Environment + Level Design for Hyaku Lake
Screenshots from XING: The Land Beyond
My role was to create levels from paper to editor. I loved creating vistas, but mostly stuck to smaller cozy spaces due to optimization necessities. My job was to create the landscape and sculpt it, then place all the meshes on top, from architecture to plants to gameplay elements, in ways that were both beautiful and also guiding for player from one zone to the next. My level design includes purposeful occlusions (aka big rocks) of other level areas, as well as thought-out foliage placement for the most bang for our buck at every detail level. I also created puzzle zones, and helped come up with and implement puzzle designs, which were fully integrated into the environments. My goal was to have each level be beautiful and satisfying, with something always available for the player to do. I worked with 2 other teammates to come up with ideas on what we thought would be fun and look cool.
Architecture pack:
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/W2aPxD
Creating vistas like this to surround the player while they traveled through this mountainous level was fun.
I had the idea for this Shinigami head after watching too much anime, so I sculpted it and placed it as the "gate" for the player to walk through. It works thematically as the player "passes through" to the spirit realm, since the game is about death.
I created this dramatic view for the player to see after they walk up some stairs, with the poetry straight in front of them. The giant Shishi Guardian (lion/dog) is actually a part of a game-travel mechanic, and launches the player from its mouth.
Just a nice walk I made. I really love this shot.
More vistas! I didn't make the temple itself, but I placed it on this crazy ledge hanging over a giant waterfall! Drama!
Up until this point the player only knows about pushing these blocks and having them move one square at a time on solid ground. On ice it's different, and they slide. This is where I teach that.
Hidden rune in a cave. I left part of the cave open to show off the view!
To continue, the player must walk across the bridge to use this Time of Day Platform and change night to day. This is one of those times where we "control" the setting through forcing the player to do something, which is an aesthetic choice.
Button positioned over the puzzle, to see what it affects.
Snowy vista from the starting area.
Overhead view from the first area: "Miki's home". The water flows down the cliff and forms a waterfall, but the player must figure out how to get the turbines to spin in order to platform across the water.
One of the few man-made interiors in the game. We based the design off of Japanese homes, using traditional paper walls and tatami mats. There are huge windows to bring the beauty of the outdoors in.
Part of a hidden temple in ruins. I had fun designing the temple with the "lake ruins" architecture pack I helped make. Once everything was in place, we combined meshes to save on GPU.
These waterfalls are designed to freeze and form a staircase when the player makes it snow. It was my job to place them effectively and make everything look cohesive.
A scene you can spot a lone Shishi Guardian (lion-dog) out on one of the many small islands. Players get launched from one Guardian's mouth to the next through giant vortexes they can jump into, allowing for fast travel over water and land.
A view the player gets when they exit a temple. I centered the poem in view, right in front of the zen garden, to emphasize the orderly aesthetic of the location.
I purposefully created this parting in the trees, because this is where the moon sits at night. This way, the moonlight could shine onto the puzzle area in the forest. It also creates a lovely view of the moon.
Button placed pointing at what it affects. Classic.
Top angle view of this puzzle design. It was my job to make it sit in the environment naturally, and use all the correct meshes.
This muse sits in an old graveyard, beckoning the player to come near.
Top angle showing how a puzzle area changes based on the time of day and snow factor.
At one point, I needed to figure out a way to make it so the player couldn't get to a certain area while it was snowing. I came up with this waterfall in the path, which freezes over and blocks the player from passing while it's snowing.
The final puzzle in this level took a while to find a place for. Its appearance is distractingly complex - but it needed to be centrally located - so we hid it underwater until the prerequisite quest was completed.
One of the initial map designs for Hyaku Lake. It changed a lot over the course of development, but this shows some of our initial design ideas.
Final Map version created for Kickstarter backers. The brown dots indicate the start and finish places. The grey dots are the Shishi Guardians (lion-dog) Transports.