Game Design

 

• Research into Player behavior and wishes
• Implementing player feedback into game design goals
• Creation of the Game Design Document - including feature breakdowns and mock-ups for Art, Code and UI 
  • Design of Gameplay Loop and Flow
  • Design of new Entrance Mechanic
  • Design of new Lava Mechanic
• Detailed documents for XMLs
• Coordination with Pve-Game Designer for new mob behaviours
• Coordination with Economic Game Designer for rewards

My role in Game Design entailed to design the gameplay loop and flow, kickoff the feature in meetings and create documentations.

Level Design

• Break down of strength and weaknesses of the old hellgate map
• Creation of design rules for maps, combining interesting PVE and PVP
• Creation of prototype maps
• Breakdown of Tasks with Level Design and Environment Art 
• Creation of PVE encounter catalogue
• Coordination with QA for internal and external testing
• Creation of final maps

The challenge for Level Design was to create maps that would work from all directions. Albion is an isometric game, so we had to design around camera advantages. For example,  a high difference should give the team fighting from North to South a slight disadvantage as this team would have the advantage of vision.

Additionally we had to hit a delicate balance of engaging PVE that would not get into the way of PVP. Players had to enjoy the challenge of defeating the Mobs while staying at relatively high HP and keeping their most powerful cooldowns, to be ready for the PVP Encounter.

Narrative and Visual Design

• Discussions with Game Design, Art and Environment
• Creation of a Narrative to give Art a direction
• Prototyping of visuals for new hellgate design
• Defining shape language and architectural elements
• Coordination with Concept Art and Environmental Artists

Albion is not heavy on the lore, and this being a feature with focus on PVP one would think that there is not much need for a narrative. But previous features showed me that design and visual decisions greatly benefit from having an overarching narrative that ties things together. If you know what tools and materials someone has at hand, it becomes much easier to design anything for them.
The biggest challenge we faced in this feature was that we wanted to give the rather dull demon faction a more refined appearance with a limited Art budget. This led me to introduce architectural elements to the hell faction. Stairs, columns and walls are easy to produce, great to use frequently, strong elements in gameplay - as they can be used as blockers of various sizes - and clearly display the intelligence that was used when the demon faction fashioned their domain.

Prototype for a gate opening showing pillars, sigils and a mechanism created with existing objects, bashed together and animated