Level Designer
Enginelight
DESCRIPTION
Enginelight is short demo of a Open World Survival Driving Game taking place in Halsingland, Sweden.
ROLES AND TASKS
During the Development Cycle of the game, Tech and 3Cs Designer.
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Worked on Intial Prototypes during Pre-Production
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Owner of the Main FPS Character, working with Animators, VFX Artists and Programmers to get all things working
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Scalable Weapon System
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Modular Ammo System
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Implemented SFX, VFX, Animations and other Game Feel Indicators
Before officially starting the project, we were given a small genre list as well as one week to do a short prototype for the game.
Our three chosen genres were, Survival, Combat and Co-Op
We decided on two key aspects,
- Making the Vehicle the main base
- Survival Theme to be based on Upgrade Menus
For my Prototype I was mainly inspired by Dead Static Drive, and worked on a Co-Op Isometric prototype.
Enter/Exit Car
In the end the team focused on a First Person prototype another designer made, but a lot of the Blueprints I made for the Switching Pawns was used for the Pre-Alpha Build of the game.
Prototypes & Pre-Pro
Pre-Pro Documentation
I noted down a list of features I was planning on implementing, but focused on the main features.
I re-used my Camera Manager script from Brawl Bunnies, made a Modular Interaction System and modified the Third Person and Driving Template to make a quick prototype.
My main focus was to iterate fast but also make a clean and modular prototype, so that it would be easier to work on in the future if it happens to be selected by the team.
Interaction System
FPS Character
Initial Research
My Initial set of research was on getting a "True-FPS" Character to work, similar to the styles of Firewatch and Tarkov, where the player can look down and see their legs.
In the end because of the complexity and lack of time, we ended up scrapping that and went for the Traditional FPS(Camera w/ floating hands)
Continued Research
Once I had set what kind of FPS Camera I would have, I started reasearching on the Overlay Animation System I wanted to replicate.
My core insipiration was the system from Destiny, which had Look Pointing, Overlay bobble & Weapon Sway
Base Animation + Overlays
How the System works
Look Pointing
Weapon Sway
FINAL IN-GAME
With the prototypes in mind, I started switching over to assets made by our animators and VFX Artists. However there were a few issues we werent able to solve.
The animation overlay system relied on a particular Spine Bone to work, Animation rigs were finalized before this requirement was clear. This meant the system had to use another set of bones, which reduced the final quality
Stronger pre-production communication with animators is critical.
CHARACTER HIERARCHY
Reflection
Overall, I'm very happy with how the project progressed. Although I originally joined as a Level Designer, I ended up taking on multiple roles across Systems, 3Cs, and General Game Design due to various needs within the team.
This was also my first time working closely with artists, understanding what they needed from the project, and creating documents and metrics to support their workflow so they could continue their work smoothly.
This project was a major boost to my skill set, especially in building scalable systems and managing scope for the entire team. It pushed me to learn quickly, adapt to new responsibilities, and contribute across several disciplines.