The first part of our project was the pre-production phase. Through many meetings we established as a team that our game would be based around a fox that swap between realms. The concept of our game focused heavily on duality: The duality of the two realms and two massive mountains that connect to each other by a bridge over the clouds. I was tasked to take over the second level of the game which would be called the Village. Originally, the Village would share the same mountain as the Estate level, the third level, this originally proved to be a major size constraint to the development of the Estate level so both we’re given their own mountain. Another constraint is the Village was supposed to have two major split paths but this was changed as we wanted the spirit you follow to be on a spline so the Village in Production became more linear, but longer.

Digital Layout

After creating an outline to establish the pacing and flow of the level based off the design of the game the next step was to begin making the layout. The level was to reflect being on the side of a mountain over a cloud sea so a lot of verticality must be incorporated.

Visual Target

Using asset packs and doing my own lighting and post processing I made a vignette of what I wanted the visual target of the level to be. In collaboration with the artists on the team we managed to establish the Village level being a beautiful town that has been abandoned.

The Spiritual Realm would resemble night time with wisp flying around the environment with a cool and tranquil atmosphere. While the Earthly Realm would resemble day time with nature taking over.

Early in the production phase of the design process was creating blueprints to assist in the level design process. The main BP and mechanic of the game was making a prototype realm swap that can be used to make early puzzles. Later in the project the prototype realm swap would be refined and merged in collaboration of the tech designers and programmers to make a more advanced realm swap. Other BPs that were created in the early phase was making the clouds moved so the cloud sea looks fluid and a jump pad that’s made with wisp particles.

Once a basic form of the realm swap was completed and moving clouds were made. The next step was to begin whiteboxing out the level. This phase of the level was a combined effort of me making proxy assets in Maya and the artists providing me some of proxy walls and roofs that they made. The entire mountain was sculpted by me and I was in full control of how the mountain looked like. The whitebox phase was split into two major parts the lower half of the mountain which is more flatter and the upper half which is more vertical. Both over time were adpated in response to feedback like not enough mechanics being used, or how flat the level the was, and even to downscale certain aspects.

Zenko: A Fox’s Tale being the first real game I ever worked on brought a lot of brand new experiences and perpesctive to game development. Those things also helped better me not in just level design but also helped with specialized certain skills like lighting, set dressing, and optimization. Being able to work in a team with 17 other members of interdisciplinary fields.

Being in a team: Despite the level being owned by me since we are all a team this level is an accumulation of all 17 members. I must be willing to listen and work with the team as this level and the other two will represent all our hardwork as a whole. I couldn’t be selfish in the process and had to accept some ideas may not be liked by the majority. Another task was brainstorming an idea from scratch and accessing our teams strengths.

Interdisciplinary Cooperation: Having to work frequently with producers, artists, and programmers to ensure that development goes smoothly. Many times throughout the project I would have to work with the non-level designers in our team. From merging and refining blueprints with tech designers, working on the visual vibe of the level with artists, placing analytics and testing out mechanics for the programmers, and creating documentation and providing updates for producers.

Documentation: Creating extensive amounts of documentation was needed for the village level. I had to do extensive research of Japanese cultures and platformer games to know what I wanted in the level from assets that the artists will make. Creating a flow and pacing chart to get approved by my design lead so that the level fitted with the design of the game and was within the scope of our project.

Design: Designing a level within the constraints of our level that our design lead made in the Game Design Document (GDD). The level had to also be able to teach the player a new mechanic while also using all the mechanics that level one teaches the player. The level also was designed to be completed with a certain time frame while also being a moderate difficulty since its the second level of the game.

Adapting: Throughout the project I had to get used to adapting often. Sometimes in the project the level would have to go through extensive changes whether it was from feedbacks, or a change in our mechanics. Being the main lighter in the team also means setting up meeting with the art lead and art professors to make sure our lighting was never too bland or too saturated.

Overall: Being on this team has been an amazing experience. At the start I barely knew most of the team and what they personally did, and now not only did I become amazing friends with each one I managed to learn things from each one that I can take into my career. Learning from the other designers, producers, artists, and programmers each one allowed me to see how level design relies on constant communication with each team member. Sometimes even when we’re not behind in work we’ll have to devote many hours into our work to ensure we deliver a quality product that our audience will enjoy.

Back to Top