With the blockmesh for the Dreamscape Hotel being finished last week, I was able to focus on gameplay and mechanics this week. The main mechanics that I focused on implementing were the portal doors, “counting sheep”, subliminal messages, and internal dialogue.

Portal Doors

With this mechanic being the center level mechanic, I chose to focus on it first. Initially, I had planned on having the portal doors display a render from a camera view on the linked portal. This way, the player could see the other side of the portal and understand that they will be taken somewhere that defies logic. After spending nearly a whole day doing that, I got it functional. However, it caused major performance issues when in the level with 20+ portal doors. So, I had to improvise and come up with something new. Mechanically, the portal door functions how I intended, but it just has a different look. The portals also have idle audio and audio for when the player crosses through them.

Original Design

New Design

Count Sheep

Mechanically, counting sheep acts as a way to enable and disable the portals. This mechanic is only usable once it is introduced to the player. On input the player will activate/deactivate the nearest portal door. Some portal doors are not activated by the count sheep mechanic, and instead are activated by whether or not the player has reached certain objectives. I initially wanted to have this mechanic be more interactive or implement the literal concept of “counting sheep”, but unfortunately did not have time this week.

Subliminal Messages

Subliminal messages are essentially notes that the player can find throughout the level. These notes will provide narrative and story, while also guiding the player. Subliminal messages are what introduce the “count sheep” mechanic, and upon reading one that talks about it, the player can then use it throughout the level.
With the development of subliminal messages, I also developed an interactive object system. This allows the player to collect and interact with objects in the level in the same way that they can collect a subliminal message. When the player hovers over these interactable objects, a UI prompts them to interact on the bottom of the screen. This can be seen below.

Internal Dialogue

Internal dialogue is activated by triggers throughout the level. They act as the player’s thoughts and are the primary guidance for the player. In the image above, the player is communicating that they need to find a way to wake up. After saying this, the objective “Wake Up” is added to the top right of the screen. Other objectives throughout the level are also added this way.

For more info about these mechanics, check out this page where I go over how I made them work!