The Bungeon

DESCRIPTION

The Bungeon is a time-based dungeon crawler where the player is held captive by an evil bunny and must fight through a dangerous dungeon to collect his food, unless they can find a way to escape.

ROLES AND TASKS

During the Development Cycle of the game, I acted as a Level and Systems Designer.

Designed Core Loop and Progression of the Game
Blocked out Intro Area and the Green Dungeon
Directed the overall layout of the entire map
Worked on connecting dungeon created by other level designers
Worked on Player Onboarding
Iterated on Feedback

The BRIEF

For this project we were given a theme - Growth and Fragility. To connect the given themes to our game, I approached each one through three key lenses:

Gameplay – How the core mechanics and player interactions directly embody the theme.
Narrative – How the story and character arcs reflect the themes of growth and fragility.
Physical Representation – A more literal or visual interpretation of the themes within the game's world and design.

Keeping Theses in Mind, I set these as the Key Lenses for The Bungeon

Base Dungeon Sketch

I started researching the Dungeon layout and drew a quick sketch to convey the idea.

The Sketch was mainly used to showcase how the progression of the zones would work.

It had three zones and showcased how one could travel through all the zones and then back to the lair.

Game Flowchart

After sketching out the Base Map, I started working on a Flowchart Diagram. This was to explain what the Moment to Moment Gameplay would be like, and how the players would progress through the map.

With the flowchart, I wanted to keep the communication as clear as possible for the other designers, so they can just look back at it to understand how the game would work.

Documenting the Level

Once I figured out the Base Sketch and Flowchart of the game, I started to document/narrate how the gameplay for the First Dungeon would go, which is a common practice I do for my level design process. I learned this from one of Steve Lee’s Videos.

This allows me to visualize my level in a greater detail, as well fixate on ideas and mechanics I plan to implement, it also gives me enough freedom in the future to make changes in plans. As you can see the level changed quite a bit from what I had initially written down.

Initial Blockout Of The Level

After I was done laying the foundation for the base gameplay loop and level design, I shifted my focus to getting the initial blockout complete. This was to finalize the overall scale for the map, as well as the speed at which the player will move around.

World Map

Along with directing the overall view of the World Map, I was the owner and level designer for the Green Dungeon.

The Blue Dungeon was blocked out by another designer, after which I took over development in the later weeks

The Red Dungeon was blocked out by 2 other designers.

Green Dungeon Map Overview

Acts as the Introduction area for the player, Teaching the player all the mechanics and the core loop of the game in a streamlined and digetic way

1. Enemy Intro

ACT 01

2. Crate Intro

3. Pressure Plate Intro

Acts as the Development area, The Player is given a small glimpse of how the puzzles work, as well as given a new area to discover under a threat of the timer

4. Further Button

5. Peek at Blue Dungeon

6. Raising Stairs

ACT 02

LEVEL BREAKDOWN

ACT 01

Teaching The CORE LOOP

As the player walks down the Lair. The First thing they are introduced to is the Worm Enemy.

Upon Detection, the Enemy Plunges at the Player.

Once Defeated, The Enemy Drops a Carrot, Teaching the the player the overall core loop of the game at the start.

Crate Mechanic Onboarding

The Player is then guided towards the Left Alley, Which Showcases a Locked Gateway to a Future Dungeon and a Carrot Stuck under a Crate.

Collecting the Carrot, leads the crate to fall down. This Introduces the Mechanic that the Crate can be moved.

Hitting the Crate with the Sword, allows the player use the crate as a pedestal to get back the main area.

Exploring the Dungeon Further

Walking towards the Right Alley, The Player is given a small glimpse at the Water Puzzle Area.

A Locked gate in front of a Blue Pressure Plate is Shown.

Stepping on the pressure plate, leads the gate to open up, Teaching the player the final mechanic of Pressure Plates, as well as how the Gates can be opened.

Reaching the Water Area

The Gate towards the Water Area is blocked, with the button placed far away. The player needs to hop through the cracks and reach the end of the hallway to open the gate.

Foreshadowing Future Puzzle

Walking through the small platform, the Player is given a small peek at a Future Puzzle situtated inside the Blue Dungeon.

The Gate acts as a Foreshadowing, since the player will have to Backtrack back to this section to complete the puzzle and open the gate the Final Dungeon of the game.

Funelling Back to Lair

After completing the simple Puzzle in the Water Area, the Player finally gets access to the Pressure Plate.

Standing on it, leads a secret Stairway to break open from the ground, Funnelling the Player back to the Bunny Lair, as well as showcasing that they have finally opened the Gates toward the Blue Dungeon.

ACT 02

Reflection

I’m quite happy with how the level design turned out in this game. This was my first time working on a project with multiple level designers, guiding them and making sure everything connected smoothly. It was also my first time collaborating with artists on a much larger area, communicating with them about modular assets, room limitations, and working closely within systems and levels to make the game easier for players to navigate.

While challenging, this was a really fun project.

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