Cosmic Hub - Level Design
Key Things I Worked On:
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Designed multiple heightmaps and rough draft sketches of the environment using Photoshop to then implement them in the game engine
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Worked with game designers to determine and organize landmarks and important locations of the islands
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Assisted artists to implement assets and environment props to the project
Level Design Process
During the initial development of the project, I was tasked to learn multiple procedural terrain generation tools to have an idea of the type of environment we wanted in the game later on. I ended up learning and using Gaia, a procedural tool made by Procedural Worlds. For me to have an idea of the world we wanted, I started designing multiple rough draft sketches of the island environment using Photoshop.
Initial Environment Blockout
Island Environment Design - Iteration 1
To make a detailed environment with the correct height and size established by the designers, I decided to make heightmaps in Photoshop. By assigning a heightmap to Gaia, I was able to design an island with multiple heights with the right settings.
Island Heightmap Design - Iteration 1
Island Flythrough - Iteration 1
After multiple iterations and playtesting, I ended up making a new design that included the player path and some of the landmarks of the island. I also started decorating the environment with some of the assets made by the artists, to have an idea of the scale of the terrain and how everything was going to look later on.
Island Heightmap Design - Iteration 2
Island Environment terrain with new heightmap
Island Environment Design - Iteration 2
Another tool I used to tweak and change the terrain was GeNa, also made by Procedural Worlds. GeNa offers the flexibility to go fully procedural or fully manual by naturally placing grass, trees, prefabs, fences, and structures made up of groups of prefabs. GeNa also has a carve system tool. With this tool, I am able to carve the terrain, make roads, clear colliders, clear details, clear trees, etc. By placing spline nodes around the desired area, I am able to tweak the terrain to make the ramps and the elevation sections on the island.
GeNa terrain carve system
The project is still a work in progress and most of the environment will change over time. More stages and more dungeons will come later on. In terms of the design, it has been a fun challenge to learn new tools to make the experience through the island and dungeons something different, and enjoyable.
Gallery
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