FIRST FLIGHT
ROLE : LEVEL DESIGNER | 2 WEEK PROTOTYPE | NOVEMBER 2015 | TEAM SIZE = 5
FEATURED ON MAKEY MAKEY WEBSITE

OVERVIEW

In First Flight, players "become" an aeroplane (yes become not fly)! Three players form a human chain and orient the chain in the direction they want to fly. The player in centre of the chain uses the volume of his voice to accelerate the flight. The players must cooperate to navigate the plane avoiding pesky birds along the way.

​As level designer my role was to script the level given three different bird assets and movement functionality with parameterized direction and speed.

PLAYER INTERACTION

Voice interaction is based on change in decibels per unit time to determine plane speed. When there is no change, the plane holds its position for a set amount of time before starting to move backwards. Therefore to hold the plane in position, the player must mantain the same volume.
METRICS TO TUNE
  • Ratio of change in decibels to forward movement
  • Time plane holds position before sliding backwards
  • Horizontal speed

STAGE 1 - TEACHING MOVEMENT

In the first stage, we introduce each bird type one by one so that players the visual of the bird to the direction of their movement. We also spawn them at the point where the player currently is so as to force movement. This hopefully creates a map in the player's mind of bird type vs expected movement.
Small brown birds force horizontal movement, i.e. an orientation switch in the human chain
Medium sized yellow birds force vertical movement, i.e. an increase in volume of the screamer

STAGE 2 - CREATING SPACES TO HIDE

The fact that there were 3 players involved in steering causes a time lag in navigation across the screen. Therefore real time fast paced evasion of birds would not have been a suitable level design for the experience. Instead the level was structured to have certain safe spaces on the screen free of danger from the birds. Players needed to identify these spaces and navigate to them in a quick time interval. The size of the spaces also reduced with each passing wave of birds.
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STAGE 3 - INVERTING DIRECTION

In the final stage of the experience, the entire world inverts! This means left is now right and vice versa. Players need to be conscious of the turns they are making again until they have the reverse mapping in their head. Stage 1 and Stage 2 repeat in this inverted world.