The Knight of the Square Table
Square off against the Evil Sphereceror!
In The Knight of the Square Table, players traverse a 3D platforming level as Sir Square. Run, jump, and attack enemies in order to defeat the evil sphereceror and save the honorable King Cube. This was a solo project created by me, with most assets purchased off of the Unity store.
Made in Unity 3D
The next obstacle is the TEST- it also demands a jump, but then offers players 2 paths- a higher risk, higher reward path, and a lower risk, lower reward path. Both of these paths contain 1 enemy, but the harder path contains more coins. This section of the level is designed to give more agency to players. Higher-skilled players may want to try their hand at the more difficult jumps while other players may be happy to just go the easier way. Since both paths have enemies in positions where the player will encounter them from above, they have the secondary purpose of teaching the player the combat in the game- that jumping on enemies kills them.
Finally, the player reaches the CHALLENGE that checks if the player has mastered the jump. If they haven't mastered jumping at this point of the level, they will have a very difficult time with the rest of the game. Due to this fact, I placed the most difficult jump the player has to make yet- the broken drawbridge jump. Not only is this the most uneven and farthest jump, but there is also an enemy ready to intercept the player on the other side. When the player clears this obstacle, they enter the castle town and the next part of the level begins.
Teaching, Testing, and Challenging the Player.
One of my favourite parts of designing a game or level is creating the tutorial. They are such an integral part of the player's overall experience of a game, and the individual challenge for each tutorial is very exciting to me. For this game in particular, I had a few mechanics that I needed to teach the player in a short timespan. Other than the basic controls, I wanted to teach these mechanics to the player in a very organic and fluid way.
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The first mechanic I needed to TEACH the player was jumping. While I tell them in a text prompt that space is jump, players learn better from doing then from just reading. For the first obstacle to the player, I created something that may not even seem like an obstacle due to the very low risk. There is a bridge and a small river, and no matter which path the player takes they will have to jump to succeed. Doing this first jump will show them the metrics of the jump, preparing them for future jumps.