Alexander Westwater
Game & Level Designer
Primordial Grounds
Primordial Grounds is a prehistoric themed course that takes place in a jungle filled with various dinosaurs and vegetation. This concept came from my local golf course that I go to which is dinosaur themed and I really enjoyed it so I wanted to take that fun experience and convert into a golf clash course. I made this a par 5 course because I wanted to experiment with harder difficulties which would help me get a better understanding of how complex courses can be designed to make things challenging but also fun for the player to tackle.
Primordial Grounds
Hole 3 - Par 5 (5B)
Yellow Path
This is a much trickier drive but if you succeed, you'll have a much easier second shot to the green. You need to avoid the rough and the bunker.
White Path
This is a much safer way to play. Max topspin and a wide fairway should leave you with a third shot to the green.
Red Path
This is a tricky initial drive but succeeding will give you a much easier second shot to the fairway and then an straight shot to the green. You need to avoid the rough and the bunkers.
Screenshots
Process
Started with a flat terrain and painted in the layers of grass on the map that I sketched out before hand.
Added a 2nd and 3rd roughness layer and a few more bunkers to make this level more trickier.
One thing that was bothering me about this course was the small fairway just below the large one, I didn't feel like it had much purpose so I extended the fair further down while removing some of the fairway from the top to balance out the change.
Before
After
Now came the long part, I got a variety of jungle vegetation assets, some mountains and various dinosaur models from sketchfab and placed them throughout the course. I wanted to give the impression that these dinosaurs are animatronics and that the player is a prehistoric park.
Next I used post procession to make the level more appealing as well as chainging the skybox texture. I experimented with some colour grading effects and achieved a more vibrant presentation which fits with Golf Clashes overall atheistic.
Before
After
I sculpted in slopes adding elevation to the course making important for the player to strategize their shots accounting for slopes that manipulate the balls momentum adding a level of challenge that flat surfaces can not provide. This should of been done this before adding the assets but it took some time to figure out how to create slopes without messing up the geometry of the level which happened many times but I manged to work it out which will benefit me when creating future courses with complex slopes and geometry. I also added some water for some to bring out the tropical side of the jungle. If it gets in the way of the aesthetic, I can remove it with a click of a button.
Conclusion
This map is much different from Port Kraken as it features more complex geometry, hazards and more difficult shots to make for the player to make the par score greatly increasing the challenge for the player however I believe each level design decision (painted grass, sculpting, hazards etc.) I made, created a challenging yet fun course for players to playthrough as well as a great theme that can fit right in with Golf Clashes various themed courses. Mistakes were made once again but I learned greatly from them and had a lot of fun making this level. With more course design knowledge under my belt, I'm very much looking forward to the next course I make.