OCO Custom Levels
Playthrough
Role
Level Designer
Key Responsibilities
Designed 30 levels
Explored all of the game's mechanics within these 30 levels
OCO is a fast-paced puzzle platformer where you must time your inputs to leap over obstacles and collect yellow bits in order to complete a level.
My role when making these custom levels was as a level designer. I specialised in the construction and structure of the 30 levels I made myself.
The idea of making 30 levels came from two factors. One was that the maximum amount of levels I could create in the game was 30. The other factor was that the game had 7 game mechanics. I decided to make 3 levels at a time that would revolve around each mechanic and then mix them together for the final six levels.
The final six levels contained a mixture of game mechanics. This was to culminate all the levels that came before and be a challenge of the player's skills and hand-eye coordination.
What I found useful in the level editor is that you could run a level yourself before posting it online. This would allow me to test the layout of the level to see if each platform can be reached by the player. I can also check that the level of challenge in reaching these platforms was appropriate for the level.
The main thing I wanted to focus on when designing the levels were that it kept true to the fast paced nature of the base game and that each set of levels got gradually more difficult.
Overview
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My tasks were to create the layout of each level, incorporate a game mechanic like rush or glide and place yellow bits so that when a player collects them all, the level would end.
The layout of the levels came from experimentation in the level editor, I didn't draw or write ideas down on paper. I found that creating in the level editor on my phone no matter where I am was an effective way of trying out an idea as soon as it came into my head.
The structure of my levels were to tutorialize each mechanic. The first level would introduce the mechanic to the player and be designed to be simple to navigate. The second and third level would get gradually more difficult. These two levels would test the player's reflexes and their understanding of the game mechanic.
Screenshots
