Joining the Team

I joined this large student team after the prototype phase so the core gameplay was already established. At the time I was looking to focus on level design work, but a 2D boss rush game has pretty limited level design. There was another designer in the same situation as me, so the - very kind and accommodating - team decided to make a boss that was mostly platforming. Luke Pratt and I were now to start work on designing the level for the Antagonized Dragon encounter. 

First Pass

After some initial discussions, we knew that the encounter would take place on the dragon's back and that the dragon would be a 3D asset. Before deciding on the layout of the level we had extensive conversations with the 3D modeler who was going to be making the assets for the level. We decided to avoid having the dragon turn or curve, so the level was mostly going to be flat. We were also going to have magical rings that hovered around the dragon that would act as platforms, this allowed us to still have vertical variation without having to manipulate the dragon model. With some restrictions now set, we started sketching out ideas. We received some additional specifications from the combat designer, such as the player's move set and the requirements for the end of the fight. As the encounter started to become more finalized I wrote detailed documentation for the artists and engineers to refer to. At this point, Luke and I also split our work into phases of the encounter: I would handle the horizontal phases (1, 2, and 3) and he would handle the vertical phase (4).

Now with a plan and documentation, we were ready to start blocking out the phases. In engine, I made a visual representation of each phase so that the engineers had a more clear idea of how the fight would look. I was careful to make the organization of the block out easily readable in Unity's scene hierarchy.

Side Quests

At this point the design process for the dragon level was halted while we waited for engineering to implement the functionality. While we waited I worked on multiple other design projects, starting with two of the game's tutorial levels which we referred to as "glitch" levels since their appearance and narrative was especially computerized and meta. I once again worked closely with Luke to design two of these levels. I sketched the glitch level for the dragon fight that Luke then blocked out. He provided me with a sketch for a different glitch level that I then blocked out. This is a shining example of how my design relationship with Luke developed into a supportive and productive one over the course of this project.

Current Plans

The game is still in development with plans to launch onto Steam in early March. At the moment, my work has shifted back to the main dragon level since most of the mechanics are fully functional. I have been working with Luke to test the level multiple times in-house, and are preparing to do extensive outside testing. We also plan to design a "hard mode" dragon level.