Mowdown is a thrilling couch PvP party game that combines strategic movement, intense battles, tactical decision-making, and the whimsical world of Victorian gardens.
14 People
8 weeks
Unreal
PC Windows
Multiplayer
ROLE AND TASKS
Throughout the development of the game, my main role has been as a Level Designer, researching, prototyping, iterating, and interfacing with the rest of the team to deliver a coherent and high-quality player experience.
Designed and implemented multiple multiplayer arenas
Interfaced with programmers to develop playtesting tools, iterating using the collected data
Interfaced with artists to develop and iterate the final look of the environment
Implemented a system to load arenas and deliver variety
Managed a sub-scene framework for the levels
Researched competitors and created level design pillars to support the team
Avaliable on Itch.io
FINDING THE WAY
Levels need to be built using simple and clearly understandable shapes, giving players the opportunity to easily read the environment, allowing them to easily pick up the game and focus on the action.
LEGIBILITY
Maps need to have high-priority locations players use as short-term objectives, forcing them to prioritize their actions, and developing a light strategical layer that delivers a hectic and natural action.
POINTS OF INTEREST
Arenas need to be build creating paths that drive players into locations where direct confrontation is the only possible outcome, increasing the rhythm and tension of the mathces.
KILLZONES
Looking into competitor titles and experimenting with the mechanics of the game and using the results to define these level design pillars. They helped us move coherently with the rest of the team towards a shared player experience.
THE FIRST PANCAKE IS ALWAYS SPOILED
To deliver on the final design of the maps, the arenas of the game went through a thorough iteration process, improving not only the playability of the spaces but also developing their visual style with close collaboration with the environment artists.
V3
V0
V1
The iteration process was heavily driven by sketches, used as the foundational tool to communicate within the team. This approach allowed us to limit misunderstandings and move forward with a coherent aligned vision.
Looking at people playing the game, I found myself in need of more data to iterate on the levels. Multiplayer games are a complex balance between mechanics, dynamics, and player interaction, and pure observation was not enough to iterate consciously.
To help with that, I collaborated with the programming department to develop a heatmap tool that would allow me and the team to see how players approached the maps and highlight improvement points in their design.
The heatmap tool not only helped in the iteration of the spaces, but it also fed information about the readability of the space and balancing of the pick-ups, being a crucial development aid not only for the level design but for the whole team.
DATA-DRIVEN
A constant part of the process has been the communication and exchange with the rest of the team, especially the environmental artists, who had to work on the same levels we were developing. I wanted them to be an integral part of the design process.
Including them into the cycle, made everyone interacting with the level more invested in the result of their work, as we all felt ownership of the levels and wanted to deliver the best possible final result.
This allowed us to develop strong communication that permitted us to better iterate on the levels, be more conscious of each other progress and challenges, and overcome every disagreement with constructive dialogue to align the experience with the design intent of the whole team.
ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL
The development of Mowdown has been my first development experience working on a brand-new multiplayer title and has given me a new perspective on testing methodologies and team participation in the design process.
Observing players play is a key component in my testing process, as it allows me to visualize the result of the experience first-hand, but I now have a better understanding of the importance of hard data, how and where to apply them to improve the process and deliver a better player experience.
The strong collaboration with the environment artists has been crucial for the final result achieved. Making them part of the design process and having a constant feedback loop between the two departments allowed us to visualize challenges and resolve conflicts smoothly, keeping the motivation high and delivering high-quality work to the rest of the team.
