AGRYOS: Recovering Eden
AGRYOS: Recovering Eden is a Steam released third-person shooter game developed by a team of 16 students.
I worked on level design, combat system design and balance, encounter design, and QA testing during the development. These responsibilities allow me to focus on optimizing players' experience, hit the design goal of creating a balanced combat system, and design a level focused on a fluid player's flow. At the same time, working with the team gave me a deeper understanding of how to accept changes and pivot quickly as a designer.
Trailer
Development Info
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Role: Level Designer
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Engine: Unreal Engine 4
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Genre: Third-person shooter
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Team Size: 16 students
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Development Time: 12 weeks
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Steam Released: Feb 11th, 2022
Roles and Responsibilities
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Level Design
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Combat system design and balance
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Encounter Design
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Agile Development
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QA Test
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Team Communication
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Roles & Responsibilities
Design Goal
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Design a balanced combat system by prototyping a weapon system. Then, simulating it to optimize the experience to create a satisfying playthrough for the player without sacrificing difficulty.
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Design a level with multiple arenas and focus on creating a fluid player's flow using verticality design and diversified enemy composition.
Combat System Design and Balance
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After most levels were designed and implemented, I playtested the game with the enemy spawned. However, they seem very unbalanced. On the one hand, the Imp (one type of common enemy) is too weak that the player can ignore them. On the other hand, the Kaiju and Gryphon (two types of elite enemies) are too tanky. Thus, I talked to the software designer team and knew that most enemy stats were randomly input for testing AI.
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I think it is time to think about balance and user experience, so I pitched an idea to the lead game designer of making an Excel sheet to keep tracking all enemy stats and players' weapon stats for easier future balance. The idea was quickly approved.
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When balancing became the priority at Alpha, the team already had a well-documented form ready.
Weapon Design
Enemy stats based on weapon design
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Creating a balanced combat system requires much consideration on variables, like DPM/S (damage per minute/second) and RPM (round per minute) for each type of weapon, STK (shots to kill), and TTK (time to kill) on different types of enemies.
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When balancing them, I would consider the weapon's intent and create suitable variables by calculating them in Excel.
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For example, the intent for Exploder Gun is to clear a large group of enemies quickly. Thus, I increased the explode range and damage per hit so the damage could one-shot the IMP. Then, reduce its reload time and clip size, which will reduce the DPM and RPM, making it less efficient on elites and bosses.
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The weapon system balance is never independent, which means when I increase the exploder gun damage, I have to consider the influence on other enemies. In the first pass of design, the damage was set to 150, which is the bare minimum to one-shot an IMP, but we got feedback from testers complaining the weapon is too weak. I found that the explosion only took out about 1/10 health of the Kaiju, and it has such a low fire rate which makes this weapon unusable against other enemies.
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Therefore, I decreased the health of Kaiju and Gryphon, increased the damage on the Exploder gun, making it still one-shot IMPs, able to kill a Gryphon in 4 seconds, and take down a Kaiju in 7 seconds.
Storage Level Design and Encounter Design
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The design of the Storage level (the first level of the game) was determined to contain one tutorial and two arenas. While designing arenas, the goal was to create a looping flow with enough cover for the player to dodge incoming attacks and a variety of intense and slow pacing throughout the level.
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The arenas are inspired by Doom Eternal. By documenting and analyzing the combat flow of Doom, I found the solution to create an enjoyable pace for the player.
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Verticality and diversified enemy composition became the two focuses when creating the Storage level. This will give players the drive to move around and engage actively.
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Difficulty scaling is also taken into consideration when designing this level. Thus, by controlling the numbers of elite and normal enemies and combining them in multiple ways, the level can give the player a satisfying experience.
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For instance, after the tutorial, the player will enter the first arena. This arena contains three layers connected with stairs and jump pads. By utilizing covers and shortcuts, the player can quickly rotate around the space and find the best angle to engage.
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Diversified enemy composition and placement is the other tool I used to create a comfortable flow.
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Adding a few enemies on the player's critical path will lead them through some chock area into a larger space, and vis versa, a large elite can cause the player to slow down their pace and seek covers.
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Enemies can also attract players, making them move more frequently between different areas. When the player has a good sight of the upcoming enemies, they usually lean toward them by nature, which will create a good convey and make players feel well instructed.
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As a fast-paced third-person shooter, the player usually has to think on their feet when making decisions. This is why efficient convey can make so much difference in user experience.
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For example, at the tutorial, the player will encounter multiple enemies for the first time. By design, those enemies will spawn in different locations depending on the player's path and attract their attention towards the final data core (Storytelling chokepoint).
Postmortem
What Went Well
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The game itself! It got the green light to release on Steam!
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The team was able to communicate and arrange tasks clearly
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Crossing disciplines communication worked well during developing
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Many pivots have happened at an early stage and turned out great.
What Went Wrong
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The game's direction was not clear enough at the early stages, which caused many arguments and confusion among the development team.
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The project was heavily over-scoped when planning, and many mechanics were discarded later on, which caused many frustrations beyond the team.
What I Learned
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How to work with other disciplines efficiently via communication.
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How to adjust levels quickly when a pivot is necessary.
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How to work on QA testing and troubleshooting with a complete report system.