Level 0
The Lobby
Top view of The Lobby
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Gravity Fields
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Buttons
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Box Spawners
NEW MECHANICS
DESIGN GOALS
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Introducing the game setting and characters
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Introducing the Gravity Field concept
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The Curator and SHI like to fight
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They are in an Art Gallery...in space
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What are the Gravity Fields
PLAYERS LEARN
The Reception
Map of the first room in the Lobby. In this room, players meet the Curator for the first time.
Making the wait entertaining
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The first encounter with the Curator happens at the reception, so we wanted the Curator's strong personality to come across. Initially, we created a long speech about the Gallery, but we realized that players got impatient while listening to the dialog. We decided to make it shorter and to the point, and we added interactive elements to distract players while the Curator talked.
The Reception is the first room that the players see in the Gallery.
Vandalizing the Lobby is a viable option for the most impatient players.
Coming on too strong
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The initial dialog also included a heated discussion between SHI and the Curator. Players did not know either of the characters at this point, so the discussion felt out of place. To address this issue, we decided to make it look like everything was going "according to plan", and made the fight subtler, with the Curator making angry comments under his breath.
One of the things players see early on, is the Curator's difficulty to control his emotions.
The Gravity Hallway
The Gravity Hallway helps players understand what a Gravity Field does to objects.
Introducing the Gravity Fields...from a distance
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Before giving players the Gauntlet, we wanted them to experience what a Gravity Field was, without forcing them to interact with it. For that we created the Gravity Hallway, that shows how Gravity Fields affect objects in an intuitive way. In addition, the hallway's length allows the Curator to give information to the player while he walks, removing the "dialog wait".
The Gravity Hallway is a simple way of showing the Gravity Fields for the first time.
The Gauntlet Room
The Gaunlet gives players the ability to create a Gravity Field by themselves.
The smallest room with the most dialog
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The room where players receive the Gauntlet had to be entertaining, yet simple enough for players to be able to learn the Gauntlet's functionality. To accomplish that, we used the Curator's comments to make the room fun. Almost all players' actions have a reaction by the Robot (try falling in the pit!), which led to players loving the Gauntlet Room despite its trivial challenge.
Have you tried reaching the other side of the room before getting the Gauntlet? The Curator won't be amused.
