"Akuma no mori" is a third-person experimental art game. The game aims to convey a feeling of unease to the player, and acts as an allegory for early adulthood. Players experience a wide range of emotions through subtle environmental storytelling and a simple set of mechanics. The game was created with a very small team in a very limited timeframe.
DETAILS
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My Roles: Level Designer & Tool Programmer
Development Team: "Flat Sushi" Team Size: 5 (+2 external) Platforms: Windows Engine: Unreal Engine 4 Development Cycle: March 2016 - June 2016 Release Date: March 2017 Website: https://ghosty-eilish.itch.io/akuma-no-mori Reception: The game was well received with various people praising the mood the game sets, as well as how much our small team has achieved in the limited time frame. Nominations:
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MY WORK
On Akuma no mori, I worked as a Level designer. And created two of the playable areas the player can traverse. Additionally, I worked on tool programming and created various tools that made populating the levels easier and faster.
For more detailed descriptions of some of my tasks expand the tabs below:
For more detailed descriptions of some of my tasks expand the tabs below:
Level Design
On Akuma no mori I developed two of the playable areas present in the game: Firstly the 'Intro area', used to both give the player a space to discover the core mechanics, as well as to set the overall tone of the game. And Secondly the 'Graveyard area', which aims to convey the emotions of anger and bargaining "What happened? And why did this happen?".
I closely worked with the creative director to define what my zones need to convey, and over the duration of the project brought my levels from concept, to whitebox, to first pass lighting and modelling, to finished product.
I closely worked with the creative director to define what my zones need to convey, and over the duration of the project brought my levels from concept, to whitebox, to first pass lighting and modelling, to finished product.
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During the project I learnt that I knew very little about framing, and guiding the player. The aesthetic of the game demanded the levels to be very populated and natural looking. But I did not yet posses the skills or knowledge of how to prevent the player from getting lost or overwhelmed. Because of this I decided to invest a significant chunk of my time into framing, and guiding the player, and improved significantly. The documentation linked to on the right shows my thought, and iteration process (these files were created to achieve my credits and not for portfolio specifically).
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Working as a level designer on Akuma no mori was a very nice experience. Resources were limited, and the bar for quality & quantity was set high. Over the short duration that this project ran, I learnt a lot of valuable skills that I still apply in my other projects today.
Tool Programming
My second role was as a tool programmer. In this role I created tools that would help speed up various processies. I mostly build these tools using constructor Blueprints. The best tool I created was the root generation tool. This tool significantly sped up development, and helped optimize the game's CPU and GPU footprint by simplifying the culling system for the root and barnacle structures.
My primary focus with my tools was with ease of use, and costomisability. Users can just drop in a root asset, click generate a few times, and will generally find what they need pretty quickly. I also wanted people to be able to be more specific. This resulted in me creating a lot of (optional) settings for the designers/artists to change their generated root.
For example: users can decide per root size (tiny -> huge) how many roots there can be, what barnacles can be on the top, side, or bottom of a root (on the top or bottom of the root structure) and in what quantities. Additionally, once a root structure is generated users can change/delete individual roots or barnacles.
For example: users can decide per root size (tiny -> huge) how many roots there can be, what barnacles can be on the top, side, or bottom of a root (on the top or bottom of the root structure) and in what quantities. Additionally, once a root structure is generated users can change/delete individual roots or barnacles.
Without my tools, we would not have been able to achieve the quantity, quality, and variety of content we wanted. Working on these tools in this project has taught me to think critically about how we work. "Is there a way to improve this workflow?", and has led to me creating various workflow improvements in future projects. It also helped me get significantly better at optimisation and memory management, as well as effective script creation, iteration, and maintenance.
