I originally planned to make the level the main chassis of the walker but decided that this still did meet the level of scale I wanted to achieve in this period of time. I instead decided to make design the level to be a large tube that the player navigates. This would also make scoping easier as I would not have to develop the an entire machine for the purposes of this mechanic.

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This allows me to give the illusion of the walker being many time larger without having to visually show the entire thing. I also have the opportunity to make this passage way almost like a artery of some gigantic creature. Giving the player the impression that they are surrounded by opposition, even the ground that they walk upon.

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The first thing I noticed was the scale of the tunnel. It felt too open, I wanted to maintain the sheer scale of the machine but I knew that I still wanted the player to feel enclosed and surrounded. Colour and Lighting In Interiors (R. Gupta, H. Kaur, 2024) explains that colours like red and yellows are considered "heavy" colors, making a room fell smaller and tighter (p.25). following this I used red and blacks as the main palette for the level with a "lighter" yellow for the ground bellow to convey a greater sense of distance to help provide more scale to the machine.​​

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With cramped feel that I was creating with the use of lighting and colour, next was to tackle some form I danger for the player. looking at how dead space and other horror games approached this is the use of environmental hazards. The simplest way to tackle this was through crushing pistons, which would also keep in line with the steel-punk theming as modern machinery play a large role in it with most large machines being controlled by hydraulics.  

 

Feedback I received pointed out that the new lighting left it a little too hard for the player to see, so I added a flashlight to improve the players vision in the direction that they are heading, but I ensured that it the player vision was still surrounded by the dark and heavy colours i was aim for as well as opting for the flashlight to have a dimmer colour rather than a pure white.

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I wanted to furthermore create a sense of urgency for the player as I found that the player had all the time in the world to progress through the hazards. Thus I added a collection of doors that would close at intervals forcing the player to move forward or be trapped.

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Further feedback provided pointed out that it was hard to tell when a door was going to drop, whilst his would present a sense of apprehension I concluded that it would be more effective to have sets of green lights to contrast the rest of the environment. This would not only provide a indicator to the player as to where they would need to reach before the next door drop, but also representing the player's hope being snuffed out as the lights turn red. ​

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Now that I had covered the Environment and the ma​in mode of danger for the player the next task was to tackle the audio. The made theme I wanted to aim for was need bass-y sounds that would always be rumbling in the players ear to represent the noises of distant machinery keep the idea of scale in mind the whole time.

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I used soundly to collect a bank of audio clips that I could edit to match the theme of the game. Firstly I introduced some ambience in the form of a humming that persists throughout the level. I added this so that no matter where the player is in the level they feel as if they are no closer to escaping.  This was follow my effects for the pistons and crushers, a rhythmic thumping and screaming, mimicking a vast beast stomping and growling.​​