Chain Reaction is a third-person platforming game that can either be played alone or cooperatively. You take control of two contestants with the goal of completing each level as fast as possible, as well as collecting coins along the way in order to get the best possible score and be declared as winners of a game show. However, the contestants are chained together, and it is vital that they don’t break the chain, or else the game is over.
Team
3 Designers and 3 Artists
Project Duration
3 Months
Game Engine
Unity
Tools
Discord, Perforce, ProBuilder, Cinemachine, Jira, TestLink, and Miro
My Roles
Test Lead, Programming (C#), Game Design, Level Design, Environmental Design, Set Dressing, Concept (Trailer), and Co-Editor (Trailer)
My Contributions
The focus was to expand on a game concept and be a part of a large and prolonged project that revolved around the production and post-production phases. There was also a strong emphasis on regular testing throughout the project’s duration, as well as familiarizing with the creation of a closing kit before publishing on the Itch.io website.
I volunteered to be the Test Lead and monitored various tests that were created in TestLink. There was a strong collaboration between me and the Scrum Master, who managed tasks on Jira, so that any new additions or issues that were encountered could be immediately planned for testing.
Me and the others designers quickly added as many interesting mechanics and features to a design document. The document filled up rather quickly during the course of production, since we were constantly iterating on what could be interesting in terms of design.
Implementing Scripts (C#)
I helped to implement a lot of scripts during the production. They mostly concerned the player movement, input system, and level hazards such as the turret and gravity well. The separation of the players and cubes in level 8 and 9 required that I implement a script for the multicolored doors. The script ensured that anything that doesn't correspond to an object's identity will not pass through a particular door.
All of the aforementioned scripts were refined throughout production, since all of us designers encountered numerous challenges along the way. The challenges with the scripts stemmed mostly from how the player was controlled and moved, since our goal was to let players contol both characters on either a single input device or multiple ones. It was also challenging in terms of understanding Unity's new input system, and to discern how it differentiated from the older counterpart.
Concepting Level Design
Us designers in the group had extensive discussions regarding concept images, specifically for Level Design. We then started sketching a few images to show each other the various ideas that we had in mind. My contributions were a few sketches on pieces of paper. These sketches were simply me trying to figure out how one could harness the experience of working together as players, and even be forced to separate from each other.
This sketch highlights the usage of lasers (lots of them) and how players would work together to escape them. I also experimented with fake advertisements, since this was supposed to be a game show with sponsorship deals. The levels that I ultimately designed did not have lasers in them, but there are other levels in the game that has that particular focus.
This sketch became the basis for my work with the multicolored doors that would separate the players. However, they are called CP (checkpoint) here. I also had an idea to incorporate lasers in a narrow hallway that would require the players to time their movements. Despite the absent lasers, this sketch also would serve me well when it came to creating the starting point of the eighth level in the game, especially in terms of Level Design.
With this sketch I wanted to emphasize the forced separation between the players. In this case three turrets would pop up out of nowhere and start firing at the players. This sketch would be the basis for my work with the Level Design in the eighth level of the game, where it became more elaborate.
Level Design for Level 8
Starting Section
The goal with the start of this level was to tell the player that both characters needed to be separated from each other. To that end I simply added multicolored doors that corresponded with the character’s color.
Middle Section
My goal with this section was to show the player that collaboration was needed in order to get rid of the turret. Just like with the character colors, the green color corresponds with the green cube.
End Section
The hallway with the multiple turrets was iterated throughout production. The intention was to surprise the player and to yet again encourage collaboration, but with the added danger element with the turrets.
My original intent with this part was to block the turret's projectiles with a cube, and then let the player pass the cube between the two characters. The problem was that these were quite narrow hallways, and it would simply not work in the end.
I proceeded to rework the hallway into a "button puzzle", where the goal is to deactivate all of the turrets in order to further along the level. The very last bit at the end acted as a more light variant with the turrets beng placed near the door and could easily be deactivated if the player follows the correct button sequence.
Level Design for Level 9
Starting Section
The start of this level doesn’t differ too much from the previous level, since there are still mutlicolored doors buttons, and cubes. However, the goal with this section was to separate players even further than what they had been previously.
There is still a strong sense of collaboration, where one character must be standing on a button in order to deactivate the shock towers and turret for the other character to pass through.
Middle and End Sections
There was only one thing that I had in mind for this section: chaos. My goal with this was to not only disorientate the player, but to also add a pressure element in the form of the airstrike. However, the aistrike was added later, as I thought that it would invoke said feeling of pressure.
I do wish that further tweaks could have been made to camera, since it doesn’t quite zoom out the way I want it to be in this particular section.
Level Design for Level 10
Old Starting Section
The old version of this level starts with the player realizing that conveyor belts are not only meant for the character to traverse with, but for cubes as well.
The reason for the slanted yellow block-thing was to disguise a problem that I encountered with the conveyor belt sprite. It simply did not look right when viewed from certain angles.
Nevertheless, I wanted the player to transport a cube from one side to the other. The problem was that the cube was not always able to get to the other side in a smooth and fault-free way.
After various playtest sessions, it also turned out that players found this section to be confusing, since there is no signal that the cube is moving to the other side. One of many reasons that this level was reworked.
Old Middle and End Sections
The goal with these segments of the level was to provide a more challenging experience for the player in the form of a button puzzle. My thought was that it would be fun to have different buttons activate different platforms. And that, like with level 9, perhaps one character could stand on a button so that the other one could get to the other side safely.
In the end, this part felt underwhelming to me, not only due to the simplistic placement of the platforms, but also the fact that the player could essentially get to the other side without doing much work. This of course negated the feeling of something challenged, which I then corrected by reworking this as well.
Reworked Starting Section
One my most delightful happy accident with this level was that I started playing with the gravity well on top of a button. One of the other designers implemented a magnet feature for the buttons so that the cubes can snap quickly on to them.
After playing more with the buttons, I quickly realized that not only did it feel satisfying to have the cube be drawn to the button, but that it would be interesting to include more of them in terms of designing the level.
Reworked Middle Section
The goal with this section was to allow the player to build an own bridge to get to the others side, which is now filled with a lot of shiny coins.
Reworked End Section
I created a more elaborate button puzzle for this section so that it would feel more challenging than the older version. For starters, I increased the distance so that the player could not jump without any thought behind it.
I also added more button functionality that activated various elements, such as shock towers, gravity wells, platforms with buttons, and other permutations of the ones that I mentioned. I do wish that I could have iterated on this part even more, since it is not without flaws. Nevertheless, the feeling of collaboration feels more substantial in this version.
Final Thoughts
This project not only taught me a lot about Level Design and how the player interacts within the parameters of the game world, but also how excellent group dynamics can have an impact on the overall quality of the product. Every single person on the team was on the same page and was fully dedicated to ensure that the game was as good as it could be. With the help of both small and larger tweaks, it allowed us to hone in our respective skills and to showcase a game that we were very proud of.