Jason Leary
Level Design
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Velociball: Designing, Prototyping, and Evaluating New Gameplay
Mechanics
I have always been interested in
my mechanics. In the prototype, testers
I knew this was an important topic, so I
jetpack basketball to evaluate two
prototyping my own gameplay mechanics.
selected it for my thesis.
My thesis took approximately five
months to complete, from the beginning
of summer break through the end
of October. To study the process of
prototyping and evaluating new gameplay
mechanics: using jetpacks to navigate the
arena and position themselves for shots,
and using telekinetic powers to pick up
the ball and score goals worth varying
point values based upon the sizes of the
targets.
mechanics, I chose to create an original
One of the biggest challenges I faced in
to design and script my own gameplay
through the different opinions testers had
game for my thesis. This required me
mechanics, iterate on them, and then test
those mechanics for their usability and
potential fun.
I created an entirely original game I titled
Velociball to properly test the potential of
14
played a single-player game of telekinetic
LEVEL DESIGN
the creation of my thesis was working
on how the telekinesis mechanic should
function in game. Through my work on
this project, I learned a great deal about
scripting in Unreal 4 and utilizing the
iterative process in the prototyping of new
gameplay.