When starting the first week of the group cohort project, we were each as a pathway from our classes told to join our fixed teams. There was the tech team which was the smallest at the time, the art team which was the largest at the time and the Design team which was a part of.
At first the design team was the main team to come up with the slid ideas so that the other two teams could start work. Many of us thought of different themes like medieval, residential and space. Space was the winner after a poll and so our first task of the week was to make some concept level designs.
fix ship map layout 1
fix ship map layout 2
In the beginning, I created a simple character design and made simple levels using basic square rooms with hexagonal floor buttons (pads) which were used to open the doors so that other players could continue. Once the doors were open, the players could operate the spaceship and end the round.
Then I made a more complex level layout with the same hexagonal buttons, but this time they operates tubes that could spit out items for other players to collect and then place on another floor button. This chain of events would either grant the players access to a new area of the level or stop the ship from crashing. There are also levers in this area which open the doors for each t-shaped section. And lastly there is a lava hazard in the middle of the room which could possibly rise and make traversing the level harder and more of a challenge.
Weight scales map layout
The next and 3rd level I designed was a more platform based challenge, this also included weights as a item that could be picked up as well as the usual rising or not rising lava hazard. The players would have to jump up vertical platforms to reach more weights to lower one side of the hinged balancing scale area. Players could intentionally rise or lower each other into the lava but the main goal is to do so in order to reach a button or lever to progress.
One thing to note, the perspective of this level is in 2.5/3d which was at the time the intended view that the game would be viewed when played.
Space ship parts
The last level design concept I made using illustrator was a maze space station like level. The player would need to gather space ship parts to fix the ship and escape or leave to end the level. There is a checkered flag which would raise or appear when the parts were found. There is also a glimpse of the outside space world with a huge window on the inside. In the first room, the space ship sits with a number counter next t it, each stage of item collected would light up a specific number showcasing that. There is also a maze in the first room which grants access to a corridor with a ship part in it (blue icon) There is also a light blue see-through tube to walk down.