The Legendary Aeroknight

The first level “Taking Flight” was designed to be a tutorial level, with the basic mechanics and enemy types being introduced in the first half of the level, featuring a climb up through a forested hill area. The second half of the level, the village and castle, was designed to test the players newly learned skills, introducing parkour challenges involving more than one sword swing, as well as puzzle aspects to each challenge, including the hidden pig collectables.

The first level, titled Taking Flight, started with a Level Design document, outlining the visuals, progression of mechanics introduced, story beats, and overall mood of the level. The level would be made using two simple maps were also made for this level, one outlining each of the level’s platforming challenges from a front-facing view, as well as a topography map showing a top-down view of the level and its surrounding terrain & structures. Finally, a list of all the intended required assets were made, outlining what would be required from an art and programming standpoint. This last step was mostly for practice, as any art assets used were obtained from the Unreal Engine Marketplace.

Viewable document coming soon…

Once the document was finalized, I began the first stage of greyboxing by laying out geometry based on the first map in the LDD, as well as any required metal objects required for the player to reach the end of the level, and the 3 pig collectables. At this stage the entire level was playable. The second stage of greyboxing was focused on the second map, which outlined the topography of the surrounding terrain. Using Unreal Engine’s built in terrain tool, Much of the initial geometry was converted to terrain which can be detailed later, and many terrain features including various cliffs and a river were added that would serve entirely as set-dressing. While doing this, the final textures were added to the terrain in order to assure that each terrain feature felt natural.

Finally, any remaining details were added, with trees and plants being painted onto the terrain using the terrain tool, grass being automatically generated using the terrain tool, and the village and castle were created by placing art assets in appropriate places. Lighting was also adjusted to provide more realistic outdoor lighting, and a darker atmosphere in the dungeon and hall areas of the castle. Sound was added to create a more alive outdoors area using wind and bird chirps, as well as to add realism to the torches using fire sounds.