No, this isn’t going to be a blog about anything Monty Python, I just had an idea for a new level, and decided to run with it rather than do additional work on part 2 of my Yeti level. This new level is going to be a versus level, for 1-4 players. Yes, I know it’s kinda hard for a single person to play a versus level, but I figure if I design it right, and by right I mean that a player can pick their starting position, a player could practice each path.
That being said, the idea is to create a maze with 4 sections that dump into a central location. Each section will be the same, except that they will be mirrors of each other. Throughout the mazes I am placing doors that the players have to open. I want to add some element that lets a player close a door in an opponent’s maze to slow them down. I think I will make this element in such a way that it slows them down on their own path, so they need to choose between possibly slowing down an opponent, or just charging forward. We’ll have to see how that goes.
The Vehicle
I started by designing the vehicle the players use. I settled on a hovercraft, and wanted to use repulsors for steering them. The final design looks a little like this. Somewhere between the X-Men and Green Lantern logos, and the player sits in the middle. The materials I used are a pebbled dark brass for the top layer, freaky clouds for the internal pieces, and sticker panel for the repulsors, which are arcs on the outer edge of each quarter. At the tip of 4 points I placed small LED lights. The cool thing about this design is that I can change the basic color of the LED lights, the sticker panel repulsors, and the freaky cloud pieces. This enables me to make a different colored hovercraft for each player. That will give the players a clue as to which part of the maze they are in. The other clue will be the position of the starting box.
The Logic
I made some simple movement logic using the controlinator, in case I wanted to add some features the players can access by pressing one of the buttons. Starting with the picture on the left, you see the controlinator setup. In the upper, right-hand corner, I placed a microchip where I put the elements that will always be on. The first object is a game camera, used to control how much of the surrounding maze the player can see, Below that is an anti-gravity tweaker. I use this because the game will be a top-down perspective, it allows the hovercraft to move around easily. One of the settings, dampening is set low so the vehicle will slow down gradually if the repulsors are off. The last element is a gyroscope, to keep it pointing up. I also added a material tweaker on the “freaky cloud” pieces, and set the bounciness to about 30%. This makes the hovercraft bounce off the walls when it hits them.
On the left-hand side is the logic that turns on the magnetic keys that trigger the movement, and lighting elements. The player uses the left joystick, or directional buttons to steer the hovercraft. Each of the magnetic keys triggers one or more of the magnetic sensors on the 8-way movement microchip, in the center picture, and the repulsor microchip, in the right-hand picture. The 8-way movement uses simple movers to move the hovercraft in a single direction, or diagonally, at a set speed. I’m thinking of adding a boost powerup, that would increase the movement rate for a short period of time. In the right-hand picture, I use the magnetic sensor to turn on a sound generator to make the crackling electricity noise, a lethalizer to add electricity to the repulsors, and set the sticker panel (repulsors) to on and light up brighter.
The last piece of logic on the controlinator is a magnetic key and a sound generator attached to the “X” button. Pressing the “X” button will trigger all 4 directional magnetic keys, which turn all 4 repulsors, a magnetic key which turns on the 4 small LED lights, and plays a pulsing sound, which plays in addition to the crackling electricity sounds. This also has the effect of stopping the hovercraft in it’s tracks. This “pulse” is how the player will trigger the door switches in the maze.
That is all I have planned for this weekend. I might put the hovercraft on my “CommToad’s Creations” level in case you want to get a copy and play with in on your moon, or even use it in your levels. If you have any suggestions for additional functions, let me know. That’s what LBP is all about.
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