the build-up of difficulty would be lower than the previous obstacle, but eventually overtakes that last challenge so I achieve the gradual increase in difficulty. This is illustrated in the graph below.

One more thing regarding the graph shown, you will notice that the build-up drops just before the final checkpoint and challenge. This is to simulate a ‘calm before the storm’ effect and give the player an adequate amount of time to get control of the bike,as well as build up the necessary speed in order to be able to land the perfect launch off the ramp.

Signs and Feedback

In the early stages of the creation of the level I realised that the checkpoints were not as prominent as I would have liked. I thought it was unclear as to when you were approaching a checkpoint and felt that this needed changing. So I redesigned them in order to be more visible to the player, both on approach and when reached. The best way I could do this was to put the checkpoint on higher ground than that of the player. Another trick I used was to add a fire torch to make the location stand out.

A trick I used to help the player navigate the track was to highlight a specific part of the track. The ground lights up after the player lands on a pterodactyl, to show them where to go next. If I had not introduced this it may have resulted in the player not being able to identify the golden path of the track.

Level Polish

There are a couple of tricks I have used to immerse the player further into the environment I have created. To emphasise the fact that the player has mistimed a jump, and narrowly escaped a restart through drowing I have added big water splashes. Splashes have also been added to lava falls as it hits the ground. It is important to include details such as this as it makes the game environment more believable. If not included then this may have a negaitive impact on the player as unrealistic effects or limited detail may detract the players attention from the actual gameplay and concentrate on picking up on minor discrepancies.

Improvements

After evaluating my track, I have found a design flaw which I would change. When approaching the second jump (on to the pterodactyl) the player cannot actually see the landing they are aiming for and don’t really know how to judge the jump. Originally the feedback I gave the player to emphasise that there was a jump coming up was by adding a pterodactyl that flew off the cliff  face as the player approached it. Upon reflection the edge could have also included a dip so that objective to land on was more apparent early on.