Lego Level Design

Summary

Role: Game and Level Designer

Purpose: Solo Uni Final Year Project

Date Duration: October 2021 - May 2022

This project was my university final year project. I used the Lego Microgame framework in Unity to design and create a Lego level inspired by Toy Story. The level consists of smaller levels which have varying themes and objectives.

What is Lego Level Design?

Lego Level Design is my final year project for my Individual Games Technology Project module at university. The project was inspired by the Lego games created by Tt Games and Toy Story.

This project was created in Unity and is the first time I have ever used the game engine. I used the Lego Microgame framework and designed all of the levels within the game myself. The assets I found for free on the Unity asset store.

Role and Purpose:

Lego Level Design was a project I made during my final year at university. I used the Unity Lego Microgame framework to create a Lego game that was inspired by Toy Story. As this was a solo project, my role was a game and level designer. I designed multiple levels and created them in engine as well as using the frameworks features to create some new mechanics.

What I did:

I designed the levels for this project within photoshop.
I create my level in Unity using the Lego Microgame framework.
- The Lego Microgame framework allowed me to create game mechanics using the 'behaviour bricks'.
I gathered some friends to playtest and play through the level and then I received feedback off of them.
- The feedback I received I used to iterate and make changes to the game.
I presented my project to my university lecturers.
- Part of my module required me to present what I had created to my university lecturers.

Software Used:

Unity - The game engine used to create the game
Photoshop - I used to create my level diagrams
Microsoft Word - I used to create my Game Design Document
PowerPoint - I used to create a slide show that I would use to present my project.

Extra Details:

The games objective is to help Woody and Buzz Lightyear restore the child's bedroom back to its usual state. The player does this by travelling through the bedroom and through different worlds in order to get to the trophy at the end. The other worlds all have different themes and different objectives the player must complete in order to leave.

I started this project with the intention of replicating a scene from Toy Story and creating a Lego level out of it, just like Tt Games do for their Lego games. However, after using the framework and taking the timeframe I had into consideration, I decided that it would be better to create my own level using my own vision. This was because of limitations within the framework.

The project development went very smoothly and I had very little problems. The biggest issue I had was a lag issue. For some reason, when lots of Lego assets were in the bedroom scene at once, the game would start to lag a lot and average about 10fps. This was a big issue that I managed to resolve by breaking the level into smaller levels. Hence why the player can only explore small portions of the bedroom at a time.

Other than the lag issue, I found working in Unity to be an enjoyable experience. There are a few things I would have liked to of added to the project, such as cutscenes to guide the player to the next objective rather than a lot of UI text or more background assets that made the bedroom environment feel more alive. But I had never used cutscenes in Unity before and I didn't want the game to start to lag again.

Overall, I was extremely pleased with the final outcome of this game. I got a few of my peers to play test it and they thoroughly enjoyed playing it. They liked the variety of themes and the challenges that they faced. The people who played the final game were playing for around 30-45 minutes each, which is really positive.

Game Design Document:

Click the icon below to be taken to a PDF of the Game Design Document I created.