Studio: Howling Wind 
​Engine: Unreal Engine 4
Genre: Narrative Action RPG
Development Time: 3 Months
Team Size:  3
Role: Level Designer

• Complete narrative development that took inspiration from multiple sources including fable, assassins creed, and more
• Complete level design ownership, taking levels from concept art to finalized
• Created concept sketches and discussed gameplay across disciplines
• Designed, blocked out, and finalized levels after cross-discipline discussions to obtain 3D assets from UE4 marketplace
• Scripted player character movement, interactives (sword, shield, helmet), health system, stamina system, animation blueprint
• Scripted lesser enemy movement and animation blueprint
• Balanced damage output values for the player character and lesser enemy 

Curse is an ARPG set in a fantasy world known as Tenebris, an ancient world filled with magical beings. You play as Indra who sets out on a quest to defeat an evil vampire lord. Players must use and unlock various abilities to avenge their slain family and bring peace to a land plagued with war.

Abilities Include:
Werewolf Transformation
Fireball Spell Attack
Berserk(Increased Melee Attack Speed) and More...

The Problem: Players needed a simple level that would guide them to the final boss fight.

My Solution: Limit the amount of exploration in the level while still allowing enough for a player to find new gear.

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The Problem: Players need a reason to be in the Throne room, a reason to engage in combat.

My Solution: Allow for the climax of our narrative to take place. The player rushes into the throne room and can utilize their abilities to defeat our villain and take revenge for what he has done to the land.

I started by finding video games with a similar level/boss fight to the one we wanted to create. I spent hours each day for a week taking notes on the similarities and differences of each video I watched.

I tried to focus mainly on:

• How each area was structured
• Any common elements between different games
• Boss placement/movement
• Cover placement
• Health pick-ups
• Level Layout

Once I had a good idea of how a level can guide a player to a boss fight, I began to gather references for the aesthetic of the level based on the theme of our game.

To start my 2D layout I wanted to focus on a few key elements:

• Limited exploration
• Have a few "lesser" enemies as guards
• The Throne room needs to be awe-inspiring

After multiple Iterations and discussions with my team, we decided on the following sketches because they met the level's intend goals.
A few small changes were made during the production phase such as moving the helmet down into the dungeon area as well as removing a few enemies due to balancing issues.

Once I had my level layout I began by blocking out some of the basic areas such as the dungeon and parts of the throne room. I tried to stick to my original 2D layout only deviating if I discussed it with my team. I also tested different enemy placements to make sure there was a reasonable amount of combat, but not so much it would ruin the play experience. I made sure to do playthroughs each time I changed something slightly to ensure the "feeling" wasn't changed. After I felt comfortable with my blockout I decided to move on to polishing.

As part of my final steps on the level, I tried to really get in the mindset of a vampire lord. I asked myself what kind of objects, would I have in my throne room and on the way to the entrance of my throne room. I ended up settling on small details such as candles, statues, dungeon props scattered throughout the level, and human bones. I focused on these to drive home that dark and grim feeling I wanted the player to have.

Here's a video of the final level after polish. This project was a lot of fun and I hope this served as a great way to show you how I design a level. Overall this project was semi straightforward and a lot of my issues came during the scripting process. Since the level wasn't super big I was able to focus on the smaller details such as lighting and props. I might come back to this project in the future and try to expand upon it. However for now enjoy this fly-through video!