ABSCOND

Level Designer

I was offered the role of level designer by a classmate to create a 3D game in Unity outside of class. Our team consisted of five members, and I joined in early February. This was my first time creating a full 3D level in Unity. The game is about a player who is trapped in a lab and must find keycards to escape while encountering humanoid monsters. After escaping the lab, the player must navigate through a maze to reach the end of the game. As the level designer, I was responsible for creating the layouts for the lab, outside, and maze to ensure smooth gameplay.

Initially, I sketched out a level layout that I believed would be enjoyable for players. I then used Unity's ProBuilder tool to block out the entire level (don't have blocked out images). However, during a team meeting, I received feedback that the lab segment was too small and the maze was not wide enough and could use a flow (easy to hard) adjustment. Based on the feedback, I did a full redesign of the lab and adjusted the maze as so, creating a more challenging and satisfying experience for the player.

After getting the green light on the new designs, I moved on to creating the environment by adding grass, trees, torches, lab lights, mountains, textures, campfire (created the smoke) and rocks to make everything look appealing. I then worked on the home screen to create a cohesive experience for the players. Also, added a colored coded path so that I can clearly the correct path within the level to properly place enemies where I see fit. Overall, this project was an exciting and valuable learning experience for me as a level designer in a 3D space. Our team is still working on the game as of April 9th, 2023, and we plan to release it on Steam for others to enjoy.