The Mines
Responsibilities:
Designed the level layout, quest list, and visual language of the third level of Dillo’s Dilemma, the Mines.
Scripted player interactions including the rope system and the moving water wheels
Set Dressed the entire level
Animated the cinematic sequencers present at the beginning and end of the level
Lit the level in conjunction with a lighting artist creating initial proxy lighting, and doing final lighting touches using the lighting artists set standards
Implemented assets created by other team members into the level such as rat spawners that chase the player, breakable walls and boxes, and a spline pathway tool
Details:
Team Size: 18
Genre: 3D Platformer RPG
Role: Lead Level Designer (3 Level Designer Team)
Engine: Unreal Engine 5.4
Tools Used: Sequencer, Chaos, Modeling Tools
Level Summary
The purpose of this level is to serve as a small self-contained platforming challenge that has a few different objectives for the player to complete. The primary objective of the level is to destroy the Rat King’s Mines by snapping the ropes holding up their “drilling equipment” (a large cache of bombs which serves as the level’s major landmark). The
Mine Floor Launching Device:
There are several routes to the bottom pit area of the mines. For quick traversal back to the main play area their is a shaft with a spring blinko and a puncher which launches the player back to a top area for quick traversal and a continuous gameplay loop
Waterfall Prisoner Cages:
Throughout the level many caged armadillos are present as a secondary objective to cutting the ropes. These armadillos are not directly tied to the story progression, but work as a collectathon item and would eventually be a requirement to open further levels in a longer development cycle
Final Custscene:
The final cutscene is triggered when the three ropes around the level are snapped. Releasing the bombs and triggering an explosion that sends our protagonist flying through the sky back to the previous level.
The animations were created in sequencer and I keyframed many of the movements. Pre-baked animations already existed for idling and walking so I played around with moving the character normals to get them into launching and falling poses
Tripple Spring Chain:
After the player manages to get past the gem mine they are greeted with a chasm and three springs along the side. Players must chain their jumps using the three blinkos to get to the other side
Gem Mine Traversal:
One of the three routes to a breakable rope (the main level objective) begins with a broken railroad path through a gem mine.
The railroad tracks were a combination of a spline tool for the underlying planks (made by a programmer on the team) and manually fitting railroad tracks to the spline mesh (after removing their collision)
The result is fast paced fun traversal that’s challenging, but rewarding. For players who fall into the gems their is a deathbox which spawns the player back at their start location
Rope Snapping:
After the player finishes the gem mine and tripple spring jump they are greeted with a much easier finish to this path with a simple easy platforming jump challenge. At the end the rope clasp is ready to be destroyed by jumping into it.
The clasp has a trigger box around it looking for the player. When it is entered by the player the object is destroyed and an interger increments inside of the level blueprint. When this int hits three (all three ropes are destroyed) the end of level cutscene plays)
Moving Waterwheel Platforms:
The Waterwheels offers a unique platforming experience in Dillo where the player can tackle the challenge by utilizing a spring to jump onto the big wheel and ride the momentum up or beging riding the smaller wheel and get dumped into the bigger wheel.
Playtesting feedback: Many players were able to get into the wheel holes, but they were struggling to get out. I added the extended platforms that jut out from the wheels and parented them to the blueprint to work as a ramp. These were not a part of the original mesh
Second Rope Snap:
This rope snap is pretty simple, but requires the player to be observant as they are pushed towards the gem mine entrance when they enter this section of the mines
This rope is the most apparent from the start of the level, but the path was intentionally a little more hidden to create a bit more of a challenge
Full Level Playthrough
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