Space Bending Level Design

Hey, I'm James -- Lead programmer and secondary artist for ITW. As you may know, Into This World is a story about a woman named Drea digging through the planet to find her missing brother. For now, that's all you need to know. No spoilers for you!


Stay focused, because this post is about navigating your way through This World. (See what I did there?)

Different Styles of Map Making change how space is perceived. Bending space has never been so fun!

Here I have referred to them as Type A and Type B. How the rooms relate to each other doesn't really change gameplay, but greatly changes how the player will perceive their position in the 2D space. For example, both maps above represent the same exact environment. Notice the Orange room in Type A spans the length of 4 gird cells -- that's a room 4 screens long. In Type B, this room doesn't exist. Green Room A connects directly to Gray Room C, thus bypassing this space.

This is often seen in RPGs, in which entering a small house takes you to a room that is much larger on the inside than it appears on the outside. I call this the Wonderland Effect, and it can be seen in many games across time. Bending space like this allows for some trippy level design.

Into This World will be using this (Type B) style of level design to its fullest effect, which is different from conventional Metroidvania kinds of games. And if everything goes as planned, we'll be releasing a level editor to allow players to make their own challenge rooms. (Separate from the main story line)

So brush up on your relativistic physics, because this'll be a mind (and space) bending experience.

"Hey everyone! Bannon, here. Before my associate goes ahead and promises space bending experiences, please familiarize yourself with Heim's Theory of manipulating space. Here's a quick example... Ya know baryons and all...