KEY CONTROLS
BACKGROUND STORY
Laura once again received a letter from her father, and this time, she miraculously found herself inside a peculiar tomb. She will confront labyrinthine underground tombs and terrifying foes. Can she overcome the enemies and unravel her father's mystery?
LEVEL DESIGN
EARLY DEVELOPMENT
My initial design goal is to create two distinct map sections: the atmospheric interior and exterior of the tomb. The exterior of the tomb will involve straightforward pathfinding and simple combat encounters, while the interior will feature a vast labyrinth. I drew inspiration for the labyrinth's design from the tombs in the Elden Ring.
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TOMB MAP
I aim to have players get lost in the ancient tomb.
To accomplish this, I've designed three nearly identical floors with subtle changes in the upward staircases, included mezzanine levels between them, and incorporated opportunities for players to jump down. This creates confusion, making players think they've returned to the first floor after reaching the second when in reality, they've landed on a mezzanine between the first and second floors.
(THE FLOOR PLAN)
GUIDANCES & MISLEADING
To lead players into the 'trap,' I've incorporated a variety of misleading throughout the level.
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"Attracting players" through item/save points.
When players enter the labyrinth, they encounter a save point on the second floor (which is actually 1.5 floors).
Coincidentally, they also spot a staircase, and naturally, they'll choose to go upstairs. However, this decision leads them to ascend towards the 2.5th floor instead of the 1.5th floor.
When the player reaches this point and notices the save point is gone, he can only choose to jump down, and start a second loop - go up again.
In the third loop, if the player hasn't found the switch I've placed it in a clearly visible room (since there are no enemies or treasures in the same rooms on the first and second floors, players might overlook this room by the time they reach the third floor.) The player will reach the dead-end.
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Confusing players using enemies.
The enemies on the first floor will be positioned here.
I've configured the enemies on the second floor to be dead, but their corpses remain in the same location. When players reach that same spot on the second floor, they might mistakenly believe they are still on the first floor, and the save point has 'disappeared'.
DISTINGUISH FLOORS
To help the player distinguish different floors, i made the statues in each floor different colors.
VISUAL REFERENCES
I pick Elden Ring as the visual references to make the tomb.
