Project Snapshot
Shipped now!
Avaliable for download here on Steam.
Engine: Unreal Engine 4
Development Time: 3 months
Team Size: 10 people
Platform: PC, Steam
Role: Lead Level Designer
Crystal Call is a fast paced first-person speedrunner taking place within fractured ruins floating inside mysterious caves.
Retrospective
What Went well
The game was shipped on steam.
Working with a combination of in-person and virtual teammates and managed to successfully communicate for the majority of the project.
Still gathered playtesting data from remote playtesting despite COVID-19 limitations.
Level pipeline was smooth and efficient.
Stuck true to the core of the game and focused on bringing out the most fun in it.
What Went Wrong
Number of levels was over-scoped and caused a crunch towards the end of alpha and beta.
Metrics for the modkits were created too large which makes the player character feel really small.
A level had to be cut towards the end of beta due to scoping.
Miscommunications between leads caused tension in the leads team.
To make the game progression feel natural we had to rearrange the level order which caused confusion in level naming.
What I learned
I gained a lot of experience about the nuances of being a lead and working with teammates who are also friends.
Sometimes it’s best to concede a point for the good of the team.
It’s important to keep everyone relevant informed about important decisions to avoid additional work.
Documentation is important and useful but only when it is being actively used. Do not waste time on unnecessary documentation.
Roles and Responsibilities
The lead Level designer responsible for the design, implementation, and progression of levels across the game
Planned all milestones with team leads and presented milestones to stakeholders.
Created and maintained all level design documentation.
Samples of Work
Blockout Design vs Final Level
Blockout, Design, and Iteration
Designer for the majority of the 16 levels in the game.
Created quick throw-away action blocks that were essential in finding fun and unique level ideas.
Created 18 action blocks formed a strong base that we could flesh out into full levels quickly and efficiently.
Define and Maintain Best Practices for Level Design
Because our game was speed-focused we had to make sure levels read well at a glance.
Deciding on a foreground and background conveyance color was important for distinguishing the critical path.
The player should never get lost while playing and always know where to go.
The levels are short and designed to have a high level of replayability where the player must master the mechanics.
Levels should be short between 15-30s for a perfect playthrough.
Critical Path VS Background Assets
Final Progression Chart and Level State per Level
Documentation
Tutorializing our mechanics was challenging and required iteration.
Getting the right level progression required shifting levels around and adding additional short levels so the player had enough time to spend on each mechanic.
Define and outline metrics to pass to the artists to create the mod-kit
Level Design Document - Best Practices and Metrics