PROJECT DETAILS
PROJECT TYPE
7-Person Academic Team
ENGINE
Unreal 5
DESIGN
Level Design
DESIGN
Encounter Design
GENRE
First-Person Shooter
FULL PLAYTHROUGH
ABOUT LUCKY LIMBO
Lucky Limbo The project was developed by a 7-person academic team over two semesters. Play as a house magician at Lucky's Casino who's been trapped in a purgatory-version of the casino and must fight their way through hordes of monsters using their magic card deck to escape.
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In my role as the level designer, I created multiple combat encounters with non-linear, branching exploration, and hidden secrets for a wave-based, first-person shooter with deck-building elements, featuring a core game loop similar to Call of Duty: Zombies.
DESIGN PROCESS
LEVEL GALLERY
LEVEL ITERATIONS
ITERATION 1
Starting Point: I started by creating several, one-off encounter spaces, focusing on establishing level metrics and finding engaging ways to use the movement mechanics in combat.
ITERATION 2
Problem: The initial encounter spaces were functional, but there were a couple issues: they weren’t doing much to take advantage of the movement mechanics, and the pathing through them was singular and lacking meaningful traversal options.
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Possible Solutions:
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Redesign the initial encounter spaces to better incorporate and showcase the game's movement mechanics.
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Expand pathing options within the encounters to provide players with meaningful traversal choices and strategic advantages.
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Create new encounter spaces that use the different movement mechanics to create traversal options, solving both problems.
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Why This Was Chosen: I decided to create new encounter spaces using the various movement mechanics to enhance traversal options due to its ability to address both issues simultaneously.
ITERATION 3
Problem: With the basic metrics and encounter layouts in a solid place, the levels were still lacking a sense of place that took advantage of the casino setting in purgatory. With the game pivoting away from a Roguelite, this was a good time to rethink the level layouts with a focus on the game's setting.
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Possible Solutions:
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Reimagine existing layouts to better capture and utilize the unique features and ambiance of the casino setting.
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Create new encounter spaces that focused on the casino setting that emphasized the game's new direction.
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Why This Was Chosen: The original encounter spaces were designed to be one-off rooms that players enter, clear out enemies, and move on to the next room, which didn't align well with the intended exploration options we wanted to add. This provided an opportunity to use the preestablished level metrics to start fresh and efficiently create new encounter spaces that took advantage of the setting and were more aligned with the new direction.
ITERATION 4
Problem: We had a solid foundation for what an encounter should look like with Gambler’s Graveyard. Now, it was time to add options for exploration to take advantage of the wave-based gameplay with the needed replayability, while also providing players with different methods of engagement without drastically increasing the scope of our systems.
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Possible Solutions:
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Keep the experience combat focused and create additional encounter spaces that exclusively feature the main game loop.
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Create new mini-games and level mechanics to open up the map in addition to adding new encounter spaces.
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Utilize the existing systems with minimal additions, finding a balance between adding new features and minimizing scope increases to create small exploration options, while keeping the game focused on combat.
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Why This Was Chosen: The goal was to introduce exploration options without significantly expanding the scope of systems. Opting for minimal additions allowed for the creation of small-scale exploration options while maintaining the game's primary focus on combat. Using the placement of loot chests to guide players towards parts of the map combined with hidden teleporters and simple, timer-based minigames, we were able to provide enough exploration options to create a little bit of replayability without needing to drastically increase the scope of the project.
ADDITIONAL CONTENT WORK
MECHANICS AND MINI GAMES
I created additional level mechanics and mini games to round out the experience and create more variety in the gameplay.
TREASURE CHEST MINIGAME
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​Playtesting showed that players were often intrigued by small offshoots and environment aspects off the main path, so I decided to reward them with secrets to discover.
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The minigame teleports them to a secret room off the map filled with chests, and they have a limited time to open as many as they can.
RING THE MYSTERY BELLS
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Focused on repeat playthroughs and letting players uncover secrets as they learn more about the map.
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If they stand on the four pillars scattered around the map, the Mystery Bells will ring and teleport players to the large arena in the distance.
IN MEMORIAM: FALLING ELEVATOR
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A concept that ultimately had to be cut was an elevator that would drop out of the air and teleport players to new locations based on certain systemic progression elements.​
BUBBLE MAP
