Level Design - Unity VR: Singularity

Introduction: A narrative journey through a wormhole. Complete the last couple of tasks required to complete your spaceship and take off in this short experience about coping with loss.

Team members: Langxuan (Harry) He, James Zhai, Pulei(Play) Wang,Shuozhi Shen ,Derek Williams

I am a programmer and a level designer for this round

Finish Date: Nov 2022

Video Demo

Game Overview

A VR Storytelling Experience. There was an old man named Eustice who used to be a NASA engineer. When he retired, his wife Katherine, his dog Planck, and himself moved to Kansas to get away from the hustle of the big city. Katherine and Eustice were working on a homemade spaceship together, when Katherine fell ill and died, leaving behind the gift of a Pocket watch with a picture of her…

Keywords: Storytelling,VR Experience,Emotion

Story Based Level Design

Designing game levels based on the story are not like just designing sequences of puzzles for the player to solve. There are some key points that need to be concerned about, such as: How to use a level to convey the story? ; How to inspire players to empathize? ; For VR experience, how to design the layout of the game scene to let the player to focus on and keep the pace of the story?

Level 0 - Prologue

This level is the prologue. We need to let the player have a basic idea of the story. So I put the player into infinity darkness and there is only a workbench and a pocket watch which is floating. This will make the player focus on the workbench and items on it. And because the pocket watch is the one of the key items throughout the story, I use the idea of “contrast”, which is to let the pocket watch float to make it more attractive for the player. When the player grabbed the pocket watch, it will enter chapter 1.

Level 1 - Prepare to Launch

This is the first stage chapter one level. In this level, the player will get to know the past(Main character and his wife) and the current goal(To the wormhole) of the main character. In order to build a connection between the player and the main character, Flashback mechanics were introduced. I designed three flashback moments, and the player needs to do simple interaction with the flashbacks.

There are three Flashnbacks about main character and his wife. For the first flashback, it will be triggered automatically, because we want the player to get to know the Flashback and give the player a strong motive to press the button and open the garage gate to see the wormhole. We also have special considerations when designing the first flashback. In the initial design, the workbench was placed at the back of the garage. However, through many playtests, we received much feedback about the difficulty to notice the goal or even the wormhole in distance. So I have a discussion with my teammates and decide to move the workbench and the player to the front of the garage to make the wormhole to be more noticeable.

Flashback two and three will be triggered by key items(as the layout shows). And we use the dog to help with each interaction, because the dog is a relatively active character at this level, and the dog also is important to the main characters. So, the dog will help the player to fetch key items, and the dog will bark when it finished fetching and came close to the player. I think this design will build a strong connection between the player and the dog and then gradually make the player feel the connection between the main character and the dog.

Also, slight changes are made for each flashback to give the player a strong sense of past and present. Like different dates on the calendar, progressive building stage of the spaceship when flashback goes on, different placement of game scene items…

I mainly responsible for desiging level 1 and level 3

Level 2- To the wormhole

This is the second stage of chapter one level. In this level, the player needs to turn on the spaceship and start the journey to the wormhole. Unfortunately, however, when the main character got close to the wormhole, an incident happened and the main character became unconscious.

In the designing process, the second stage acts as a turning point of the story, which can hook the player’s interest. We want the player to focus on the goal —- To the wormhole, so the flying routine is fixed and the player cannot control the spaceship.

Level 3 - Illusion in hospital

This is the transition chapter between chapter one and chapter two. Because the main character is unconscious, we create such an illusion flashback. In the last flashback, the player will be in the hospital-like scene and witness the death of the main character’s wife. The pocket watch is a strong symbol of wife, so when the player interacts with the pocketwatch a connection between the pocket watch and the wife and the main character can be built. The purpose of this transition level is to emphasize the symbolism of the pocket watch, which pave the way for the later stage of the story.

Just like in the Prologue, the idea of contrast is also used in this level—– all the unnecessary things are in white, and only important things will have color. Besides, a bright spotlight is pointing at the bed to attract player’s attention.

Level 4 - In the cosmos

This is the chapter two level. In this level, the main character recovered from unconscious and found out that the spaceship is severely damaged and his dog and his pocket watch flew away from him. When the main character found two items in space, there became a warning that fuel is critical. Now, the player had to choose to save only one of them and return to earth or intended to save all but would not be able to return home.

Because this part is the climax stage of the whole plot, my team members and I used some detailed designs on the details after discussion to ensure the transmission of information and emotions. The first is the processing on two key items. In order to allow players to see two objects in a relatively dark cosmic environment, they are highlighted. And regarding the problem that the pocket watch is too small for the dog and the center of gravity is unbalanced, my team members and I discussed and made a design that when the player gets close to a certain distance, the phantom of his wife will appear on the pocket watch and music box music will be played.

At the moment of the player’s final decision, I tend to make the player experience a sense of bitterness and powerlessness. Two objects were placed on the left and right sides at the same distance from the ship, and an alarm sounded to warn the player that the fuel was low. Combined with the design of establishing the player’s emotional connection through the recurring dogs and pocket watches in the previous plot, the final scene will pull the emotional intensity to the peak. It is worth mentioning that although the game does have a hidden ending in which both are saved but cannot go home, I think it is necessary to strengthen a relatively positive ending.

Level 5 - Ending(Multi-Ending)

Level implementation - Event System

Because our game is a story-heavy experience, a event manager is needed for each level.Here are some screenshots about event system