K3LVN

Development on the game is still currently in progress. Page will be updated with more information as we go!

I’ve been working as a student level designer on the action-platformer K3LVN with the rest of the team at RNG Forge. I owned the Containment Facility area of the game though conception, blockmesh, iteration, and first pass set dressing and lighting. I also made the Testing Facility (aka tutorial), and organized narrative documentation and scripting dialogue, events, and a few proxy cutscenes.

Game Coming soon!

Play the playtest on Steam.

Planning and Design

Isometric map for a segment of gameplay for the foundry that ended up getting scrapped early on in the process.

 

I had ownership of the early portions of the game, the Testing Chamber, which functions as the tutorial, as well as the Containment Facility, the area directly after. Since our gameplay mechanics required a lot of vertical movement using the various state changes, I decided rough draft gameplay maps would best be conveyed though isometric sketches, with a golden path showing what states the player would need to change into to traverse the area.

Isometric map of the first iteration of the containment facility, the first area of the game.

Conveyer-Belt Puzzle Paper Prototype

I also spent three hours creating a paper prototype for a type of rotating conveyer belt puzzle that another level designer on the team came up with, to help test if the type of puzzle was fun before the mechanics were implemented or prototyped in-engine, since that would likely take many more work hours to see if the type of puzzle was engaging than it took to make the paper prototype.

Storage for the various pieces of the prototype.

The play area of the paper prototype.

 

Directions on use.

A short video of one of the action blocks I made, partially adapted into the Containment Facility.

Blockmesh

Early on in the process of blockmeshing, the level designers spent a two week sprint just making fun blocks of gameplay to later integrate into the levels. After making several fun action blocks, I found ways to integrate them into the Containment facility and started to blockmesh out the area, iterating further away from the initial maps as the mechanics continued to be developed and feedback was given.

Initial blockmesh of the second testing room, where initially there was a fire the player could only pass in solid state.

Initial blockmesh of the second testing room, where initially there was a fire the player could only pass in solid state.

First pass at the layout of the vent maze.

First pass at the layout of the vent maze.

The blockmesh of the "Plinko Machine" before lasers where implemented and the shape was cleaned up.

The blockmesh of the "Plinko Machine" before lasers where implemented and the shape was cleaned up.

The segment rolling on top of pipes that was later added into the Containment Facility.

The segment rolling on top of pipes that was later added into the Containment Facility.

Set Dressing

I was responsible for the first pass at set dressing in the Containment Facility and Testing Chamber, using a variety of asset packs and original assets made by artists on the team to make it work with the rest of the game’s themes while maintaining the darker, more desolate tone of the testing facility. These shots are from before all of the original assets where finished, so a few key assets were missing, to be updated.

The tutorial for K3LVN is a series of configurations that I designed and animated using level sequencer events. Each of the three configurations focuses on teaching the mechanics of one of K3LVN’s three states.

The observation deck, a clean, scientific area overlooking the Testing Chamber.

The observation deck, a clean, scientific area overlooking the Testing Chamber.

The view from the top of the pipe in the first major section of the Containment Facility.

The view from the top of the pipe in the first major section of the Containment Facility.

The view from the bottom of the same pipe, showing rows and rows of cells (asset pending).

The view from the bottom of the same pipe, showing rows and rows of cells (asset pending).

The jumping section outside of the containment facility, showing just how big and dark the surrounding areas are.

The jumping section outside of the containment facility, showing just how big and dark the surrounding areas are.

The end of the heater, and the pipe rolling segment over a large, bottomless pit nearing the end of the containment facility.

The end of the heater, and the pipe rolling segment over a large, bottomless pit nearing the end of the containment facility.

The underside of the second Containment block, where the player can walk along the broken walkways to find the way into the next area of the game; the Hub.

The underside of the second Containment block, where the player can walk along the broken walkways to find the way into the next area of the game; the Hub.