Pre-Production

Forming the Idea

When forming the idea for our assignment we knew that we wanted to stray away from the more generic First Person Shooter style of gameplay that could come from Underground Bunker Level.  We had a number of ideas, that we dismissed for a number of reasons:

• One idea was to create a cover shooter where the player could directly control the height of the character using the mouse wheel, creating very tactical gameplay. We dismissed this idea because it would require extensive playtesting, interaction, programming and art work in addition to being a hard concept to create a level around.
• Another was to create a horror game where the player could see from the monsters and the players perspective. We felt this idea to once again be difficult to create a good level around and already has a number of existing games that do this well (i.e Dead by Daylight, Friday the 13th and Eyes).

Final Idea

Our final idea was to create a puzzle game where the player must shift between a traditional 3D first-person perspective and a 2D perspective where the player is walking within the walls of the level, similar to a traditional platformer style of game.

This idea opened a number of puzzles that we could create by creating certain elements that can only be completed in 3D and some only in 2D, as well as transferring objects between these two planes of interaction. This was inspired by the book series 'Flat Stanley' and Children's TV show 'Roy', both feature characters that have been 'flattened' and can do things such as slipping through gaps in door frames.

Gather Reference

Gameplay

We also have looked into mechanics from a number of existing games: 

• Portal is a heavy influence on a number of modern puzzle games, with ours being no exception, due to excellent puzzle design and the way that it introduces mechanics gradually. 
• The Pedestrian is a game that uses exclusively 2D mechanics in a similar style to which we are intending while placing them in a 3D environment but its gameplay is exclusive2D.
• Zelda: A Link Between Worlds uses a similar mechanic, that is changing between 2D and 3D, however, creates its puzzles behind traversal, rather, than as we indeed,  to move objects between planes to create puzzles.
• Fez which allows the player to shift the camera perspective to complete levels and thus complete platforming problems from a different perspective 

Art/Environment

We also gathered a number of references for the art style, environment design and style

We have chosen to take the theme of an abandoned laboratory, as this would fit well with the style of experimental gameplay that we have created. This allows us to create a more believable environment for someone travelling into "2D" due to the experiments that are going on in the lab.

Plan

We took our initial research and divided it down into the Atmosphere/Mood, Theme and Player Experience we wanted to create. We decided to focus around the core mechanic of:

• Switching between 2D and 3D movement

and using the additional mechanics to support this:

• Switching between 2D and 3D movement
• Transporting Items between 2D and 3D
• Using items (e.g keys, switches) to influence the 2D/3D world

Level Plan

Atmosphere and Mood

We want to create a mood within the game that the player is exploring somewhere that they shouldn't be, this is complemented by the art direction as a top-secret lab is somewhere the player shouldn't be but as it has become abandoned, the player sees little problem in continuing to explore it. The player should be pushed forward in the game by both their curiosity for exploration and the feeling of being trapped in the environment, looking for a way out.

To add to this abandoned atmosphere we don't want to have any humans in the world and instead plan to use environmental storytelling to set the player in our world.

Theme

The overall theme for our level follows on from the Atmosphere and Mood. We want the player to feel that the lab has been forgotten and abandoned and thus has become overgrown, as seen on the mood board. This will help the player feel that something mysterious (the experimentation on turning people into 2D) has gone on in the lab and has been abandoned for unknown reasons.

Player Experience

We want the player's experience to focus around the main mechanic of swapping between 2D and 3D. The completion of these puzzles should make the player feel smart and as if they have outsmarted the world. An example of this is creating a puzzle where the player becomes trapped in a jail cell and has to move into 2D to slip past them.