Tunisia

Responsibilities:

Design concept

Top down map

Enemy creation

Encounters setups

Iteration and balancing (But not the boss)

 

This is the first level that was implemented by the team. The focus of my design was not only to make a compelling level but it was also to create an area for us to set the limits of our in-house engine. I made the overall level large to test our draw limits. I populated the area with details and large vistas to test our fill rates. And I set up the encounters to test the limits of on screen enemies and test the finer details of the combat systems.

 

Overall I was pretty happy with how this level turned out. Especially from a theme and story standpoint. I'm a huge fan of the story telling of Mike Mignola and it was a huge honor to add my part to the Hellboy world. I'm particularly happy with the underground section. The idea is that the cavern is like a huge lock and the player is setting the tumblers by reposition the rooms. This is a prison made by extra-dimensional aliens to lock away an ancient evil after all.

 

I also took part in helping to create the look and design of the boss encounter. I did not however take part in the balancing and iteration. I am more then able to admit that the final product is not very good. The main issue comes from a lack of cues and feedback to the player and some pretty poor balancing. The core concepts are solid but it's in the finer details that things fall apart. If I could change just one thing it would be to reduce the number of enemies that spawn during the first phase. Why there are so many I have no idea, as they just get in the way. Originally they were designed to come in groups of 3 then 5 when the player was down to the last statue. They were meant to chase the player not overwhelm them. Additionally they were supposed to get killed off each time the boss takes damage.

 

Cool idea; poor implementation.