Cole Williams - Level Design and System Design
Flash-Blade Renegade is a 2.5D (3D models in a 2D space) action platformer with a heavy emphasis on stylish melee combos and fast, responsive gameplay. Players have access to a melee weapon with a large moveset, and a number of movement options including wall jumping, a ground dash and an air dash. Breaking its creator's hold on it, the Sol unit defies orders and chooses to fight for its freedom using all its mastery over parkour and combat.
Project Info:
Course: Junior Game Course
School: DigiPen Institute of Technology
Team Name: S-Rank Games
My Roles:
Producer
Level Designer
Systems Designer
Level Design
As the level designer for Flash-Blade Renegade, my contributions included:
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Concept and creation of Levels 1 and 2
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Aiding and polishing of Tutorial and Boss Levels
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Creation of combat encounters
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Creation of traversal encounters
Level Creation
I created all of Level 1 and Level 2 for Flash-Blade Renegade while assisting on the Tutorial Level and Boss Level. Before working in engine I would create wireframes on a whiteboard for the initial idea (shown below). I would then white box the levels for testing their initial concepts and how well they work as planned. There were times where the spacing would not work out as intended for the movement mechanics such as dashing or jumping off walls so the level would need to be adjusted.
Initial Level 2 Concept Drawing
Level 2 Final Result
Combat Encounters
For combat encounters within the levels, I created spaces that enclose when the player enters called Arenas. The Arenas have open doors and green lights when the player has not yet entered. When the player enters an Arena with undefeated enemies, an alarm sounds, the doors close, and the lights turn red. This signifies to the player that they have entered an arena and what they need to do next. When all enemies are defeated there is a completion sound that plays, the lights go back to green, and only the door forward opens so that the player knows which way to go. During playtesting there were playtesters that would accidentally backtrack in the level due to not remembering which end of the arena they entered from. To fix this, only the exit door will open when an arena is completed. If a player dies within an arena, they respawn just outside of the Arena they died in and must restart the Arena from the beginning with all enemies within respawned.​
I created the Arenas with multiple enemy types and sizes in mind. The different enemy types also have different attacks and resistances I needed to keep in mind when deciding placement and number of enemies for each encounter. Over the course of development, issues such as instances where too many enemies would occupy the same room or the player not having enough room to dodge enemies without getting hit. Playtesting different room scales, platform locations, enemy placements, and player detection would aid in polishing the combat encounters.
Traversal Encounters
Another type of encounter in Flash-Blade Renegade involves traversing the level using different movement mechanics. I created sections of the levels that require the player to use the wall jump mechanic, dash mechanic, dash rails which extend the dash distance of the player, navigating moving platforms, avoiding spikes, and using the dive attack to crash through glass flooring. I built the levels in a way where the player would swap between traversal and combat encounters to give higher and lower tension in the gameplay.
System Design
As one of the System Designers for Flash-Blade Renegade, my contributions included:
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Designing player movement including dash and wall jump mechanics
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Specifics on player combat and potential moveset
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Deciding enemy types and adjusting behaviors
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Planning player health and recovery
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Creating death and respawn system
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Producing Arena enclosure concept
Player Movement
For the player movement in Flash-Blade Renegade we wanted the player to feel quick and skilled like a ninja. I worked on coming up with different maneuvers that would allow the player to move in interesting ways and create unique environments that challenge their ability to use the traversal moveset. For horizontal movement we implemented the dash ability which can be used to cross long distances and ride dash rails. The dash mechanic can be used in air as well. Dash rails extend the distance the player dashes to the full length of the dash rail they are riding on. For vertical movement we the wall jump and quick fall abilities were created. Being able to use different abilities in conjunction allows for even further mobility such as wall jumping then dashing midair.
Player Combat
I worked with another designer in coming up with a simple combat moveset for the player which also makes them feel powerful. We also wanted the player to feel like they needed to use different attacks rather than spamming one attack in order to master combat. The attacks for the player include a basic attack as well as special moves. The special moves include the Stinger Attack forward special, Launch Attack neutral special, in air Dive Attack neutral special, and in air Pizza Cutter down special. The player can build up a combo while attacking enemies which contributes to their score at the end of the level they are currently on.
Health System
With our design pillars focusing on the player growing their skills with the combat of the game, I wanted to implement a way for the player to heal without having health pickups. The system that was designed takes the skills of the player in mind by allowing the player to heal based on overkill damage they do to an enemy. If the player deals more damage to an enemy than its total health without letting it hit the ground, they can do overkill damage which is indicated in red. The more overkill damage to an enemy, the more the player is healed. The amount the player is healed accounts for half the overkill damage done to the enemy. This steers the player toward mastering combat in order to gain health back.
Enemy Combat
There are three basic enemy types in the game known as the light enemy, medium enemy, and heavy enemy. The medium enemy (right) is the basic enemy that has a normal speed, moveset, and ease of juggling. Combat is a main focus of the game so more enemy types were needed. I designed the light (middle) enemy that has the players Stinger Attack, faster movement speed, and is launched higher. This enemy is weaker and can be defeated easier but comes at the player faster and more aggressively. I also designed the heavy enemy (right) which has a shield that needs to break before it can be launched whatsoever. The heavy enemy is slower but is larger and does more damage. The heavy enemy does not launch as high and is therefore harder to juggle.
Production
As Producer of the game team, my contributions included:
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Creating, maintaining, and updating task tracking system​​
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Handling submission of documents and builds
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Representing team in production meetings and team presentations
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Seeking aid for teammates who need outside help on their task
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Conducting weekly standup meetings with the team
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Keeping track of due dates and deadlines while relaying them to the team
Below are some example images of the task tracking sheets we used as well as a button with a link to the document itself
The image above shows examples of completed tasks given to some of the designers on the team
The image above shows examples of asset tracking that we used for assets within the game
The image above shows examples of our backlogged task list in terms of priority buckets