Level Designer
Adventure - Beta to Gold
Asset conversion and iteration from playtest feedback on level design of medieval adventure game.
Prompt
As part of a team of 5, convert and combine our previously made block mesh “Adventure” level designs, created in Unreal Engine 5, into a continuously connected playable game. As Team Malachite, we worked tirelessly all month long to problem solve and improve our designs and eventually convert our basic layouts into realistic looking environments using art assets that fit each of our aesthetic and gameplay visions within the project guidelines.
What Went Right
Diverse Sequence Creation
I really enjoyed expanding my skills with the sequencer tool in Unreal Engine to provide both engaging and cinematic experiences. The design challenge was put to us to include valves to limit players backtracking and gates requiring specific actions or collectibles to open. Using the sequence tool combined with these guiding level mechanics allowed me to give the player a sense of accomplishment and wonder having progressed forward.
Guided Exploration
To lead the player with subtle environmental queues through winding passages and rooms I strategically created framing shots to distant points of interest, leading lines placing pull-carts, wooden planks, fallen trees, framed footpaths, and slanted ledges. Next, I found success using breadcrumbs to draw the player down hallways and up climbing ledges placing steppingstones, out of reach chests, eye-catching fireflies, and pouches of climbing powder.
Bringing Scenes to Life and Covering Seams
Working with modular assets to create my castle I return to make various passes over the structure itslef to not only decorate but also cover seams and irregular visual inacuracies. I used images from my mood board and proper architecture techniques to make each structure feel more acurate with trim, columns, plants, torches, and banners. This also helped with my world building goals helping the player immersion in the medieval setting.
What Went Wrong
Narrow Spaces
The area spacing in some parts of my project felt too tight for player movement without object clipping and some player feedback noted it gave a sense of claustrophobia in certain small hallways and stairs. In one climbing area, the tree and rock wall placement were too cramped, so I reduced the tree density and widened the walkable path to avoid this issue. I also had a few pinched hallways I decided to expand and in one removed the curling stairs in favor of a climbing ledge as seen here. These same spaces sometimes caused clipping in the walls, so I tried to place interactive objects like chests closer to the middle of the room away from the wall. In some cases, I used rocks and ruble to block the player from standing too close to the wall which solved the issue.
Sequence Distortion
When Moving Levels
While merging our separate block mesh levels into one shared world space, all of your sequences were destroyed with the actors and cameras appearing in strange locations due to the world location for each sequence not being fixed to the relocated level. Not yet knowing of the option to set sequences to work universally, I rebuilt each sequence actor and camera shot from scratch multiple times and again using the final placed assets. The sequences turned out amazing, however, this was one of the most frustrating and least efficient parts of the build process overall.
