Marvel's Spider-Man traversal inspired me on making a movement-centric game. I was excited by the idea of designing a fun motion system.
After some brainstrorming we chose to make a Mirror's Edge like. The twist was to change the parkour formula by not setting our game in a metropolitan context.
We also wanted players to be able to change the environment through magical structures.
I worked to identify the mechanics we needed to create our movement system and how the magical structures were supposed to work in order to modify players experience.
Me and the other programmer were responsible for determining
the feasibility of our gameplay in realization terms.
I wrote game design documents on Confluence.
I wrote documentation and reviewed the levels of my colleagues.
I also got my hands on the engine by making levels
from scratch and dressing the scenes.
In addition to that, I wrote the documentation necessary to contextualize the game elements inside the levels, making them part of the lore.
In fact, given the absence of dialogues, we focused on the environmental storytelling.
I designed and dress the last area before entering the city. My idea was to create an environment in which the chaos of the City Outskirts and the neat layout of the City Inner coexisted.
I introduced multiple paths for the first time and enticed players to choose the most difficult by drawing their attention with a collectible.
Ended the previous level, players have just entered the city and their objective is the white manor in the distance.
I built this level trying as more as possible to make it look like a city that was once inhabited.
The main purpose was to introduce players to new parkour mechanics and make them feel in a new context.
The last area I made comes after the white manor, players can now interact with magical structures and they have to pay attention to their score.
It has been designed to mix parkour and the use of magical structures.
Players have also to backtrack the first city inner part in order to solve the puzzle, but they will experience it in a completely different way.
I was mainly responsible for the following systems:
Work respecting the role’s division.
For this project, we decided to adopt a more professional working method by giving lead positions to some team members. This help a lot in speeding up and improving the quality of the project.
Become aware of the working pipeline.
When more departments are involved, it is crucial to follow the right pipeline. For example, it would have been better for level designers to have more concept arts before starting to work.
Make by best use of Unreal Engine.
I worked on this project for over a year and I learn a lot about this engine.
The most relevant functions that I want to highlight are the ones that simplify the teamwork, such as level streamings and data tables.
Pitch our game to real publishers.
Since our intention was to publish the game, we participated to 2023 First Playable edition, an event for game developers in Florence. There I learn what publishers want to see and hear during a pitch.