Nim
Role: Technical Level Designer
Development Time: 4 Weeks (2019)
Tools: Unreal Engine 4
Team: 12
Contributions:
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Tutorial Level
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Opening and End Cinematic
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Initial Prototype
About
Nim is a Third-Person Puzzle Platformer with a Hook and Tethering Mechanic where the player can Tether Physics based Objects together in conjunction with a Swing Mechanic in order to traverse the environment.
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Mechanics
Hook and Swing
Swing Across gaps.
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Hook and Tether
Tether certain objects to anything in the environment.
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Slow Motion
Slow Down Time to easier Hook while flying fast
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Tutorial Level Design
Tutorial Level
The Vista Presents the End Goal to the Player and ...
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I use In-Game Text in the Block-Out Phase to emphasize the concept and sight lines etc. of an Area to the Artists so they can get a better understanding of it when they exchange the blockouts.
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The Path goes in an arch toward the End Goal, this is so the goal is always visible to the player, which can give them much better direction throughout the level.
Tutorial Play Through
Complete Play through of the Entire game available Here
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Starting Area
The players point of view is again directed to ...
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Note the arches that the branches form that aims to help guide the player toward where they want to go.
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The Draw Bridge is broken and the player have to tether it to the other side. This introduction makes it easier because its simpler to tether something that can only move in one axis and cannot fall down like the other physics objects.
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Tethering later re-iterated but with loose Physics Objects so the player can learn and practice it bit by bit and in an easy way.
The Vista
The Vista Presents the End Goal to the Player and ...
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I use In-Game Text in the Block-Out Phase to emphasize the concept and sight lines etc. of an Area to the Artists so they can get a better understanding of it when they exchange the blockouts.
-
The Path goes in an arch toward the End Goal, this is so the goal is always visible to the player, which can give them much better direction throughout the level.
(Hover Over for More)
(Hover Over for More)
Introduction to Swing
The goal of the cinematic was to first give a soft introduction to the World and ...
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I try to achieve the intro to the World by having it fade in from a Starry Sky before it slowly moves down into the forest and settles on a shot of the Secluded Tree where our Main Character is.
Introduction to Tethering
The players point of view is again directed to ...
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Note the arches that the branches form that aims to help guide the player toward where they want to go.
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The Draw Bridge is broken and the player have to tether it to the other side. This introduction makes it easier because its simpler to tether something that can only move in one axis and cannot fall down like the other physics objects.
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Tethering later re-iterated but with loose Physics Objects so the player can learn and practice it bit by bit and in an easy way.
(Hover Over for More)
(Hover Over for More)
Introduction to Slow-Motion
Makes use of trees and arched branches to create a focal point ...
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By looking at its direction they are presented with the Slow Motion Tutorial Prompt.
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The introduction to Slow Motion works well in tangent with the evolution of the Swing where the player has to Hook and Swing to multiple points in a row.
Ends with the Culmination of All Mechanics
The goal of the cinematic was to first give a soft introduction to the World and ...
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I try to achieve the intro to the World by having it fade in from a Starry Sky before it slowly moves down into the forest and settles on a shot of the Secluded Tree where our Main Character is.
(Hover Over for More)
Cinematics
The Cinematics are made in Unreal Engine 4's Sequencer.
Opening Cinematic
The Intro to the World
The goal of the cinematic was to first give a soft introduction to the World and ...
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I try to achieve the intro to the World by having it fade in from a Starry Sky before it slowly moves down into the forest and settles on a shot of the Secluded Tree where our Main Character is.
The Intro to the Character
In the next Shot the camera pans toward our Main Character ...
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The camera keeps a low position and looks up at her, this is to make the player look up to this character which could make them subconsciously see her in a good light and want to play as her.
The Intro to the Main Goal
The goal of the cinematic was to first give a soft introduction to the World and ...
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I try to achieve the intro to the World by having it fade in from a Starry Sky before it slowly moves down into the forest and settles on a shot of the Secluded Tree where our Main Character is.
End Cinematic
(The End Cinematic doesn't have SFX or Music yet)
Utilizing the Healing Effect to transition from Sick to Healed Tree
The Goal of the Cut Scene
The goal of the cinematic was to first give a soft introduction to the World and ...
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I try to achieve the intro to the World by having it fade in from a Starry Sky before it slowly moves down into the forest and settles on a shot of the Secluded Tree where our Main Character is.
The Prototype
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The player can Hook and Tether puzzle components and NPCs together for a lot of potential Emergent Gameplay solutions to puzzles.
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The Cable itself can be interacted with to knock over Enemies or bounce on.
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Served as the foundation for the project.
Unfortunately it turned out to be too difficult to make the puzzle components fit and work art-wise so almost everything had to be cut.