Level Design

Creating both engaging and entertaining levels which compliment the gameplay is a difficult balance to find for this games' specific style, which I hope I've found. The historical reference for aircraft carriers engaging other ships and aircraft would be over dozens or hundreds of miles of open ocean, which could create quite repetitive gameplay if there were no variations in the levels. I've taken the concept of advancing from island to island to fight and capture them as my main focus.

The addition of islands around the levels should not limit what the player wants to do, yet also provide some small benefits and additional options should the player choose to utilize them. The first level needed to be more open to allow the player to familiarize themselves with selecting and controlling their units, but have some islands available to be used. By the second level, there is a larger, more threatening enemy force, so the islands are a bit larger and centered to be used by both the player and enemy vessels.

Islands can be utilized in several ways. As you'd expect, aircraft can fly uninterrupted over them all, however the ships must all sail around them. This presents the opportunity to funnel ships between the islands, which can create ideal timings to pounce on ships (including the player!) which don't have room to maneuver. Though more rare, if positioned well, torpedos can also impact against islands, providing a somewhat unreliable, but extra source of protection for vessels.

Part of a Game Expo!

I made Pacific Battlestorm as part of Florida Polytechnic University's 2020 Virtual Game Expo. We all had about a month or less to design and develop a game while having the option to use assets such as models that weren't ours. The games will be published on November 20th and will be ready to play. There are some great games being made, so be sure to support them by voting!