Krice
Arcane
- Joined
- May 29, 2010
- Messages
- 1,289
I'm in a process to design level themes and in that I thought it would help to write "design docs" for them. Since I've been talking about one of the themes earlier in my blog I can share the design doc for that level I guess.
Snow Top
Outside level located at top of the mountain. It’s a large mesa with surrounding walls thick enough to house number of cave rooms. It’s divided into two main features; in the south is a large permanently frozen lake with underground ice labyrinth. The second feature is a smaller mesa located at north side. It’s called “Top Cap” and it’s a level accessible through an ancient lift built along the wall by dwarfs. The surrounding wall area has round rooms inside and sometimes side of a room sticking outside. They are connected by narrow corridors. These round rooms have been long since abandoned and they were built by unknown people, “the ancients”. With rooms and corridors there are a number of hidden passages and labyrinths that lead to hidden rooms with remains of ancient culture. Some of them have been found and robbed; others are still to be found.
At the north side of the lake is a small watchtower. It’s very sturdy and in good condition, being repaired many times. It has a large door barred from the inside. Inside the watchtower is a hatch covered ladder leading to “Frozen Lake Labyrinth” level. The labyrinth can be also entered through a hidden, snow covered chasm located somewhere on the lake, but without a rope the player will fall into the labyrinth, taking some damage. The watchtower is easier to enter by falling into the labyrinth and then climbing up the ladder in the tower. The fourth entrance is the stairs down into the long corridor that connects this level to the main cave system.
Between the lake and walls there is some space for snow covered forest and it’s where the “guardians” of this place live. They are large, white and furry primitive humanoids who throw snowballs and sometimes rocks at the player. Despite their large size they are scared of the player and don’t attack directly, but will stay away and use throwing as their major attack type. There are also other types of creatures, mostly the kind that live in cold, snowy environment. The player can possibly avoid guardians by entering cave rooms where they will not follow.
This level doesn’t have any special items. It’s a passage type level to reach Top Cap and Frozen Lake Labyrinth.
Snow Top
Outside level located at top of the mountain. It’s a large mesa with surrounding walls thick enough to house number of cave rooms. It’s divided into two main features; in the south is a large permanently frozen lake with underground ice labyrinth. The second feature is a smaller mesa located at north side. It’s called “Top Cap” and it’s a level accessible through an ancient lift built along the wall by dwarfs. The surrounding wall area has round rooms inside and sometimes side of a room sticking outside. They are connected by narrow corridors. These round rooms have been long since abandoned and they were built by unknown people, “the ancients”. With rooms and corridors there are a number of hidden passages and labyrinths that lead to hidden rooms with remains of ancient culture. Some of them have been found and robbed; others are still to be found.
At the north side of the lake is a small watchtower. It’s very sturdy and in good condition, being repaired many times. It has a large door barred from the inside. Inside the watchtower is a hatch covered ladder leading to “Frozen Lake Labyrinth” level. The labyrinth can be also entered through a hidden, snow covered chasm located somewhere on the lake, but without a rope the player will fall into the labyrinth, taking some damage. The watchtower is easier to enter by falling into the labyrinth and then climbing up the ladder in the tower. The fourth entrance is the stairs down into the long corridor that connects this level to the main cave system.
Between the lake and walls there is some space for snow covered forest and it’s where the “guardians” of this place live. They are large, white and furry primitive humanoids who throw snowballs and sometimes rocks at the player. Despite their large size they are scared of the player and don’t attack directly, but will stay away and use throwing as their major attack type. There are also other types of creatures, mostly the kind that live in cold, snowy environment. The player can possibly avoid guardians by entering cave rooms where they will not follow.
This level doesn’t have any special items. It’s a passage type level to reach Top Cap and Frozen Lake Labyrinth.