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Tex-Mechs is a first-person, single-player, action-adventure mech shooter where you fight to reclaim the insect-infested wastelands of the alien colony, New Texas. Riding your ranching mech repurposed for combat, you battle alien hoards of insects that are determined to destroy you and your fellow settlers.

Tex-Mechs was developed as a team-based capstone project at SMU Guildhall over 16 weeks.

The game was initially split into four sections, each assigned to one of the four level designers. As systems and mechanics were added, some sections were added while others grew, and I ended up designing three distinct locations: Rock Bridge, Switchback, and Radio Tower.

I was assigned the task of creating a new combat encounter in the middle of the level. There were two design restrictions: first, it had to take place along a short stretch of road between two large arenas; second, it couldn’t use the ranged enemy type (ranged enemies are introduced in the next large arena after the player finds a new weapon).

The space itself is rather narrow, and as such I decided to use a nearby cliff to spawn enemies, giving the player more room to maneuver while they spawned.

The intent of this encounter is to provide a tension-boost after clearing the prior arena, as we were given feedback of this section being boring. To that end, I designed an ambush using threat-reward assessment; it’s timed so players can’t reach the large health pack before enemies spawn next to it, forcing players to choose between advancing for health after the last arena or playing it safe for this fight.

The majority of this game’s combat starts with the player approaching some number of enemies from a safe distance, letting them get their bearings first. Through testing, I determined that an ambush here felt more fun than following that template, as the latter didn’t provide much challenge due to the tight corridor. Additionally, the initially-safe environment pulls the player around the corner while also putting the player in the middle of the action.

Pictured here is the data table used to spawn enemies for this encounter. The first two waves spawn close to the player to make it feel like a real ambush. The next two waves pull the player forward before the final two surround them.

The Rock Bridge is the first of three areas I designed, and functions as the start of the player’s climb towards the Radio Tower to call for backup.

I always enjoy when the player can see where they’ve come from, so I designed this area so the player moves upward in winding path that spirals back on itself. The initial design was twice as large as what it ended up being, with the player starting near a long-abandoned campsite. Ascending, the player was to follow broken-down roads until they reached a blocked tunnel in the mountainside, where they would start climbing up the mountain itself. All the while, they’d fight off hordes of insects nesting in the canyon walls.

After the initial blockout, the Game Designer asked me to cut the area down, though they noted they liked the concept of advancing up a winding canyon. With approval from the GD, the blocked tunnel was moved to the halfway point of the map and used as a wall to split the area in half, and the entrance to the section was moved up accordingly.

The Switchback is the second of my three areas, connecting the Rock Bridge and Radio Tower. The main design goals were to raise tension as the player ascends, and prepare them for the end.

In order for the tower to be both properly scaled and visible from everywhere in the map, it had to be exceptionally high up. In addition to crossing that final gap in height, the Switchback also prepares the player for the chaotic fight around the Radio Tower by spawning enemies both above and below them. At the bottom of the path, the player has nowhere to hide and so has to confront every enemy they come across.

Upon reaching the turn, more enemies spawn below the player, but this time they have a vantage point and so feel much safer. Continuing forward, multiple waves spawn in front of the player, though some of the enemies are explosive. When shot, explosive enemies damage other nearby insects, so some strategy gives the player a large advantage. This is a microcosm of some of the waves in the Radio Tower.

The next section is a small elliptical arena with a few enemies around mounds, and the player can use those mounds to protect themselves during the fight, much like the tower at the end.

The final area I designed, as well as the final area of the game, is the Radio Tower.

Originally this area was supposed to be larger, and house the insect queen as a boss. Due to various technical and art limitations, the boss fight was cut and replaced with a large multi-wave fight.

The Radio Tower is devoid of enemies until all three generators are activated. Once the player gets a sense of the entire arena and interacts with each generator, enemies start spawning in large waves all around the arena. Because the player could be at any of the three generators when the waves begin, they’re all positioned near high ground so they player can quickly get their bearings at the start of the fight. Both vantage points are also located next to enemy spawn points to force the player down, where each new spawn pushes them in a circle around the tower.

The overall encounter is designed to feel endless while the player waits for the generators to finish starting up. Once that happens, the fight ends and the player sees an enormous insect queen approach them, leading to a cliffhanger. The intention is to leave players wanting more, which is validated by having seen plenty of players express a desire to fight the queen.

What Went Well

• Redesigned levels with minimal disruption in pipelines and scheduling.

• Clear communication with Game Designer regarding vision for the game.

• Smooth cooperation with artists and programmers for required assets and tools.

What Went Wrong

• Lack of team communication early on led to developing maps that had to be abandoned.

• Last-minute adjustments forced major re-structuring of the final battle.

• Using only the landscape tool for the game’s level design made adjustments slow, as changes had to go through the art team for approval and retopologizing.

What I Learned (Improvements)

• Clear communication pipelines at the start of development helps dodge issues.

• Stricter deadlines for mechanics (“If it’s not in by this time, it gets cut”) helps avoid the creation of arenas around expected combat mechanics that never get implemented.

• More playtesting from people outside the development team provides other useful perspectives on whether the game is fun or not.