Spark Rising
GDC Demo Level
Tasks: Editor tools design, level layout design, geometry pass, player and enemy design
I worked together with our engineer to create a custom level editor, which I then used to construct the level using voxel assets created by our artist. The level layout was constructed highlight our dynamic terrain destruction with a boss enemy as the showcase. Design of the player weapons, enemies, and boss was my responsibility. The level was showcased at The MIX GDC 2014 and included with the early access launch of Spark Rising on Steam.
Procedural Generation for Spark 2.0
Tasks: Procedural generation systems design, player and enemy systems design
After the launch of Spark Rising on Steam, we closely analyzed our in-game player metrics data and decided to switch to a new game engine which would allow us to create open-world, procedurally generated levels. Working with two engineers, I devised a procedural generation system for our terrain, voxel structures, enemy and player spawns. Furthermore, I designed an open-world mission system for the open-world gameplay we were shooting for. With a new engine came an opportunity to upgrade existing systems, so I oversaw the overhaul of our old enemy behavior and weapon editors for a newer, more flexible iteration.
Documentation Sample:
Here are a few samples of documentation that we used during Spark Rising's development. Some of this documentation was created solely by me, while some of it was created in collaboration with our two other creative members, John Lee and Kevin McCann.
For the launch of Spark Rising 2.0, we completely overhauled how we treated map design. We went from using a set of in-game level editor tools to procedurally generating everything. This first page of documentation is an overview of all of the systems that were being affected by this 2.0 update, serving as a table of contents.
This second page is just one section of the overall document, detailed in the overview. In this section, I, in collaboration with our engine programmer, outline the components of our new procedural mission system. Essentially, the document describes a game manager that would be built in Unity, the game engine we used. Each bullet point is designed to be a component of this game object, with the document detailing which variables design would want to control. The diagram towards the end describes how each "camp", where our missions take place, would function in our procedural set up.
