Wicked Wizards

My Responsibilities

- Owned the level design process for the castle, forest, and ruins areas of the multiplayer level

- Pitched and Prototyped a second map with various design docs and outlines for possible implementations

- Worked closely with Designers and Programmers to concept and design gameplay

- Worked closely with Artists and the Creative Director to maintain consistent visuals throughout the map and implement environmental storytelling

- Worked with Designers, Artists, and Programmers as a team of 40 to create a functional 3D PvE game

My Design Process

Prototype (v1):

The other Level Designer and I brainstormed how we could iterate upon the prototype map, and I concepted a river which would breakup the constant green landscape and encourage players to use the bridges to avoid being slowed down by the water.

Prototype (v2):

I added some verticality to the map to visually break up the map but playtests showed that players were unsure of where they or enemies were. Originally, large towers were used as a solution, but I presented the idea of theming different sections of the map and worked with artists to add environmental props for this.

Vertical Slice:

Our gameplay and map size weren't working together at this point, and when the idea of reducing the map size was presented, I presented an alternate solution of changing the objective to move throughout the map rather than stay in a single spot. This allowed players to explore the map along with feeling engaged in the gameplay more.

Production:

At this stage, I began working closely with Artists to concept ideas for environmental storytelling to reward players for exploring the map. Some of those ideas included:

- Adding burn decals to the castle

- Adding map signs to lead players around the map

- Adding a gravestone for narrative purposes

- etc...

Alpha:

Feedback from playtests showed that the visual distinction across the map could improve, so I took charge of the forest and ruins area of the map and redesigned them so that the ruins area would act as the neutral area for combat and the forest area would present more verticality options, including mushrooms players could bounce on.

Beta:

Besides visuals, I wanted to incorporate more environmental gameplay so players could feel rewarded for interacting with the level, so I worked with designers and programmers to concept a bomb plant that would take out enemies and recharge overtime. The concept was designed and implemented after I worked with the artists regarding the plant visuals.