Graffiti Bomber
Graffiti Bomber is a first-person adventure through a construction site in which you place graffiti tags. This level was created for the Spaces and Worldbuilding course at Futuregames, taught by Andres Ramirez, Technical/Level Designer at Tarsier Studios.
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Level Designer
2 weeks
Solo
Summary
Graffiti Bomber is a first-person adventure game featuring a graffiti-spraying mechanic. Locate and tag your rival's graffiti!
Project Role
Level Designer
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Researched underground construction projects involving road and public transport systems.
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Drew map sketches
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Created level blockouts
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Applied set dressing to convey a story through props
Preproduction
I had a few goals for this level:
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Create a believable level through consistent, realistic scale
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Utilize different types of spaces: Transistion, open, and constricted to convey a specific mood and atmosphere
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Strengthen my visual scripting skills by prototyping a mechanic unique to the level
Funnel Structure
Visualizing the entire level as a series of funnels helped me plan the different spaces.
I observed that this structure would lend itself very well to the type of level I wanted to make. From granting strong sightlines of the level, to the gradual focus on a particular space. Then, allowing the player to breathe again in a new context.
A multi-funnel approach allowed me to accomplish my goal of creating different types of spaces which served distinct gameplay purposes.
Blockout
Gallery of 15 development images.
The Graffiti
Rationale
With each project, I always take on at least one new technical challenge in addition to my level design responsibilities.
I feel like a base technical competence is fundamental to expressing my design. Furthermore, it allows me to develop a vocabulary and way of thinking quite unlike what I usually practice while creating a level.
Functionality
The graffiti spraying mechanic is quite simple yet strongly captures my vision for the level.
A line trace is sent out from the player camera. If it hits the location of a graffiti actor, the graffiti actor grabs one random element from an array holding eight possible custom materials.
I set the decal material component of the graffiti actor to something random.
Reflection
For this project, I really wanted to focus on compiling strong references before anything. By taking a deep dive reading articles, watching interviews and news clips about construction projects, I was able to open my mind to the dimensions of large-scale underground work.
I'm proud of myself for setting clear goals and seeing them through to the end. Especially regarding implementing my core mechanic. Since the level was a practice in spaces and worldbuilding, our assignment had no scripting requirement. However, I saw that as the perfect opportunity to fill some gaps in my knowledge.
I did my best creating a level that was fun to navigate and play. However, I started to challenge whether or not the setting was the most conducive to my core mechanic. For example, I realized later that if the mechanic were placed in a context more closely associated to graffiti culture, there would be a stronger connection.