I was tasked with blocking out the third level and to design mechanics to fit into the narrative themes, story and setting of the level. A fisherman tells the player that the lake has been dried up and the player sets out to restore the lake and bring back the fish. I designed the water level changing mechanic because it fit into the level and it would help make good puzzles as players would have to reach a water changer to change the water level, and different changers have different levels they can be set to.
Another one of my tasks was to improve the current design of the Rock Breaking Mechanic. It was one of the main game mechanics because it related to the narrative arc of the player learning Kintsugi. I dissected the current mechanic and explained why I thought the mechanic currently was not working as a puzzle mechanic. I redesigned it to give more flexibility so it could be used better as a puzzle mechanic.
To quickly make a lot of puzzle iteration I made playable puzzle concepts in Figma that were used to demonstrate how the puzzle would be solved by moving the objects around. This was extremely useful for determining if other players could understand the puzzle as well as look for ways the puzzle could be broken before it was even implemented. It was also a way to prove that the new mechanics I had designed would work as puzzle mechanics.
Going from paper to Greybox, we started to do more playtesting. The game was aiming for challenging puzzles without being frustrating or overly difficult to solve. Playtesting was useful to figure how players viewed the information they were given, and the feedback was used to redesign the levels, so players were guided towards the solution while still feeling smart about solving the puzzle.
This puzzle here was a really tricky one to help guide the players to solve. Player's had trouble remembering they could use a rock to rest a floating log on top of, something that was taught to them early in the level. The solve this problem there were two thing's I did. The first was I reduced the amount of information the player had to to make the puzzle less overwhelming. The second was I made a new puzzle to go right before this one that had floating logs colliding with rocks horizontally to help the player remember that they collided with each other. The changes made ended up being successful as we playtested again.
Another big challenged that was faced was designing the inputs for the water level changing and rock breaking. The team went through a lot of iteration upon designing the controls for the two mechanics as we wanted them to be intuitive. They both were similar enough mechanics so they both ended up using similar inputs. Shift was used to change what rock or node was selected. But pressing 'E' would start or confirm the rock placement while 'R' would do the same for the water. Another inclusion was if players started interacting with one system but then pressed the button to start the other, it would cancel the previous and start the new one.
I was also tasked with designing the 2nd level. With that I had to re-designed the ziplines to make them more of a puzzle mechanic. Because they were well received from early playtests the team wanted to keep the mechanic in but as a puzzle mechanic rather then a platforming mechanic. I also worked on Designing how the rock breaking would work as at this stage the character had yet to come to terms with the re-using aspect of Kintsugi so they could only break rocks which would call debris to fall.
The musical ziplines were a particularly challenging mechanic to design because for the puzzle you wanted to ensure that if the player was traversing one, it would count as a music note as the space the player travelled using the zip-lines was the backbone to the puzzles in this level. We ended up finding a solution by counting the zipline ride, even if the player jumped off it early, as long as they covered the horizontal distance.
See Other Work
I was tasked with blocking out the third level and to design mechanics to fit into the narrative themes, story and setting of the level. A fisherman tells the player that the lake has been dried up and the player sets out to restore the lake and bring back the fish. I designed the water level changing mechanic because it fit into the level and it would help make good puzzles as players would have to reach a water changer to change the water level, and different changers have different levels they can be set to.
Another one of my tasks was to improve the current design of the Rock Breaking Mechanic. It was one of the main game mechanics because it related to the narrative arc of the player learning Kintsugi. I dissected the current mechanic and explained why I thought the mechanic currently was not working as a puzzle mechanic. I redesigned it to give more flexibility so it could be used better as a puzzle mechanic.
To quickly make a lot of puzzle iteration I made playable puzzle concepts in Figma that were used to demonstrate how the puzzle would be solved by moving the objects around. This was extremely useful for determining if other players could understand the puzzle as well as look for ways the puzzle could be broken before it was even implemented. It was also a way to prove that the new mechanics I had designed would work as puzzle mechanics.
Going from paper to Greybox, we started to do more playtesting. The game was aiming for challenging puzzles without being frustrating or overly difficult to solve. Playtesting was useful to figure how players viewed the information they were given, and the feedback was used to redesign the levels, so players were guided towards the solution while still feeling smart about solving the puzzle.
This puzzle here was a really tricky one to help guide the players to solve. Player's had trouble remembering they could use a rock to rest a floating log on top of, something that was taught to them early in the level. The solve this problem there were two thing's I did. The first was I reduced the amount of information the player had to to make the puzzle less overwhelming. The second was I made a new puzzle to go right before this one that had floating logs colliding with rocks horizontally to help the player remember that they collided with each other. The changes made ended up being successful as we playtested again.
Another big challenged that was faced was designing the inputs for the water level changing and rock breaking. The team went through a lot of iteration upon designing the controls for the two mechanics as we wanted them to be intuitive. They both were similar enough mechanics so they both ended up using similar inputs. Shift was used to change what rock or node was selected. But pressing 'E' would start or confirm the rock placement while 'R' would do the same for the water. Another inclusion was if players started interacting with one system but then pressed the button to start the other, it would cancel the previous and start the new one.
I was also tasked with designing the 2nd level. With that I had to re-designed the ziplines to make them more of a puzzle mechanic. Because they were well received from early playtests the team wanted to keep the mechanic in but as a puzzle mechanic rather then a platforming mechanic. I also worked on Designing how the rock breaking would work as at this stage the character had yet to come to terms with the re-using aspect of Kintsugi so they could only break rocks which would call debris to fall.
The musical ziplines were a particularly challenging mechanic to design because for the puzzle you wanted to ensure that if the player was traversing one, it would count as a music note as the space the player travelled using the zip-lines was the backbone to the puzzles in this level. We ended up finding a solution by counting the zipline ride, even if the player jumped off it early, as long as they covered the horizontal distance.
See Other Work
I was tasked with blocking out the third level and to design mechanics to fit into the narrative themes, story and setting of the level. A fisherman tells the player that the lake has been dried up and the player sets out to restore the lake and bring back the fish. I designed the water level changing mechanic because it fit into the level and it would help make good puzzles as players would have to reach a water changer to change the water level, and different changers have different levels they can be set to.
Another one of my tasks was to improve the current design of the Rock Breaking Mechanic. It was one of the main game mechanics because it related to the narrative arc of the player learning Kintsugi. I dissected the current mechanic and explained why I thought the mechanic currently was not working as a puzzle mechanic. I redesigned it to give more flexibility so it could be used better as a puzzle mechanic.
To quickly make a lot of puzzle iteration I made playable puzzle concepts in Figma that were used to demonstrate how the puzzle would be solved by moving the objects around. This was extremely useful for determining if other players could understand the puzzle as well as look for ways the puzzle could be broken before it was even implemented. It was also a way to prove that the new mechanics I had designed would work as puzzle mechanics.
Going from paper to Greybox, we started to do more playtesting. The game was aiming for challenging puzzles without being frustrating or overly difficult to solve. Playtesting was useful to figure how players viewed the information they were given, and the feedback was used to redesign the levels, so players were guided towards the solution while still feeling smart about solving the puzzle.
This puzzle here was a really tricky one to help guide the players to solve. Player's had trouble remembering they could use a rock to rest a floating log on top of, something that was taught to them early in the level. The solve this problem there were two thing's I did. The first was I reduced the amount of information the player had to to make the puzzle less overwhelming. The second was I made a new puzzle to go right before this one that had floating logs colliding with rocks horizontally to help the player remember that they collided with each other. The changes made ended up being successful as we playtested again.
Another big challenged that was faced was designing the inputs for the water level changing and rock breaking. The team went through a lot of iteration upon designing the controls for the two mechanics as we wanted them to be intuitive. They both were similar enough mechanics so they both ended up using similar inputs. Shift was used to change what rock or node was selected. But pressing 'E' would start or confirm the rock placement while 'R' would do the same for the water. Another inclusion was if players started interacting with one system but then pressed the button to start the other, it would cancel the previous and start the new one.
I was also tasked with designing the 2nd level. With that I had to re-designed the ziplines to make them more of a puzzle mechanic. Because they were well received from early playtests the team wanted to keep the mechanic in but as a puzzle mechanic rather then a platforming mechanic. I also worked on Designing how the rock breaking would work as at this stage the character had yet to come to terms with the re-using aspect of Kintsugi so they could only break rocks which would call debris to fall.
The musical ziplines were a particularly challenging mechanic to design because for the puzzle you wanted to ensure that if the player was traversing one, it would count as a music note as the space the player travelled using the zip-lines was the backbone to the puzzles in this level. We ended up finding a solution by counting the zipline ride, even if the player jumped off it early, as long as they covered the horizontal distance.
See Other Work
Level Designer @ Sondering Studio
Gold Lining
Tools: Unity, Figma | Contract Length: 3 Months
Level Designer @ Sondering Studio
Gold Lining
Tools: Unity, Figma | Contract Length: 3 Months
Level Designer @ Sondering Studio
Gold Lining
Tools: Unity, Figma | Contract Length: 3 Months
Summary
• Fully responsible for Designing Levels and Greyboxing them as the team's only Level Designer.
• Sketched out Puzzle Designs and new Mechanics in Figma.
• Redesigned pre-existing mechanics to better fit with the game's switch in direction from platformer to puzzle platformer.
• Reiterated based on feedback from studio leads and playtesters.
• Programmed and implemented mechanics I designed.
My Role
I was hired by Sondering Studio to evolve the design of the game into a puzzle platformer. The goal was to create puzzle mechanics and levels that fit the game's narrative theme of Kintsugi. I was fully responsible for designing and creating levels, designing new mechanics and re-designing old ones to better fit the new direction and some programming to implement the changes.
LINK TO STEAM PAGE
Summary
• Fully responsible for Designing Levels and Greyboxing them as the team's only Level Designer.
• Sketched out Puzzle Designs and new Mechanics in Figma.
• Redesigned pre-existing mechanics to better fit with the game's switch in direction from platformer to puzzle platformer.
• Reiterated based on feedback from studio leads and playtesters.
• Programmed and implemented mechanics I designed.
My Role
I was hired by Sondering Studio to evolve the design of the game into a puzzle platformer. The goal was to create puzzle mechanics and levels that fit the game's narrative theme of Kintsugi. I was fully responsible for designing and creating levels, designing new mechanics and re-designing old ones to better fit the new direction and some programming to implement the changes.
LINK TO STEAM PAGE
Summary
• Fully responsible for Designing Levels and Greyboxing them as the team's only Level Designer.
• Sketched out Puzzle Designs and new Mechanics in Figma.
• Redesigned pre-existing mechanics to better fit with the game's switch in direction from platformer to puzzle platformer.
• Reiterated based on feedback from studio leads and playtesters.
• Programmed and implemented mechanics I designed.
My Role
I was hired by Sondering Studio to evolve the design of the game into a puzzle platformer. The goal was to create puzzle mechanics and levels that fit the game's narrative theme of Kintsugi. I was fully responsible for designing and creating levels, designing new mechanics and re-designing old ones to better fit the new direction and some programming to implement the changes.
LINK TO STEAM PAGE