Level Designer & Creative Director

FALL 2021 - FALL 2022

The Project

Pogglewash is a 3D platformer in which you play as a robot on an alien planet cleaning up polluted goop while interacting with cute creatures named Pogglewonks

The team comprised of 20 students over the course of 3 semesters.

HUB World (cut content)

Pogglewash originally planned to have two separate levels. These levels would be connected via a hub. I worked on the hub level before it was sadly cut from development.

  • Pathways that would lead to 2 other levels.

  • Area must be fun to revist.

  • The hub will act as a buffer between levels, and allow players to witness the environment being saved.

  • A “practice range” for the player.

the goals - main area

research

I started off looking at different hub worlds from video games. As Mario and Nintendo games were a huge inspiration for the team, I looked closely at hubs from Mario games.

Some key takeaways from that research was:

  • These hubs have more than two entrances for levels, making our situation a bit weirder.

  • Each entrance is unique, easy to identify and memorable.

  • The hubs act as playgrounds, teaching and training mechanics while not in a main level.

  • Super Mario Sunshine’s Delfino Plaza is similar to our goal of showcasing the saving of the environment, however, much more limited than our current plans.

Delfino Plaza became the key inspiration for me, however, I realized that a lot of hubs that I looked at were much bigger in scope than our game. We simply don’t have the bandwidth to make something as big as any of these hubs.

refrences

mechanic glossary

  • Bird-like NPC character

  • An icky substance which is polluting the land of Pogglerock. The player must use their water gun to wash it away.

  • A player activated scan ability which will highlight all pollution in an area.

DESIGNING THE HUB - Main area

Typically when I start working on levels, I like to get into Engine as soon as possible. Placing blocks, landscaping, and laying out everything in 3D helps me iron out details. I also appreciate the ability to be able to jump straight in to gameplay and walk around the space.

In order to give players a sense of exploration, I made the main area a tight circle. This prevents players from getting lost as any direction they go will inevitably lead them back to the level entrances.

I then built upon the landscape with Unreal props and brushes. To help give a better sense of what this environment should look and feel like.

Sightlines are cut off on the circular path to improve the sense of exploration. Meanwhile the landscape in the center helps point the player forward.

One entrance is raised while the other is across water. This helps players differentiate each path. These paths also represent how the levels play. The left leads to a more vertical level while the right is more water based.

Water and dense jungle environment allowed us to convert the area from a polluted wasteland to a beautiful oasis over time.

Achieving the “playground” feeling by allowing challenges on the sides of the circles. Can be ignored if players go directly through the middle but add extra fun for the players that explore.

  • Teach mechanics via gameplay.

  • Introduce and build a connection to the game’s narrative

  • Have a satisfying hook that will gets players excited to play.

  • Connect the players to our main creatures, the Pogglewonks.

the goals - tutorial

DESIGNING THE HUB - Tutorial

From the starting point, players will see an impossible jump before them and pollution, our main mechanic, in the distance. Players won’t be able to interact with either of these yet as they will follow the path to their left.

Once they have turned right, players will be forced to learn how to jump in a low-stakes environment. If they fall, they will only be punished by a short walk back up a ramp.

Immediately after the platforming section. The player will be faced with an area they are forced to use another mechanic, the scanner. Here they will see a scared Pogglewonk hiding behind rocks. If they activate the scanner, the Pogglewonk will then approach the player.

This will teach players how to use the scanner and allow a narrative introduction to the Pogglewonk.

The Pogglewonk will now lead the player to pollution. The pollution on the right is the wall that was foreshadowed earlier. Players will be required to clean pollution before proceeding.

Once the goop is cleared, we have our composition shot. We open up to this beautiful world in front of us, with a landmark right in the center. This will serve as the hook and really draw players into the world. From here we can consider the tutorial closed.

reflection

The hub world was cut from development in order to make better use of our team’s limited resources. We simply could not handle to do two levels and the hub, the team pivoted to instead doing one main level.

With the hub being cut, it sadly would not see any more iterations or playtesting. Without data to make improvements on, there is not much I would do differently. Though I do believe I hit the majority of goals I set out to hit when I was first designing this area, which is what I strive to do with every level. Luckily I ended up using a lot of similar concepts in my next area of the game.