My Roles -
Game Designer, Level Designer, UX Designer
Project Overview -
My team’s creation, Death Lift, is the result of a week-long game jam, developed in Unreal Engine 5. We were tasked with creating a game based on a verb, and our chosen verb was "elevating." Death Lift is a horror-puzzle game where your objective is to ascend to different floors, uncover mysteries, and find the truth—all while remaining within the confines of the elevator.
Roles and Responsibilities
Game Design Responsibilities -
1. Concepting of the gameplay within the elevator
Execution: As a first-year student with limited experience, I was tasked with designing the core gameplay concept for our project, Death Lift. This required envisioning engaging mechanics and a compelling narrative that could unfold entirely within the confined space of an elevator. It was a challenging yet rewarding opportunity to think creatively within constraints.
To approach this, I started by brainstorming with my team, sketching ideas on whiteboards, and researching effective game mechanics in similar small-scale settings. I focused on creating a tense atmosphere by incorporating interactive puzzles, eerie visuals, and unexpected events that would keep players engaged.
Despite my inexperience, I embraced the challenge, leveraging my passion for game design to deliver a solid foundation for our project. The concepting phase helped me grow significantly as a designer and taught me the importance of working through limitations to achieve a clear vision.
Programming Responsibilites -
1. Level Design
Execution: I was given the creative freedom to design and create different levels, or “floors,” for the game, with the goal of making each floor mysterious and unsettling. The idea was to ensure that the nature of each floor felt unclear and abnormal, adding to the overall tension and intrigue.
For the first level, as seen in figure 2.4, I positioned two characters at the end of a dimly lit hallway. This design choice not only created a sense of unease and fear but also subtly introduced the first digit of a puzzle’s pin code (2). The eerie placement of the characters added a layer of psychological horror while seamlessly integrating gameplay elements.
In the second level, as seen in figure 2.6, I drew inspiration from the eerie atmosphere of the "Backrooms." This floor featured its own unsettling ambient noise and a yellowish-green wallpaper to evoke the feeling of endlessness and isolation. The design of this level aimed to immerse players in a space that felt both infinite and claustrophobic at the same time.
This project marked my first opportunity to utilize Unreal Engine for level concepting and design. Despite my inexperience, I embraced the challenge, exploring the engine’s tools to create immersive and engaging environments. This experience allowed me to grow as a designer and develop a better understanding of environmental storytelling.
Challenges Faced and Solutions
Challenge 1: Using Unity with Limited Experience within the Engine
I have about a year or less of genuinely unity experience and since I was tasked to script game features using C# within Unity I was a little nervous
Solution: In order for me to overcome this challenge, I took it out of my way to use extra resources in order to learn and understand how to script and complete my requested tasks.
Challenge 3: Maintaining Team Communication
As we progressed as a team, I noticed that the team's attendance and engagement was declining, which was a big issue considering our deadline was approaching fast
Solution: A teammate and I proposed the helpful structure of organizing our weekly meetings to introduce our topics step by step, just so we are well prepared and fix our workload management. These meetings overall helped us identify major issues, so the attendance of all members was very much required.
Skills and Knowledge Gained
Throughout the development of Death Lift I was able to gain a lot of valuable knowledge and skills that can translate to large scale team based projects
1. Unreal Engine Experience
- Prior to this project, my experience with Unreal Engine was limited, having only used it a handful of times over the past few years. However, this game marked my largest and most ambitious project within the engine. Through this process, I became more familiar with Unreal Engine's tools and workflows, particularly in level design, blueprinting, and environmental storytelling.
Working on this project pushed me to explore features I hadn’t used before, such as lighting, materials, widget blueprinting, and ambient sound design, all while managing the challenges of creating a cohesive and immersive gameplay experience. This hands-on experience significantly expanded my confidence and proficiency with the engine, laying the foundation for future projects.
2. Game Design Experience
- This project provided me with a valuable opportunity to deepen my understanding of game design principles. Tasked with conceptualizing and creating levels, I had to think critically about player engagement, environmental storytelling, and balancing gameplay mechanics with atmosphere.
Designing the floors of the game required me to craft mysterious and unsettling environments that aligned with the horror theme. I learned how to guide players subtly, like embedding puzzle clues within the environment, while maintaining an air of uncertainty and suspense.
Additionally, I gained firsthand experience in iterating on ideas, collaborating with teammates, and refining designs based on feedback. This project taught me the importance of creativity, problem-solving, and how thoughtful level design can enhance player immersion and storytelling.
Figure - 3.4 Developing and Concepting the Button Layout inside the elevator
Figure - 1.1 Game Concepting
Figure - 1.2 Landing the elevator idea
Challenge 2: Concepting Approval and Design Alignment
As a latecomer to 'Melanos - It Never Ends' team, I had to align my design concepts with the way the game needed. This also required me to receive approval from teammates before moving forward.
Solution: I made my concepting designs an approachable collaborative design where anyone can join in and add on into the concept and this helped me when I had to ensure the rest of the team would like the concept in order for us to create the final design.
Conclusion
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed working on this project with the team and am incredibly proud of what we accomplished. We created something unique and engaging, and the positive feedback from our playtesting reflected that. This experience taught me a great deal, from improving my skills in Unreal Engine to gaining a deeper understanding of game design principles. I’m excited to take everything I’ve learned and apply it to future projects as I continue to grow as a game designer!
Figure - 2.4 First Level Design
Figure - 2.6 Second Level Design
Figure 3.2 - Understanding Materials with Unreal Engine 5