Contributions
Level Design
Preproduction
During preproduction I worked with the other Level Designers in the team to create the level map and various layouts of the game world. The levels were divided into what are called "Segments" which would later determine the onboarding, mechanics, pacing, intensity, and the placement of major game points. I also helped out with setting up the Levels and Sublevels in Unreal to ensure a seamless experience, as it was established early on that no loading screens would be used. It was also determined early on that each puzzle and segment would be built modularly to ensure that they could be moved and interchanged without taking up too much time.
Production
After the game rules and mechanics were determined but not completely set, the Level Design team followed the metaphor of making a cake. Building layer by layer;
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Start by building the entire blockout from the level map
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Mark key plot points and major game points
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Identify onboarding of mechanics
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Identify which mechanic was a good addition to the previous one
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Identify pacing and intensity
The idea was that the player wouldn't necessarily unlock abilities, rather the game world would introduce new mechanics that the player could use.
Following the cake metaphor, and adding the layers on top, such as mechanics and major game points, allowed the team to easily identify issues such as pacing or which mechanics were to be introduced. Since the segments had been built modularly, they could easily be moved around in their key moments to solve pacing issues and shift around our mechanics to keep the player engaged.
While building the levels, I also worked on gameplay and creating puzzles and mechanics, which allowed me to set gameplay first and build the levels around it.
Gameplay & Puzzle Design
Preproduction
I joined the team during preproduction, where the player controls, movement and some game rules had been established.
My tasks were to:
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Paper design puzzles
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Conceptualize and build them in engine
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Create my own blueprints for mechanics
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Find a range of complexity
This allowed me to figure out fun and innovative puzzles for the game and keep the player engaged.
To begin with, in order to understand what could work and what would not, I did not have set limitations on what to try out, and instead bent the game rules as much as I could while keeping the essence of the gameplay. This allowed me to be as creative as possible. As the game rules were being established towards the end of preproduction, I gained better understanding of what types of mechanics and puzzles that would work for the game.
Production
During production, I was still tasked with creating the puzzles and coming up with new mechanics within the game rules. As the levels were built and the pacing and intensity were being set, I could determine how the puzzles would increase in complexity. From playtests, I would also notice that players could be challenged more during onboarding of new mechanics the further they were into the game. This meant that even for onboarding new mechanics, the puzzles could be increased in complexity alongside them.
I worked closely with the other Level Designers to build the segments and mechanics. We could complement each other's strengths and I learned a lot from their work. The aim was also a unified game vision and ensuring that it wasn't apparent that the puzzles were made from different people.
I also worked closely with the art team to make sure that the vision of the game was kept even in during blockout and further. This would allow the entire team to have a cohesive vision during development.
I also collaborated with the programmers as I created the mechanics through blueprints for the intended interactions. If the interaction was too complex, the programmers would remake them in C++. By providing a clear vision of the intended interaction, their workflow would be a lot quicker.
What I also noticed was that the cake metaphor helped with morale boosts. Being able to show the team that we had a fully playable, although not finished, game not only lifted the team's spirit but also gave them a better grasp of the game.
Teamwork
The team worked with an agile workflow. We used two-week sprints to maintain a steady workflow. Jira was used to track our tasks, ensuring transparency and good collaboration among the team and cross-disciplines. Together with the Level Designers, for the sprint planning we would create and divide tasks among ourselves with estimations and priority. This iterative process allowed us to quickly adapt to feedback, prioritize tasks effectively and continously iterate on the game, and it allowed me to polish puzzles from a gameplay standpoint.