Revna (2026)
Role: Level Design
In this project, my role was to create the starting level that would tutorialize the mechanics to the player. This part of the level would become extremely important to help guide the player through the flow of the game and allow them to understand the mechanics in a controlled environment to prepare for the rest of the game.
I began by laying out what would be needed based on the core pillars and experience we wanted to capture. The games pillars were split into 3 core experiences: exploration, combat and puzzles. To capture this, I designed the inital layout to express these in detail, allowing the player to figure out the mechaincs in a linear fashion and exposing the player to these mechaincs which evolved throughout the level.
To begin, giving the player the reason and motivation to continue in the level was highly considered, thus steadily teaching, right from the start, basic movement mechanics and allowing the player to see their weapon as the "focal point" in a space where it was "really obvious".
This allowed the player to focus on areas and allowed them to subconsciously accomplish "mini" goals.
In this example, the space was created to teach the player the dash mechanic and glide mechanic while placing the weapon they were to collect on the top of that spire as the "goal".
This white box slowly evolved as mechanics were introduced and, more importantly, as player testing feedback was received.
In this example, the room was made bigger, and the goal was shifted to show the main goal and frame the exit of the space, while also having the spire as a "mini" goal in place.
In this example, signifiers were added via VFX and lighting to highlight and help draw the player's attention. The space evolved to encourage the player to understand the mechanics, while also giving the opportunity to "fail" safely.
The space past also expanded from its initial prototype to incorporate more time in the space and more content to help the player reinforce mechanics by increasing the number of encounters with mechanics.
Eventually, the space was iterated to highlight the core mechanics of the game and slowly expand on adding mechanics together. There are dedicated areas to teach the combat and movement mechanics.
