The Lost Artifact
The Lost Artifact was the first big project I worked on for my internship with the Full Sail Masters Indie Program. I began working on the game later into its production cycle but got a lot of work done to help the game ship including level design and polish over all the levels and gameplay
Summary:
The Lost Artifact is a fantasy ARPG where you play as a warrior diving into the depths of a volcanic fortress in search of magical artifacts. In this game you can level up and customize your character with skills that help you fight off the foes you find throughout the fortress. Level up your skills and try your best to fight off the bosses of the volcanic fortress! Will you get your hands on all the pieces of The Lost Artifact?
In this project I worked as a level designer, QA lead, and dove into game balancing. Having the opportunity to play a different role than I usually do in creating a game gave me a lot of perspective for other roles within the game making process. Specifically I got to really explore being in the players shoes as a QA and I think my work really shined on this project
My Role on The Lost Artifact
Level Design
Level Polish
Game Testing
Game Balancing
Player Feedback
Bug Fixing
Work Summary
Level Design
The Lost Artifact team lost their main level designer early on and I came onto the project immediately to assist. I was tasked with fixing up all the levels and revamping them almost entirely which I was more than happy to do. When going through and designing the levels for this game I had to keep a few things in mind.
1. The game was inspired by Dota/League of Legends with its art style, camera angles, and overall theme.
2. While keeping the inspiration in mind I had to make sure the levels felt good to play from a players perspective. When I say this I am referring to making sure that even though I am designing the levels that I keep in mind that people play games differently meaning that when I test levels and design them that my intended pathing/ way of playing the level is not finite so I need to account for that by utilizing breadcrumbs and how I shape the paths of the level
3. Make sure to keep levels in theme with themselves. To do so I need to make sure that when placing things within the level that they make sense to be there. An example of doing this incorrectly would be placing weaponry and bloody imagery into a level designed for children. To keep in theme I kept each levels enemy theme/color pallet in mind when designing the levels.
Area One
Area One is a hub area where the player spawns and returns to repeatedly to fight off waves of increasingly difficult enemies
For this area I was responsible for touchups and making sure that the nav mesh was properly working so the player couldn't get out of bounds
Staircase leading up to final boss area. To get here you have to complete the other areas and a portal will open. For this area I tried to make it look natural with the rest of the area but at the top of the stairs their are 2 braisers lit with fire separating it from the rest of area one
I designed this area to be open to hopefully catch the players eye to be one of the first areas to go to. I did this because although the players have free choice to go to any boss they please (excluding the final boss) the bosses difficulty levels are not the same. Down this path is the easiest of the bosses. Using such a large open area leads the player to a beginner friendly boss
Area Two
Area two is home to the games first boss, a giant golem. The level takes place up in the mountains with rivers and lakes of lava around some enemy camps.
For this area I was responsible for a complete revamp of the level
Area 2 exit. The area is scattered with fallen adventurers and guarded by a different type of enemy found within the next area
Area Three
Area Three is a dark jail in the mountain filled with enemies. Although the level is smaller than the others it still has lots of enemies and even its own boss
For this area I was responsible for its overall level design. My objective was to create a small compact arena like level for the player to test out their new skills they have gotten along the way
Area 3 has the games next boss. Although the area is smaller than the others it is still dense with enemies
The inner room of area 3 contains a small jail filled with bones and it is decorated with weapons and ashes
Area 3 has the games next boss. Although the area is smaller than the others it is still dense with enemies
Area Four
Area four is the last area before the final bosses area, it is an area deep in the mountains where the 4th boss awaits the player
I was responsible for mostly touchups and balancing for this level. My main objective for this level was to make it feel as unique as the others, to do so I changed a lot of the setting of the level to have more lava as we enter deep into the mountain. To make it feel more unique I also used this level as a mash up of the other area's enemies so the player gets to master combat against the enemies they had seen before. This also allowed the player to get enough XP to get through their skill tree to get a few maxed out abilities
in this scene I added more lava because I felt that the further in we went into the mountains the more dangerous it should look. That being said there is more lava and the paths are mostly narrow to try and incentivize more close combat fights
The final zone of area 4 is a small boss arena where unlike other bosses I chose to have this boss have a few henchmen to help make the fight more challenging rather than buffing numbers. This decision was made because this bosses attack patterns felt easier to avoid than other bosses but it is fought later into the game
Area Five
Area five is the final level of the game where the player goes on to collect the Lost Artifact and face off against their greatest challenge.
I was responsible for a complete revamp of this level. Originally the level led the player down random paths and put a lot of detail out of the players view. The level also did not feel special for a final boss. I set out to fix each of these problems and did so by communicating with my project lead as much as possible to gain insight and input as to what direction we wanted the level to go
Area Five Entrance
Mini Boss near entrance
Final Boss
Area Five Entrance
