Sprint 5 Level Design & UI

Level Design

The Level Design for Flora Fatalis is inspired by some of my favourite strategy games and mobile games combined. I started by brainstorming an overview of features, collecting flora and pets was always going to be one of the main appeals of the game. The vertical slice should show some of the features I am pitching for like strategy, simulation and story.

The player will be able to collect up to six flora and six pets in the vertical slice. Plants and pets were chosen for a range of rarity, you can collect:

Flora: Foxglove, Water Hemlock, Wolfsbane, Angels Trumpet, Nightshade, Castor Oil

Pets: Snail, Earthworm, Ladybird, Black Ladybird, Garden Spider, Deathwatch Beetle.

Brainstorming Strategy Properties

Snail

A common pet that brings a small chance of gathering more common seeds, and attracts gentle rain.

Garden Spider

An uncommon pet that brings a higher chance of gathering uncommon seeds but less chance for common pets. Also attracts rain.

Deathwatch Beetle

A rare beetle that brings a higher chance of rare seeds but also a higher chance of disease.

Digitalis purpurea

Better known as foxglove, a common plant that attracts snails and common pets to the garden as well as gentle sunshine.

Brugmansia

Better known as Angels Trumpet, an uncommon plant that attracts ladybirds and garden spiders but also heat.

Aconitum

Better known as Wolfsbane, a rare plant that attracts beetles to the garden but also high winds and torrential rain.

Level Design Flora, Pets & Weather

Once the overall level design had been decided I focused on detailed levels and qualities for each item.

Concept Art & Game Art

Originally I planned to only focus on three different plant and pet species but I found I had time to draw and create 6 of each; this meant during sprint 6 I created concept art and assets for Castor Oil, Water Hemlock and Nightshade plants while also adding the snail, earthworm and black ladybird.

The User Interface (UI)

I began designing the UI as part of the main mechanics of the mobile game, with daily missions, new seeds and a flora collection and planting page.

Deadly flowers you’ve collected will appear on pretty cards with their properties attached in a description.
An overview of your garden looking pretty in 2.5D is available to explore in the app.
To plant, tend, and assign pets you’ve attracted you will need to use the UI Screens.

Card Design

To design the cards for Flora Fatalis I searched for inspiration again. Mutazoine has seed cards that are designed in a simple, easily readable and attractive design. While I would like to design something more complex, there’s little time!

Fig 10. Die Gute Fabrik. 2021. Mutazoine [image]

Flora Fatalis Seed Cards

The cards also have properties and lore attached, so I took some time out of this sprint to make the cards. For inspiration I looked to books like Botanical Curses and Poisons: The Shadow Lives of Plants (Inkwright 2021) as well as traditional gardening books.

Fig 12. Masters 2021. Card Set Flora Fatalis

UI Icon Set

Inspiration

Soup cooking facility and other facilities surrounding it.

Fig 13. Hidea. 2021. Cats and Soup [image]

Fig 14. Green Panda Games. 2021. Sushi bar Idle [image]

Fig 15. Homa Games. 2021. Idle World [image]

Fig 16. Masters 2021. *Icon Set Flora Fatalis*

Fig 17. Masters 2021. *New Seeds Flora Fatalis*

Designing the layout of the garden

Garden Concept Designs & Garden Design

Inspiration for designing the garden layout came from my own modern garden design practice.

Orthographic Camera

To make the artwork for my game simpler to reproduce for mobile and combine my 3D and 2D aesthetic I have decided to use an orthographic camera in a 3D space. *I changed my mind again later and switched back to a 3D space.

Sprint Retrospective

Sprint 5 felt productive but all the elements of the game are still ‘in the air’ and the vertical slice feels far from finished. The art is more rushed than I would have liked but there could be time to go over some of these elements in the next sprints.

List of Figures

Figure 1. Sarah MASTERS. 2021. Flora LD.

Figure 2. Sarah MASTERS. 2021. Pet LD.

Figure 3. Sarah MASTERS. 2021. Weather LD.

Figure 4. Sarah MASTERS. 2021. Water Hemlock.

Figure 5. Sarah MASTERS. 2021. Nightshade.

Figure 6. Sarah MASTERS. 2021. Ladybird.

Figure 7. Sarah MASTERS. 2021. Snail.

Figure 8. Sarah MASTERS. 2021. Earthworm.

Figure 9. Sarah MASTERS. 2021. Castor Oil.

Figure 10. Die Gute Fabrik. 2021. Mutazoine [image] Mutazoine [online]. Available at: http://mutazionegame.com/presskit/ [accessed 1 Dec 2021].

Figure 11. Die Gute Fabrik. 2021. Mutazoine [image] Mutazoine [online]. Available at: http://mutazionegame.com/presskit/ [accessed 1 Dec 2021].

Figure 12. Sarah MASTERS. 2021. Card Set Flora Fatalis.

Figure 13. Hidea. 2021. Cats and Soup [image] The App Store [online]. Available at: https://apps.apple.com/ph/app/cats-soup/id1581431235 [accessed 1 Dec 2021].

Figure 14. Green Panda Games. 2021. Sushi bar Idle [image] The App Store [online]. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sushi-bar-idle/id1438089337 [accessed 1 Dec 2021].

Figure 15. Homa Games. 2021. Idle World [image] The App Store [online]. Available at: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/idle-world/id1410042592 [accessed 1 Dec 2021].

Figure 16. Sarah MASTERS. 2021. Icon Set Flora Fatalis.

Figure 17. Sarah MASTERS. 2021. New Seeds Flora Fatalis.

Figure 18. Sarah MASTERS. 2021. Orthographic Camera.

References

Cats and Soup. 2001. Hidea

Idle World. 2021. Homa Games

INKWRIGHT, Fez. 2021. Botanical Curses and Poisons: The Shadow Lives of Plants. Epsom, UK; Liminal 11

Mutazoine. 2019. Die Gute Fabrik

PLAYRIX. 2021. Fishdom User Interface. Behance. [online] Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/129249445/Fishdom-User-Interface?tracking_source=curated_galleries_game-design [accessed 27 Dec 2021].

PLAYRIX. 2021. Gardenscapes User Interface. Behance. [online] Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/129250811/Gardenscapes-User-Interface [accessed 27 Dec 2021].

Sushi Bar Idle. 2018. Green Panda Games