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Antics

Roles

Level design & Scripter

Team size

8 people

Time

7 weeks, summer 2023

Engine

Unreal Engine 5

CONTENT

Level Design

Scripting

What I Learned

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Concept

Antics is a beginner-friendly PVE real-time strategy where the player takes control over an ant colony to fight for the park.

We wanted to show how a real ant colony could behave in a active park through art and mechanics.

Contribution

Level Design
Level blockout, Level dressing, pacing & encounter 

Scripter
Implement particle systems & parts of AI

Level Design

I was one of two level designers in this game. After some discussions and due to the absence of a few teammates, the group decided to introduce a leadership role. Following discussions with the other level designer and the group, we decided that I would take charge of the world and the level design as a whole.

Research

I researched layouts of parks and references which helped when I designed paths and areas where the player would interact. This was also useful for the rest of the designers and artists to envision what the world could look like.

The reason for these specific pictures was to get a grasp of scale and composition when dressing. I used the 2d maps for layout.

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Layout & Iterations

In addition to focusing on the world design, I was responsible for three zones. This zone is the one I am most happy with and worked on extensively.

Alpha

For the Alpha, we had five smaller zones and a more straightforward progression. I began by creating a paper sketch of a 2D map and then did a quick blockout in Unreal Engine. This allowed us to start experimenting and getting a feel for the game mechanics.

Beta

When we reached the Beta stage, we had to downscale due to sickness and team absences, so we transitioned from five smaller zones to four bigger ones with one of them being the base. I revisited the design and created a new 2D map, then blocked it out again in Unreal.

  1. This time, I provided the player with more approaches and ways to surround the enemy.

  2. After the initial blockout, I moved the exit up to encourage the player to explore more.

  3. the third iteration, I closed off the exit, forcing the player to return to their base and now they could leave that zone behind them.

My thought process

When designing the layout of the level and the different districts, I kept player choice in mind. when the player is out conquering, I aimed for players to feel in control and able to approach situations as they deemed best, reinforcing the feeling of commanding THEIR army.

The players' base is designed with more open space, offering only one direction to go to make them feel safer while also providing the freedom to design their own base.

The only place that doesn't provide the player with as many options is the enemy's base. I aimed for the player to feel like they were in hostile territory, attacking the enemy rather than fighting on common ground.

Exploration

To maintain player engagement and motivation to continue playing, I implemented a simple Fog of War (FOW) that disappears and reveals areas when the player gets close enough. The FOW served to hide resource nodes and enemies, prompting players to be cautious at first. As they grew their force, this sense of caution gradually diminished but always kept them alert.

Level Art

When designing, I aimed to clearly separate the playable area from the non-playable area using vegetation. The playable space was kept open and clear, with a dirt ground.

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Additionally, I diversified the areas. One area was filled with trash, while another was set up as a picnic spot. The enemy and friendly bases were depicted as clean, with Mother Nature in control.

Scripting

While my primary role in the project was level design and level art, I also often assisted with AI and various smaller tasks.

Health System

When I developed the health system for Antics, I designed it around an interface for elements that could be damaged, making targeting easier. I also created an actor component that could be applied to anything requiring health and the possibility to be destroyed.

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Warrior training.gif

Recruitment effects

To make the home base feel more lively, I added effects to the barracks during recruitment.
 

I took the queue list for recruiting and checked who was being recruited. After that, I played the fighting animation for the duration of the recruitment

What I Learned

Like any other game Antics had its challenges and things to learn and improve on. 

Flexibility

Due to a lot of sickness, I had to bounce around a little bit everywhere to help. I helped out with system design and scripting.

Scoping

Making a RTS in 7 weeks is very ambitious. To protect ourselves we scoped it down to the core mechanics and then built on top of it.

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