LA RANA
Design Goals
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Create an easy to play puzzle adventure with gorgeous visuals
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Develop in a studio environment simulating real-world studios
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Intuitive level design that caters to younger players
Game Engine
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- Unreal Engine 4.19
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Development time
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- 200 hours total
Team Size
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1 Producer
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1 Game designer
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4 Artists
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3 Programmers
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5 level designers
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My role
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Level designer, Puzzle Designer, Cut scene Animator
Genre
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Exploration/puzzle
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Post Mortem
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To communicate both parties need to be engaged in the conversation
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Every design reaches a point where something has to be removed or changed
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People responsible need to present their ideas in a cohesive manner
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Never let the "game" go home with you, leave work at work
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Communication between designers, artists, and programmers is a constantly evolving skill
My Responsibilities
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Document my designs
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White box and test designs
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Build out the foundation of the world
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Design primary puzzle areas
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Maintain cohesion between my gameplay areas and other developers gameplay areas
In this editor picture, you can see how I created a simple environment puzzle that requires the player to observe their surroundings and make a plan of action based on the conveyance of the tracks on the floor.
Puzzle area 1
Puzzle Hall
Overview taken from the documentation for this area. I planned out the area so that the players would use skills that they learned in the tutorial area in a larger concept.
This alcove from the previous area was designed to allow the player to observe this room and make plans on how to tackle the area ahead. players would always come to this area because I placed a frog (key) to ao the area in the alcove assuring that the payer has the chance to observe the upcoming space.
I designed around a new constraint, which is harmful water that kills the player on contact. The reason that we designed this was to convey a deepening of the story and convey how the stakes have been raised.
Pools of purple
I wanted this area to showcase the poisoned water that the evil serpent spread in the temple. This area is later in the game, and as such the puzzles now have consequences for failure, that being moved back to the nearest checkpoint.
I used Lilipad platforms that the team developed to create new and interesting pathways throught the level. This brought an additional layer of gameplay while still retaining the idea that the magical water moved the environment.
Puzzle Creation
I used rapid prototyping and paper maps to quickly build out ideas for areas that adhere to my teams' development pillars of Easy, fun, and looks good.
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My inspirations came from games such as Tomb Raider and Spyro the Dragon. I used spaces and landmarks like in the latest Tomb Raider games, and the simple spaces of Spyro to drive my design decisions.
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I never wanted the player to get lost so I utilized rails and guiding lines to direct the player to the next area.
Laying the foundation
Early in the project, I was tasked with laying out the whole foundation of the game that the rest of the game would fit within. My driving inspiration was Mayan step temples, I decided that sloping the gameplay downwards increased the tension in the atmosphere
