Quintin Lim | Game Designer
Ninja Punk
Adventure is a third-person prototype where I designed a level and tested new mechanics and cinematics. This level takes place in a grand but forgotten library in a fantasy world. Players go through the ruins to steal an ancient treasure and escape after being trapped inside.
My Role
Level Designer
My role for this project was to design the level and implement the art and lighting assets. I also prototyped some mechanics and played around with Unreal's cinematic features.
Game Info
Third-Person Adventure
PC, Unreal Engine
Design Goals
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Goal 1 - Make the Player Small
I wanted to make the player feel small in this level; that they were only exploring a small slice of a much bigger cake. I wanted to make the player feel like there was a much larger world outside of the explorable area and that, if they had the chance, they could spend hours exploring the library.
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Goal 2 - Teasing the Player with More
I wanted to tease the player with information about the world they're playing in. I put in big set pieces but was consistent about their placement. I made sure that certain statues were always placed in specific positions and showed off tunnels that they had no chance of ever accessing. This was all in an attempt to make players curious about what might be beyond what they can see.
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Goal 3 - Choice for Execution
We wanted to make sure that every scenario or encounter in the game has multiple ways to approach it. Players should have the freedom and choice to tackle encounters however they see fit. Part of feeling like a stealth ninja is figuring out the best way to get to a target.
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Making small big
A major inspiration for this level was Dark Souls and that sensation of exploring a narrow slice of a bigger area. To recreate that feeling, I used a few techniques I noticed in From Software's other titles. ​The main thing I wanted was to make the player ask questions about my level. What was it used for and by who? That mystery about From Software levels is something I really admire and I wanted to recreate it here.
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Unexplorable Passages
By showing the player lots of places that they cannot access, I can create that sensation that there is more to the level than there actually is. Decorating just beyond what is accessible helps make a location feel bigger than it really is.
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Large Open Space
For the focal point of the level, players traverse scaffolding along the sides of a large open library. The area that the player is in is large, but the area they can traverse is actually very small. That large open space is used to give the area a feeling of scale. It also helps sell the mystery of the area.
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Consistent Symbolism/Decoration
This is probably the most important and most overlooked aspect of From Software's level design that I recreated here. I was very specific about how I chose to decorate the level, particularly when it came to the statues and banners. That way, I could create a culture within the level; that a society with shared beliefs had once occupied that space. It both adds context and asks more questions about the story of the area. I did this by using specific statues for light sources and only as light sources and another statue for areas of worship.
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