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
Introduces the Mechanics and Components in ...
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Each Mechanic gets introduced and then re-iterated with an evolution to solidify the learning process. -
By keeping it linear, I could more easily predict where the player would look, which was crucial since it was decided that we had to use In-World Tutorial Prompts.
Tutorial Play Through
Complete Play through of the Entire game available Here
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Starting Area
The Secluded Tree is where the Guardian Spirit, Re-Awakens...
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Is located outside of the Village that has been overtaken by enemies, thus giving us designers flexible distance to teach the player the Mechanics before they get there. -
Overlooks the games End Goal and the path the player has to take to get there.
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.
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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.
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Introduction to Swing
The goal was to show that the Tree is poisoned and that the character heal it.
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First the camera pan closer to Tree so that you can see that it is purple and poisoned, it pans upward so the player can take in its entire size. -
In the next shot there is a close up of the character as she unleashes Healing energy that the travels toward the tree. -
I use the effect to cover the camera naturally with a white fade out, when the camera fades back in the tree is green to hint that it has been restored.
Introduction to Tethering
In the final shot she walks out of the Tree while the camera ...
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Keeps the Character within the frame to enforce that this is what this character sees and wants to go.
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Introduction to Slow-Motion
The goal was to show that the Tree is poisoned and that the character heal it.
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First the camera pan closer to Tree so that you can see that it is purple and poisoned, it pans upward so the player can take in its entire size. -
In the next shot there is a close up of the character as she unleashes Healing energy that the travels toward the tree. -
I use the effect to cover the camera naturally with a white fade out, when the camera fades back in the tree is green to hint that it has been restored.
Ends with the Culmination of All Mechanics
Introduces the Mechanics and Components in ...
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Each Mechanic gets introduced and then re-iterated with an evolution to solidify the learning process. -
By keeping it linear, I could more easily predict where the player would look, which was crucial since it was decided that we had to use In-World Tutorial Prompts.
(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
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 Main Goal
In the final shot she walks out of the Tree while the camera ...
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Keeps the Character within the frame to enforce that this is what this character sees and wants to go.
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 was to show that the Tree is poisoned and that the character heal it.
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First the camera pan closer to Tree so that you can see that it is purple and poisoned, it pans upward so the player can take in its entire size. -
In the next shot there is a close up of the character as she unleashes Healing energy that the travels toward the tree. -
I use the effect to cover the camera naturally with a white fade out, when the camera fades back in the tree is green to hint that it has been restored.
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.