Izcalli of the Wind

Game | Dec 2019 - July 2020

Paradise: List


Original design for the island to expand as energy is returned.

Design Process

Design Goal

To design a massive level with high replayability that both allowed players to get into the mechanics, have some challenging experiences, and feel the freedom to explore. The environmental focus was for the player to be a small person in a divine, massive world.

Engine and Tools

UE4 | Adobe Illustrator

Mechanics

Izcalli of the Wind uses a suite of mechanics similar to skateboarding and racing games with an added flair of having an over the shoulder, slow-down time shooting mechanic.

All these mechanics interact with an energy resource that either cost energy or build energy. Also, the environment has interactable objects that the player can transfer energy in and out of. Below is the mechanic list.

Boosting: Costs Energy
Drifting: Builds Energy
Jumping: No Cost
Charged Jumping: Costs Energy
Shooting: Costs Energy

The types of trials the player engages in are time trial and payload.

Time Trial: Accomplish a task such as shooting down a series of targets in a course within a limited time.
Payload: Generate enough energy to deposit that gained energy into the trial object(s).

My Work

For this project I was responsible for the conceptualization, whiteboxing, set dressing, and optimization. I worked with the Design Lead to coordinate how two other level designers and a lighting artist could assist by partitioning off some parts of the design for them to work on, while I gave the Design Lead feedback on everyone's work while getting the bulk of the level and gameplay feeling seamless.

The Team

Axolotl Productions is a multi-disciplinary team. made up of 16 people. The people I primarily worked with were the programming, art, and design lead as well as two level designers and one lighting artist.

Asset Packs

Tools Used

UE4 | Maya | Illustrator

Preproduction

Mood Board

Layout and Sketches

Conceptualizing this project was definitely a unique challenge for me. I was not familiar with creating levels with this type of unique movement and it had been years since I played any game similar. After doing research on many games within the genre, I developed a set of characteristics that were necessary for our style of game, namely areas for doing challenging, technical movement, incredibly fast paced areas with lots of space, and challenges that used our mechanics.

Below is the finished layout for the level as well as the final trial layout, which I added to the design as scheduling conflicts with assets removed the possibility of adding a second island.

The Pivot

Originally I designed the game with a focus on open level design that was more for the skatepark style. As we continued prototyping our mechanics and recognizing the scope of what we'd be able to achieve, I knew I had to pivot the design from a central, open island with multiple islands around it, to an island with challenges built in to show off all the mechanics we had to offer that also presented the understanding that this would be only one of the levels that we'd create for the full game.

Below I have the original layouts and Maya whiteboxes I developed for the first two levels we started out with.

Whiteboxing

Developing a level this size while working with other level designers and a lighting artist meant I needed to make sure there was as much detail as needed to have a constant reminder of what our visual aesthetic was. I developed the majority of the map, specifically the Landing Area, Courtyard, Boosting Trial, Platforming Trial, and Final Trial, while I had another level designer I communicated with regularly work on the Drifting Trial and Slipstream Circuit.



	I was not primarily responsible for developing this area.	I was not primarily responsible for developing this area

Blueprinting and Technical Work

The blueprinting I did for this project included creating a collectible coin blueprint to lead the player's eye and challenge them to do higher skilled movement and an obstacle/platforming system with rotational and linear movement that communicated with C++ code to have the option of killing players during certain parts of the timeline, activate after a C++ event such as a trial was completed, or run at event begin play to create obstacles or platforms for the player to interact with.

This channel is coming soon!

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Set Dressing

Conveyance

We used four specific tools to guide the player's eyes. I used collectible coins, assets with a bright, teal color, visual effects, and setting shots. The collectible coins, as I discussed above in the technical section, moved and drew the player's eyes to where I wanted them to go and challenges I wanted players to engage in.

Teal tiles and collectibles lead the player's eye to areas of interest.	Leading lines reinforced with teal tiles, arrows on the ground, and a collectible.	Crystal light sources indicate to the player the boundaries and direction of the space.
God rays, lighter patches of lighting, and sharp, teal crystals guide the player's eye to the correct direction.	Crystal light sources and long, teal paths indicate the player's options.	Setting shots, teal tiles, and bright crystals guide the player's eyes to the seals.

Kitbashing

Due to the size of the level, almost everything was kitbashed asides from meshes created from our artists, such as the temple structure in the middle of the map. Everything else I took from the Mayan Starter Asset Pack and the meshes our artists made to create a myriad of different shapes that worked with our gameplay. Below are a few key examples.

Lighting and Optimization

Due to our design goal of achieving consistent 60 fps throughout the map, we elected to go towards a directional light for the map and have pockets of detailed lighting to convey the direction the player is meant to go. Towards the end of the project I began taking up more lighting responsibilities throughout the level, such as setting standards for lighting placement, reflection spheres, and god rays.. I was also responsible for optimizing the level using collision passes, lightmapping passes, and level streaming to keep the game running smoothly in every direction.