The Wheel of Life
Level Design
Genre:
Engine:
Time Span:
Role:
Team Size:
Puzzle & Exploration
Unreal 5
1.5 Years
Technical Game Designer
2 Developers
Highlights
Built 2 worlds with activities, rewards, and gameplay abilities.
Gathered analytical data from playtests for market research.​
Contents
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Complementary Gameplay Activities
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Puzzles Focused on Phenomena ​​
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Quick Summary
I built an original video game from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5 to satisfy my love for game development. It represents the culmination of my design and technical skills to date. I wrote 100's of gameplay scripts and put it all together into two levels that make for a cohesive player experience, one that's complete on its own and could be extended to a full-length, commercial game.
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The art in the game is currently a mix of 2D images and 3D models I made from scratch, ones I commissioned from a professional artist, and ones from a content pack. I had a fantastic time collaborating on and directing the commissioned pieces by providing a mood board, schematics, and constructive comments. I assembled all the art and gameplay scripts to construct both worlds, with gameplay and theme ruling over all decisions.
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My knack for designing puzzles, with intuition tempered by competitive analysis and statistical playtesting data, made for a successful project that I have high hopes for going forward.​
Development Timeline
Months 1-2
Month 3
Months 4-8
Months 9-15
Months 16-18
Inspiration & Planning
Proof of Concept: Core Gameplay
Experiments: Secondary Gameplay
Alpha: Functionally Complete
Beta: Game Demo Complete
Puzzle systems invented.
Game direction established.
Puzzle systems prototyped in engine.​
Breadth and sustainability of puzzles confirmed.
Complementary gameplay styles tested & identified.​​
Thematic and artistic direction established.
Fully playable from start to finish.
Gameplay systems completed.
Addressed feedback from alpha playtests.
Refinements & polish.
Level Design Goals
Design Goal #1: Complementary Gameplay Activities
Activities as a Palette
A vision for the player's experience informed my implementation of both the tech and the levels.
Puzzle Machines
A type of puzzle that can be solved quickly.
Players have a finite number of discrete choices to arrange the petals correctly over the leaves.
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Solving these levels up their gameplay abilities.
Environment Puzzles
A type of puzzle that takes spatial reasoning over an extended time interval to solve.
Players must transfer power through the cables between glyph circles to light them up.
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Solving these puzzles activates glyphs and lets the player progress through the world.
Door Puzzles
A pattern-matching, aesthetically driven puzzle.
Players must inspect the door and arrange glyph circles correctly in the slots.
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When solved, the door opens to the next world.
Exploration
An optional, leisurely activity that encourages players to venture off the beaten path.
Players may find hidden lotuses throughout both worlds.
For every 4 lotuses found, one candle is earned that can be left behind to decorate the space​.
Rhythm and Pacing
All 4 activities are included in both worlds.
The levels present activities in a rhythm to satisfy player expectations while offering variety.
Design Goal #2: Puzzles Focused on Phenomena
Each World Has a Logic Theme
The puzzles all communicate something about Cyclicality.
World 1: Switching Places
World 2: Rotations
World 3: Phase (planned)
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Style Guide: Point Permutations and Everything In-between
All kinds of puzzles in the game follow consistent logical principles as the style guide.
Postmortem
What Went Well
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The puzzle systems came out engaging and could sustain a full length game.
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The four gameplay activities were complementary to each other, which was evident in playtesting data.
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The in-game world came out looking nice, which playtesters appreciated, even though I feel that more work could still be done to decorate its spaces.
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The puzzles had a clear focus individually, per each world, per each type of puzzle, and as a whole.
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Art collaboration was a blast. I commissioned a collection of 3D models from a colleague. We worked together effectively, as I played my part in setting the art direction, drawing schematics, and giving iterative feedback.
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Understanding of good development processes and milestone order gave ample time for both experimentation and polish, and a seamless transition between the two.
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The finished project is not just enjoyable, but also meaningful.
What Went Wrong
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I was trying to make each environment puzzle unique, but players felt there was not enough repetition. As I iterated on this feedback I got more mileage out of reusing gameplay scripts.
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At the first playable version of the game, sightlines were usually but not always lined up to help the player know where to go next. It was close enough that these cases were fixed by some refinements.
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Not all of the early experiments in gameplay activities made the cut, as some activities were interesting on their own without complementing the others. However, this was still time well spent.
What Was Learned
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From competitive analysis, accessibility to the point of boredom for some players outweighs the excitement of a quick onramp for more experienced players.
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Repetition of gameplay elements supports usability. I tried including new gameplay systems around every turn at first, and found that even in a puzzle game based on mystery and curiosity, more repetition helps.
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From competitive analysis, simplicity & usability often outweighs complexity & depth, even in puzzle games.
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I learned the amount of dedication and sacrifice required to make a game of this fidelity as a personal project on top of other professional and personal commitments.
Photo Gallery
