Blog Post 8 Final Project

Introduction
In this playtest session, players tested our level titled "Island of Fire" from our 3D game Rise of the Olympian. In this game, players take on the role of Zeus as they embark on an epic quest for power in the Titanomachy. Zeus must traverse the newly formed Earth, fight Earth Giants, gain power ups and face his father, Cronus, in order to sieze the throne. The level excerpt here takes place in the Island of Fire where the player will find the doorway to Tartarus, and he faces Cronus's Ember Giants and Earthlings as he navigates through the fiery landscape.

What's New To This Level
The team is made up of the 2D artists Aaron and Cobel, 3D artist Quynh, and programmers Glengle and Tim. Glengle provided programming code for the sinking platforms and will later contribute to sound effects implementation. Tim created the animator and movement controlling. Cobel provided art for the Ember Earthlings, while Aaron provided art for the Ember Giant. Quynh contributed to the 3D level design and model. Unfortunately neither the model nor the Ember Giant made it into this playtest event, but will be in the final project and will be updated around May 18th to show proper credit!

Playtest Critiques
Players were intrigued by the design of the gameplay, since the characters are 2D and are able to move in a 3D world. Players enjoyed running from and fighting the Ember Earthlings, and many made it to the flowing lava river before sinking into the lava because they could not time the jump onto the lava rocks successfully.

However, there were some bugs that caused additional barriers for the player. For example, it was noted by players that orientation of the camera created difficulty in seeing the lava pathway to jump onto, which caused them to die. One player made it to the end of the platform, but actually was stopped by a hidden barrier that was mistakenly placed in the way of player jumping, so it was actually impossible for any player to even make it across the river regardless of skill. Players recommended a way to be able to control the camera movement on their own.

This post will be updated May 18, 2025 to show the amazing work of all contributors to this project

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