The Journey: Level Design Process

When developing the level for Kisetsu, our team looked to popular games from industry, analyzing their principles and elements. Research informed the first sketches and ideas, starting with drawings of the over-all map, examining the relationships between each section of the level. Taking into consideration the way the player is led through the level and which direction they are meant to go informed what vision cues are used to enhance the immersive feeling and suggest player actions.

Iteration and Prototyping

The process started with drawing and creating a physical prototype of the entire map. Once that topography was created, we moved into the design and iteration phase for each individual level. This started with paper drawings, a lot like a Dungeons and Dragons tabletop map. After each map was created and tested by players, we used that feedback to further the development of each level, narrowing the gameplay and layout. After we felt confident in our design, the level was brought into Unity and crafted using Unity’s terrain sculpting tool. Starting with a low detail pass, we looked at height relationships of each section of the map and how the player sees and experiences the world we have crafted.

Stand-in objects were added, such as torii gates, the main lantern shrine and kami statues; these are a quick and effective means of visual communication to the team and the play tester of how the level works without yet having fully fleshed out assets. Kami statues are a simple, immersive element of storytelling that notify the player they can use a certain animal power at this point. The torii gates placed throughout the level act as a hallway to help guide the player and create a sense of compression of space in certain areas. With the objects placed, we optimized sight lines; the ability to see the shrine from anywhere in the level was key to how the level was crafted, as were the addition of rewarding vistas for the player to pause and enjoy the beauty of the natural world.. Lastly, key environmental assets such as trees and foliage complete the set dressing, reinforcing the mechanic of environmental restoration.

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Author: Andrew Hirl