“Project Astrid is an open-world survival game being developed by Splash Damage“
Engine: Unreal Engine 5
Project Astrid: https://www.splashdamage.com/news/announcing-project-astrid/
Splash Damage: https://www.splashdamage.com/
Project Astrid is currently under NDA which limits how much I can share.
Project Astrid was a dream project for me as a gamer with thousands of hours in the Survival Game genre. I thoroughly enjoyed designing locations for the game and it presented some very interesting design challenges that I think few Level Designers have encountered.
During my time on the project, I have designed and implemented numerous locations ranging from single structures to large compounds – both in natural and structural settings. I’ve designed multiple Points of Interest and Landmarks that hold importance to the player journey, and several of my designs that started out as explorations turned into milestone deliveries as they were held in high regard by the rest of the team.
I have had ownership of several smaller and larger features making sure that what we set out to deliver both abides the metrics and design conventions we’ve established from the Level Design side, as well as the requirements and expectations set by the other stake holders.
While I can’t go into any detail about the game or any specifics of the work I did, I can share the main responsibilities I had:
- Had ownership of several small and large features during development
- Establishing level/area requirements and write up proposed solutions (one-pager)
- 2D sketching to establish high level layouts illustrating intended level beats, player pathing, interaction and conflict points, pacing and flow
- Implementing first pass blockouts to confirm/deny layout assumptions and make adjustments accordingly
- Setting up scripted gameplay moments and combat encounters with UE Blueprints and inhouse tools
- Iterative approach to making improvements to designs based on continuous user testing and/or direction changes
- Close cross-discipline collaboration to ensure that designs meet the requirements and expectations of other stake holders as well as the game vision
- Designed and implemented numerous open world locations – both natural and structural
- Establishing Level Design tool requirements and evaluating their implementation
- Creating and maintaining feature documentation aimed at non-technical disciplines
- Setting up Jira stories, goals and subtasks with estimates in collaboration with Production
- Mentoring associate Level Designers