Game Overview

Gamble is an isometric action rogue-like game where you play as Ricardo Romano, an Italian gang member that perishes after betraying his former gang. He is sent to Hell and now must face against countless demons as retribution for his misdeeds. Between each wave of demons, you must use the chips acquired from killing them to gamble and get either buffs or debuffs for the next wave.

Itch.io link: https://ewiley1.itch.io/gamble-demo

Development

My work on this game consisted of the following:

• Collaborate with team to finalize the GDD ideas for the game.

• Draw out my ideas for the game’s main level, the park, and discuss them with my team

• Tile and decorate the final selection on a program called Tiled and then port it to Unity.

• Playtest and resolve issues with any design or technical problems.

The Idea

Gamble was my first ever proper level design venture in game development, and it’s also still one of the most fulfilling projects I’ve worked on. This is because my work on this took inspiration from one of my all-time favorite games (or game modes, in this case), Call of Duty Zombies. You see, the whole premise of this game was wave-based survival with rogue-like elements, something CoD Zombies kind of is because of the mystery box mechanic. So, when I came into this project and realized the whole premise of it, I instantly went and started looking at CoD Zombies starting room designs. I looked specifically at starting rooms because those rooms usually give players ample space to move around in (e.g. Die Maschine, Ascension, Town, etc…). Space in those games is an incredibly powerful tool for the player to aid in their survival. I wanted my level here to offer the player that same type of power. However, something incredibly important is the need to balance a spacious area. You can give the player a lot of space, but if that space is too empty, it will make the play space boring to interact with while also making the game too easy. There are two ways to strengthen the design of a space like this in a game like Gamble or CoD Zombies: obstacles (Die Maschine) and/or traps (Ascension and Town). I went the obstacles route. Obstacles in these games are objects in the map that restrict player movement. So, while the play space may be big, there are many objects that will restrict movement that the player must be constantly paying attention to. If they don’t, they can easily get stuck and die (saying this from too much experience). There are two major sections for the park level: the kids’ play area and main park. Both are very similar in design, following the obstacles idea, but they definitely differ in approach to that idea. The kids’ play area has many little sections of lava that are randomly placed all throughout the area. This leads to a more chaotic play space with the lava acting as invisible walls. However, the main park isn’t as corrupted, so it’s a more organized lot to contend with. To balance it out though, the park has a rail near the middle that creates a hard divide between the entrance and the inner parts of it. If not paid attention to, it can lead to receiving easy damage from your enemies.

I also worked on second level during my time in this project (that one didn’t make it to the final product, though). This second level would still have the diamond shapes and obstacles. However, it would have genuine progression tied to it. So you start at the top of the map in another park-style area, and every wave would have you switching to a new location. The second one would be the middle parking area, and the third would be the bottom entrance road.

The Lesson

As I said before, this is one of those projects I look back on really well. I got most of my ideas down as I wanted to and my level ended up being part of the primary showcase within the game. The biggest challenge and lesson I took during my time here though was regarding the tiling aspect of development. Tiled was a simple program to use, but, in order to get the very specific results I wanted, it took a lot of trial and error (and a lot of communication with the art team). Fortunately, by the end, I was genuinely mostly satisfied with the results. If there was something I would add/change about my work here, I would add another railing to the main park area in my first level. Around the top of that section. This is because I feel that area still has a bit of an advantage over the kids’ play space. As for the second level, the top and middle sections need a lot more obstacles on the road areas for them. Those are some small things, off the top of my head, I’d do to further upgrade my work here.