Project Type: First-person mobility shooter​​
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Studio: BookWyrm​
Date: September 2024 - May 2025
Contribution: Level designer
Defy gravity and enemies alike in a high-speed world where magic and momentum collide. Use spells and fluid movement mechanics to traverse levels while defeating rooms of enemies along the way. How will you escape the GRIMWAR?
Platforming
GRIMWAR's main test of skill is its platforming sections. Player skill expression is a core value in GRIMWAR, and as such, levels needed to give players opportunities to do things their way. If players felt confident, they could take the paths to the left and right, where wall running and timed jumps were necessary to speed up the staircase. Of course, more casual players could always walk up the staircase and still meet the challenge of the waves of enemies coming their way.
Enemies
Levels are built with both the player and enemies in mind. In this example, a wide open space is laid out for flying and ranged enemies to shine. The player is given room to accelerate and outmaneuver the enemies as well as the spells to exploit them.
Arenas
Sometimes the player will find themselves in a room swarmed with enemies with no way out. Equipped with a variety of spells and terrain to work with, arenas are built to allow for freedom of expression in how the player wants to clear the gauntlet. For this project, arenas were my primary focus.
Arena Blockout
This is a blockout of an arena in the final level of GRIMWAR- the Core. There are two ways to reach the top: there is an easy stairway to the left with cover to hide from the ranged enemies, and a fast-paced series of wall jumps to reach the top on the right.
Arena Polish
This is the same arena from the picture above as it appears in-game. The teeth act as small walls to jump from if the player is quick enough. The arena also allows for great use of the newly introduced spell: Pestilence. The spell applies a damage over time effect to enemies after seeking them out, and allows for temporary free flying capabilities- perfect for the open area and hard-to-reach overlooks.
Proposed Change
To keep the identity of the spell's usage in the area, I made a wall-running section with very difficult jumps. It required the player to use the speed boost from the spell to complete the jumps. This picture is the blockout of the area in the map above with my proposed changes.
Creative Visions
One time during production, the map I was given to follow had a continuity problem: the distance covered in 7a did not match the distance covered in 7c. This was because there was a spell to increase speed, but the specifics were not set in stone when the map was made. To fix the problem, I made the following suggestion to change the map:
Reflection
Looking back on GRIMWAR, I learned much about working cohesively on one task. With a project this size, the team worked in many sprints getting particular tasks completed which frequently required teamwork from all of our departments. Being on time and consistent with the team's guidelines was critical to the team's success. Constant feedback and iteration loops were needed to keep the style consistent amongst the team of 3 level designers all working on the same level.
Overall, I am very glad to have been able to work on GRIMWAR.