A cosmic horror narrative game for hand-tracking VR
Role: Level Designer
Company: Stitch Media
I worked as the sole Level Designer on Broken Spectre. Building the world from the ground up, as well as implementing the audio, the movement, and multiple other interactions within the game.
Responsibilities
Greyboxing
Making greyboxes and working alongside artists to transform the levels into a polished final state
Player Pacing
Designing strong pacing so that players are not lost or confused as well as keeping players on edge and entertained
Movement, Audio & Interactions
Using custom tools it was my job to implement the games interactions movement and audio
Greyboxing
Planning
Before creating the level I would discuss with the team the narrative beats & and mechanics that were intended to be used within the level.
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Blockout
Once I was happy with the state of the 2D I would then move on to blocking out the space. Here I would go back and forth between VR and my scene view to make sure the scale was just right
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2D Prototype
With the narrative and mechanics in mind, I would then go into Photoshop and build a top-down map showcasing how players would move through the scene. This would then be brought back to the team for feedback and would be iterated upon.
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Iterating
Once the space was then blocked out I would then go back and forth between testing and iterating with the team until we were happy with the design
Implementing Art
After the grey box had been completed and we were happy with it, I worked alongside the artists to communicate my intentions and bring my vision for the greybox to life.
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Player Pacing
I was in charge of pacing within the game. I made a beat map for each of the levels. Moving forward I would then be able to figure out where the most intense moments of the level would be as well as the lulls. This would help create a sense of balance between the more calm sections and the action-packed ones
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From there I would then communicate with the game designer about adding things such as sound effects in slower areas, which could make the player feel more tense. While at the same time creating areas to give players a break/relief after more intense parts of the game.
Audio, Movement & Interactions
Audio
I did not create the audio for Broken Spectre but was tasked with implementing it. Between myself and one other person, it was our job to implement all of the voice acting, music, and sound effects within the game.
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Movement
As the level designer, it was my job to implement all of the movement using custom tools we had made. The Movement in our game was based on teleporting to different nodes and it was my job to create and place each node within the game.
Interactions
I was tasked with implementing multiple interactive moments within our game using our custom tools. These interactions include opening Doors, Climbing, Photo Development puzzles, memory fragments, and more.
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