Jacob Harvey - Level Designer
TIME SWITCHER
ROLE - Level Designer
INTRODUCTION
A project that I took inspiration from Titanfall 2’s effect and cause mission (more specifically its time travel mechanic). The aim of this was to figure out how the team at Respawn and other studios go about introducing completely new and distinct mechanics to the player quickly and effectively, while also allowing for a fun and organic increase in complexity. To do this I used my skills in level design, game design and skills in Unreal Engine.
GENRE
3rd Person Action Platformer
RESPONSIBILITIES
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Concepting ideas for the game
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Research for level
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Designing and documenting level designs
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Designing and documenting mechanics
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Created pencil, digital and 3d maps of level
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produce beats and pacing maps
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White boxing level within the engine
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Producing mechanics for the level
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Placing mechanics within the level
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Testing and balancing level/mechanics
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Bug fixing
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Creating UMG story elements
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Meshing out the level
LEVEL DESIGN PROCESS
RESEARCH
For this project, I had to do two lots of research the first of which was how the developers at Respawn achieve their time travel mechanic. I luckily was able to find an article in which the people behind the effect and cause mission were interviewed. It was revealed that the level was created by having 2 instances of the same level on top of each other in which the player would shift on the Z axis between the two. I replicated this by having two different levels one for the past and one for the present.
Present Timeline
Past Timeline
The next thing I researched was how to introduce mechanics effectively. The best way I found was following the following steps
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Introduce the player to the mechanic in a safe environment in which making mistakes is not detrimental
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Establish mechanics further and remove the safety net
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Add a twist to what the player has so far learnt to challenge mastery or think about the mechanic in a new light
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Finally, a conclusion to show of skills that they have learnt.
LEVEL DESIGN
To start the design process, I started by identifying the key mechanics of the game and ordering them by their importance to the game. By doing this I was able to determine where to introduce the mechanic within the level. I then split these into level sections which would introduce the different mechanics and show the time travel mechanic can be used in different ways. This allowed me to make the level design easier as it allowed me to work on each section individually.
Using the knowledge of what I researched I then applied my knowledge to create the levels following the steps outlined below.
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Paper designs
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Digital design
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3D representation of the design
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Block out into the game engine
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Test the level section
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Mesh out the level
Below is a demonstration using the final section of the level
MECHANIC DESIGN PROCESS
For this project, it was also my responsibility to design and produce the mechanics. Have included my documentation for said mechanics below.
Time Shift Mechanic
Traps Mechanic
Turret Enemy Mechanic
MECHANIC DESIGN DURING DEVELOPMENT
Traps Mechanic
The glowing floor traps originally used a custom-made Niagara effect that used sparks as well as electrical arcs. However, due to their use in large parts of the level, it created large-scale performance issues as a result I replaced the effect with a simple emissive glowing material to optimize the project.
Turret Mechanic
The turrets were a complex thing to balance as they were used in a variety of different areas in the level from tighter close quarter areas as well as more open areas. This meant using balance tables to adjust damage, sight length, etc. This meant a lot of trial and error for each section to find stats that worked in each instance of the turret enemy.
Health UI
Later in production, it was decided to make the experience of dealing with traps and turrets easier to manage from a player standpoint I included a basic health bar. This meant that now the player was better able to assess how to approach each encounter
