Game designer, level designer, scripter (c#, blueprints/c++, Ruby), team lead, agile coach.
Toniari Studio
Project Worked on: Bespoken
Released: Undisclosed at the moment
Platforms: Pc
Skill focus: Level design, gameplay/system design.
Internship length: 6 months
Engine and tools: Unity, Google docs, Krita, Photopea, Mila Note, Notion.
Bespoken
Bespoken is an combination of survival dungeon crawler game and tower defense game, where the player has to collect resources in a dungeon and protect their base from enemies.
The game is currently playable in playtest mode on the steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2511740/Bespoken/
Level design Work
I designed rooms for the dungeons, the current dungeon map and the overworld for the game.
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The first part I will go over will be the overworld: ​
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Overworld:
The overworld was the largest level I have worked on any project.
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It started off as a small island, but after we decided that we wanted a bigger scope for the game, the level had to be 12 times the size of the current map to fullfill the goal of the map which is to act as an secondary explorative area for the player, as a building area for the player's base and for more mechanics and variations in the game's environment.
Overworld - proccess:
It first started with a small island as an trial period for joining Toniari studio. The level had a good structure, but the environment was to messy and had to be re-done (to many tree's and rocks that blocked the player from building anything and not enough flat areas).
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After this trial process I redesigned the whole map to be much more open, I kept the mountain I had designed, but made the path up the mountain clearer for the player. Added some environmental elements such as water pools, different texture and a wide variation of tree's.
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Also worked on making sure the spawn area felt just right for the player.
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This original area was later on redesigned to fit the 12-time size that I previously mentioned,
First iteration of the overworld. This was redone later.
Early iteration of the overworld.
before it was expanded on. The size of the expanded map is this square times 12. and the player in scale is the red dot on the picture.
Overworld Biomes:
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The map has several biomes that are supposed to give the player their choice of where to build there base. The different biomes would also have different challenges to them and reward different resources for each biome.
Examples: Snow biome would have the cold to handle and would have ice crystals that would be used as currency, while the swamp would have flooding and new kind of mushrooms that could be used to buy potions, etc.
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I used different assets bought from assets packs to create the environment for each biome. I also seperated them into sections to easier determine which biome is which.
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I also created "Portal openings" that would act as different entrances to the dungeon which would give another reason to explore the overworld (other then new resources).
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Different shop keeper huts have also been placed around the map that should sell different resources to the player, giving them a reason to explore the map.
The map, from a eagles eye view. The arrows points towards different point of interests in the world.
Original spawn area.
Updated spawn area.
Different view point from the spawn area.
Highlands biome pictures
Camp for shop keeper npc, they all look different and there should be over 20 of them on the overworld.
Swamp biome.
Portal opening area, there should be a the portal has not been implemented in the game yet. Wanted the portal area to be clearly highlighted.
Tundra biome, a frozen river
Tundra biome, showing a mountain in the distance, the fog settings where not set to distance as of this picture.
Said mountain from above.
Dungeon (First iteration)
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The dungeon map (first iteration) was created first through written scetches to give an idea of how the map should be structured (more rooms where added to give more exploration to the map).
The map was designed with being maze like in mind and for each path that the player would take would eventually lead into each other (other then the cold section).
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To not make the player feel completly lost in the dungeon, different biomes where added to give the player a sense of not going in complete circles and adding different structures in each room or other elements to make sure that the player was either feeling like they where finding something new or recognise their surronding.
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The biomes in the dungeon where also planned to have direct interactions with the world. The colder cave would have the player manage a heat system by using the lantern to keep them self warm, but unable to use some weapons/tools while doing soo.
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Light sources in the environment was placed out to make sure the level was not completly dark.
Small parkour area, where the player would need to jump over a gap to get loot. Flying glow bugs highlights the crate (in this picture lights are off to show of the parkour section).
Enemies patroling a way to a deeper part of the dungeon.
Room full with loot. Tables and chairs have been flipped here to show a struggle.
Dungeon (Prefab rooms)
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It was later decided that we would make the dungeon map procedual. So I got to work creating different prefabs for each needed room in a dungeon.
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I created 10+ hallways with different assets in them for variation.
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3+ rooms with secret entrances, using wooden board to block of secret entrance.
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10+ normal rooms (including enemy encounters and treasure rooms) these rooms are designed to have enemy encounters.
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The rooms where designed with being able to be connected into each other like lego pieces.
Overview of the early dungeon design, the start shows where the players would come from if they enter the spawn portal.
Cold dungeon room, the player would slowly freeze to death unless they have a warming source to keep themself warm.
The initial entrance room for the dungeon room also shows of the drip stone cave environment. A merchant camp was placed here so that the player could buy some items if they forgot to do soo when they entered the dungeon. The secret portal entrances will also have a merchant shop at the location they enter from.
The fern caves. The green crystals acts as a source of energy for the ferns. Also example of light source inside of the dungeon.
Hallway for the fern caves.
Fog that indicates that the player is entering the cold caves.
Pictures of said prefab rooms are not allowed to be shown at the moment, this will be updated when said assets have been released to the public.
Narrative:
The overworld has some narrative elements, there are ruins on the map showing that there have been setlments around the map + camps.
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The dungeon rooms have a lot of narrative elements, such as different rooms showing history, like the crystal growing into the furniture showing it's respawning behaviour. The tables looking messy and chairs being flipped showing that something has messed up the place and more.
System Design Contributions
The RPG system design (many of these may change in the future).
I designed the players rpg system that they interact with. I wanted the system to include upsides and draw backs to each stat, talent or other ability that they unlock so that the player could create their custom class but avoid the master of all conumdrum that can happen when designing these systems.
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I also designed the enemies AI behaviour. The AI would have different AI intelligence levels that would allow the enemy to do X action. All enemies would follow this system and then reflect what they could do depending on X value.
VFX and post processing
I also worked on some vfx and post processing for the game. I made a glow bug vfx.
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I also made the post processes for the dungeon, the cold caves and for the day and night (overworld).
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I have usually not worked with post processing before this so it was an interesting process to explore and I learned more about Unity in the process.
Cold cave post process
Day post process.
Glow bugs with cave post process off.
Glow bugs with cave post process on.
Night post process.
