Barrier Dungeon

This was not only the first puzzle dungeon I had made for this project, but also the first thing I had worked on at all. As such, there was a bit of a learning curve that came with implementing everything to the already large project and established project, as well as finding the right balance for puzzle mechanics between what is just challenging enough to feel satisfying, but not so challenging that it becomes frustrating for the player.

Using their Barrier skill, players will have to block large lasers to prevent taking damage. The dungeon also introduces a special type of pressure plate that can only be triggered by enemies, requiring the player to control the movement of enemies, or even protect them against the lasers.

Familiar Dungeon

This was overall my favorite dungeon that I worked on, both for the design of the level itself, as well as the mechanic within the dungeon itself. Additionally, I had the opportunity to add environment art to this dungeon myself, which for the others was usually given to our Environment Artist to handle. This is a part of the level design process that I do enjoy doing myself whenever I’m able, so I really appreciated the opportunity to work on it myself for this dungeon.

Players in this dungeon have to use their Familiar to reach corrupted bubbles that are out of reach for themselves, usually in the form of corrupted vines that create a hazardous area around pillars. However, when the player clears the corruption from one pillar, it will jump to the closest pillar instead, forcing the player to clear the corruption in a specific way. This dungeon also has statues that can fully clear the corruption in an area, allowing the player to safely traverse around and on top of the pillars to get to the next area.

Pillar Dungeon

Of all the puzzle dungeon I made, I think this one is the one that initially connects most with players, and also is the one that needed the fewest iteration. The mechanic of this dungeon is easy to learn and familiar to a lot of people, yet if you don’t know the trick to solving the puzzle it can still be challenging and feel very rewarding, which is where this one succeeds most.

The mechanic for this one is pretty much a Lights Out puzzle, the player can use their Pillar skill on designated spaces to turn on or off the lights of adjacent spaces. When all the lights are on, the platform moves and the player can advance. There is also the addition of moving pillars that can be stopped or started with the Pillar skill, creating an interesting combination of a traditional Lights Out puzzle with a moving part that requires proper timing and planning.

Gas Dungeon

This dungeon was definitely one of the most unique, the ideas was a stealth dungeon where players can use their Gas skill to hide from, or sneak up on enemies. In this case, my experience building levels for Corrupted Blood really came in handy, since that game was all about classic stealth mechanics. One of the main takeaways from that project was how verticality can be a very fun option when building a stealth level, which is something I tried to capture when making this dungeon.

There were a few mechanics I added to enhance the stealth design of the dungeon. The first being vents that can pull the player’s gas skill and place it in different locations in the level. This can either help the player stealth around large sections of the level at once, or block light detectors (which are the second added mechanic). These light detectors have the function of calling all nearby enemies to the players location for a set amount of time, and are placed strategically to block entire hallways where the player has to progress. This forces the player to interact with the vents and remotely block the light detectors with their Gas skill in order to advance, unless they’re up for fight.

Domain of Light

One of the first things I had designed for this battle was the Domain of Light mechanic, I wasn’t sure exactly how to pull it off at the start, but when I pitched it to the team lead he was fully supportive of me giving it a try and figuring it out. I will always be grateful for that trust, because I’d say this is the coolest mechanic I have ever made. When the player depletes the Light Eternal’s health down to about half, and again at a quarter, the Domain of Light will trigger, transporting the player to a “mirror realm” with 5 reflections of themselves. These reflections will mirror the players actions (movement and attacks). The Light Eternal themselves will show up in one of the reflections to do an attacks, forcing the player to attack with their reflections before the Light Eternal disappears again. After a few hits against the Light Eternal, the Domain will break and players will be transported back to the original arena.

Crystals

Throughout the Arena are blue crystals that the player can destroy with melee or magic attacks. These crystals can be used by the Light Eternal to create large beams of light across the arena that will damage the player. The Light Eternal can also summon an exploding crystal with it’s laser attack, which will damage the player if they get to close.

The crystals also serve as the Light Eternal’s stamina, meaning if the player destroys all of them it will fall to the ground for a few seconds in a vulnerable state, giving the player a chance to get some hits in. This balance was essential for this fight since the Light Eternal is often out of the player’s reach, so it was important for them to have some sort of counter play, both to reduce hazards and bring the fight closer to them.