DEVELOPMENT INFO
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Role: Level Designer
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Game: Gravitas
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Engine: Unreal Engine 4
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Genre: Physics Puzzle Platformer
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Development Time: 6 months/2015
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Game Type: Singleplayer
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Team size: 13 developers
RESPONSIBILITIES
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Collaborated with teammates on the design and construction of four levels
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Imported and added animations to the main character, using Blueprint
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Built two scripted sequences for level 4 (area 1), using Blueprint
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Collaborated with other teammates to stitch final meshes, using 3DS Max
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Internationalized game to Portuguese
TRAILER
GAME OVERVIEW
Gravitas is a single-player, First Person, Physics-based puzzle-platformer game for Personal Computer (PC), in which a mad artist subjects the player to a series of gravity-based exhibitions. In this game, players traverse an art gallery in space, using gravity manipulation as their main mechanic. As a new pupil that just got into the space facility, players must solve art pieces, under the guidance the Curator – a small, mad robot that expresses his art through gravity and cubes. In order to do that and understand the Curator’s vision, players have a gauntlet, the artist brush, which allows them to create gravity fields (pulling forces) in specific wall panels, manipulating puzzle pieces to progress.
GAME PILLARS
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Ah Ha Moments: to constantly surprise players, showing them new applications of the mechanics and new aspects of the theme in clever and funny ways
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Aesthetic: to create a facility that represents the curator puzzle art, built so it always emphasize the best appreciation of the art pieces
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Consistent: to deliver tight controls and a consistent visual language applied throughout the game, keeping a reliable set of rules
GALLERY
TASKS BREAKDOWN
Gravitas was a very collaborative project, in which many assets were developed by different teammates, working on different development stages. As a level designer, I performed tasks from gameplay prototyping, to designing maps, whiteboxing, adding final gameplay, and placing meshes. On top of that, I also worked with blueprints, scripting environmental objects, gameplay sequences, and character animations. Towards the end of the project, as we moved to Beta, I also worked on translating the game to Portuguese and stitching art assets to improve the lighting effects.
To navigate in each session, click on the buttons below!
LEVEL DESIGN
SCRIPTING
MISCELLANEOUS
LESSONS LEARNED
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It is not possible to please every team member
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Proper scheduling and planning are very helpful
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The importance of a good pipeline
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Long time to unify the vision
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Two team members lost throughout development
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Analysis Paralysis
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Overscope led to crunch
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Positive collaboration between teammates
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Core mechanics solidified early
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Aesthetics gave us freedom for puzzle design
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Frequente playtest sessions