LEVEL PROTOTYPING
Given we had a great part of the design team working on level design, I focused my prototypes on gameplay feeling (floor and platforming) and scene composition. I was involved during the early stages, creating prototypes from scratch and during the last stages, testing and fixing to ensure we acheived the desired experience.
Walking feel
My focus with this prototypes was to create a terrain that felt natural (as in formed by nature) and encouraged movement mechanics.
I studied and tested different terrain options in order to design a terrain philosophy that suited our game. After our first-playable, I realised all the floors on our games were flat, working against our movement based gameplay and the setting of the game.
After this study, I came with the rule: Don't allow the player to traverse the level without jumping or dashing.
OBSTACLE TRAVERSAL
My approach to these prototypes was to give player various routes and playstyles.
Along with terrain design I prototyped various environmentes focusing obstacles and platforms.
Apart from having specific platforming levels, our movement based gameplay required even the combat environments to be desinged around platfroming.
Some of these levels didn't make it to the final product but served as reference for the levels in the game.
Scene composition
Given my artistic background, I took on the task of composing most of the elements on the level. Working with a base provided by the other level designers, my job was to further develop the blocking adding detail and trying to convey a natural environment.
Having the pathing directed by the train made the job of composing the secenes easier, as most of the time players would be looking at the same direction as the train, making it more simple to mark certain focus points on the image.
WOW MOMENTS
Along with secenes composition, my main focus was to create visually stunning moments during cinematics and important narrative moments.
In this sense we followed a rule to always position important elements on the right side of the screen, given the character would be always positioned on the left side.
I applied this principle to my compositions aswell, making sure the characters often entered to an important zone slightly angled to the left, leaving room on the right to show the new environment.
