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realms

Realms Trailer

Major Milestones/Accomplishments

  • Led a team of diverse and creative designers from the game's inception to the day of publishing​

  • Helped create levels, content, lore, marketing materials, and iteration plans​​

  • Successfully helped the team rework the game's core loop and gameplay systems​

  • Helped publish the team's first official game on Steam

Box Summary

Take the role of Fortuna, a guardian for the Die of Chaos. This Die is being sought after by a dimension-hopping parasite hellbent on destroying everything in its path.  It's up to you to teleport through realms, battle interdimensional parasites, and prevent the realms from collapsing.

Project Details

Genre: FPS / Arena Shooter

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Roles: Lead Game Designer, Narrative Designer, Level Designer, Encounter Designer, Sound Designer, Marketer, Voice Actor

Download the game below for PC 

Screenshots

Work Summary

Lead Game Designer:​              

I was the lead game designer for this project. Apart from my design tasks, I also took on more responsibility by having to coordinate my team members amongst themselves and with other teams. My tasks included content design, setting up and/or attending meetings, and adapting to any missteps that came along the way.

What Worked:​

  • Met development deadlines while multitasking in different areas of development

  • Worked on game loop, enemy types, player abilities, economy, game flow, and documentation

  • Directed the team to rotate assignments for better work-life balance and efficiency

What Could Be Improved:

  • More overall communication with teammates and leaders

  • Practice more with design and engine-specific tools

  • Improve emotional intelligence while balancing harsh but fair criticisms, comments, and thoughts

Main Responsibilities

Narrative Designer:​              

I was a narrative designer for Realms. The project warranted a very fantasy-driven story given the D&D influence throughout, which was a balancing act between crafting a grandiose premise with time constraints and its relation to the player and gameplay. I assisted with story writing, lore building, crafting journal entries, and dialogue spoken in-game via gameplay or cutscenes.

What Worked:​

  • Wrote entries for the in-game journal to assist players with gameplay and world-building

  • Wrote dialogue to direct players on how to play in a diegetic framework 

  • Implemented subtitles and sound clips throughout all levels

What Could Be Improved:

  • The in-game journal entries could improve with more polish

  • Study more writing techniques and be less literal with dialogue and writing, especially in a fantasy setting

Journal Entries Document

Journal Entries In Game

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How the Dialogue System Works

The dialogue asset first needed a box collider that the player can step inside to activate it. The asset allowed me to set an exact number of elements, each operated on a timer to display the respective audio clip, subtitles, and character portrait of the talker. I was able to create several dozen dialogue interactions for the first 3 levels

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Dialogue Script Document

Dialogue System In Game

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Level Designer:​              

I was a level designer for Realms. The gameplay was planned to be a mix of fast-paced shooter arena fights with puzzles and platforming sections in between. Taking this into consideration along with how the player abilities helped you navigate the world and assist in fights was a challenge, but a welcome one. I drew level designs, white-boxed and set-dressed the first level, placed enemies and items, and assisted in level creation in 2 more levels

What Worked:​

  • Fully created the first level to serve as a tutorial and guided players through the game's core loop

  • Created platforming sections and puzzles to complement and reinforce player abilities

  • Polished levels by set dressing interiors, light mapping rooms, and programming level-specific attributes such as a sandstorms

What Could Be Improved:

  • The battle arena area in the first level has more potential for improved obstacle placements and layout

  • Need more practice with set dressing, texturing, and utilizing particle effects 

Level Specific Custom Code

Level Design Philosophy

This level served as the tutorial and starting point for the player. The level was formed around 4 core components.

  • The intent was to ease the player into using the controls by first guiding them to move into the temple.

  • Due to the level's verticality and backstory, enemies were placed to keep players on their toes and the temple's infrastructure is fragile, which forms the layout of the level and encourages visual storytelling.

  • Puzzles were included to vary gameplay and pique players' curiosity about their abilities and how they can be used in battle and exploration.

  • The combat arena is the final piece and serves as a skill check and challenges players into using all their items and skills.

Desicosa Temple Level Layout

First Floor Final Room Setup

Behind The Scenes for Level Creation

Encounter Designer:​              

I was an encounter designer for Realms. A system was designed to allow custom creation for battle arenas throughout the levels, which would serve as skill checks to reinforce the abilities and mechanics of the player. I was in charge of handling all battle arena encounters except the final battle

What Worked:​

  • Created combat encounters by customizing enemy waves, number of enemies, play areas, and barriers

  • Enemies made battles a fair but tough challenge to complete

  • The system was complex and easy to handle, allowing a faster workflow for combat and encounter setups

What Could Be Improved:

  • Battle difficulty could spike on occasion for certain players

  • Enemy placement in more open areas should be more precise to prevent battles from dragging out or slow pacing

How the Combat Arena System Works

This asset first needed a box collider that the player can step inside to activate it and stay inside until completion. The asset allowed me to set an exact number of waves to fight through, each with its own amount of enemies. To ensure it functions properly, I set barriers so the player can't escape, check the references are working properly and most importantly, make sure the fight is balanced.

combat.png

Second Level Arena Test

Third Level Arena Test

Arscana test
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Sound Designer / Voice Actor             

I was a sound designer and voice actor for Realms. When it comes to making sound effects, I've had experience recording, splicing, and modulating sounds using my voice and other items. The voice acting was different as I had to study different techniques using inflection, tone, and pitch.

What Worked:​

  • Created and edited a plethora of sounds for menus, combat, characters, and environments 

  • Voice acted as the story narrator for several cutscenes and as Alden for gameplay

What Could Be Improved:

  • Experiment more with sound modulators and layering sound effects

  • Voice acting needs to convey more emotion and personality

Sound Design Workflow Demonstration

Cutscene and Gameplay Sections with Voice Acting

Marketer:​              

I was the marketer for this project. During the ladder half of development, I originally planned for a Twitter page for specific updates and an Instagram to display assets and levels but scrapped the Twitter page due to time constraints and obligations. I also did video editing throughout development to demonstrate progress for sprints as well as make our trailer and documentary.

What Worked:​

  • Utilized marketing practices using search engine optimization and posting on social media

  • Created promotional materials for store pages including pictures, GIFs, the launch trailer, and the documentary

  • Edit a majority of video logs for sprints to document progress

What Could Be Improved:

  • The documentary could use more B-Roll footage 

  • Practice more with design and engine-specific tools

Realms Documentary

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