Wizards & Rhymes
Roles: Level Designer, Combat Designer
Genre: 3D Isometric Puzzle Adventure
Development Time: 4 Months
Teams Size: 10
Engine: Unity
Wizard & Rhymes is a 3D isometric puzzle adventure where you are a wizard who must engage in an epic fantasy rap battle, using a fantastical weapon with words to snag your enemies fans and steal rhymes for epic burns. Unleash your wicked rhymes to make opponents stumble their words, claim street cred and become the Wizard of all Rhymes!
Awarded Best Overall Game at Michigan State University's Game Showcase
Responsibilities
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Met weekly with Iron Galaxy mentors, receiving feedback on weekly build and iterating based on their playtest feedback
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Designed, Implemented and Iterated on both Lightning Puzzle's as well as both Main Areas
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Communicated effectively with art team to set dress both of the Lightning Puzzles and Main Areas, and 1 Ice Puzzle
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Worked closely with Engineers to create Lightning Puzzle systems and use developed designer tools
Push Block Puzzle Design
One of my main goals for the first of the two Lightning Puzzles was for it to smoothly introduce players to the new mechanics they would encounter down the road. I made the first area of the Push Block Puzzle to show the player the basics of the puzzle's mechanics, before introducing them to a more complex puzzle comprised of the same mechanics in the second area.
In the Alpha version, players would sometimes miss the tutorial decals on the wall when entering the first area, as well as not realize they could push the Electric Block in the last section. As a result, I made the decals appear above where the player pushes the block in the first section so they couldn't miss them, as well as removed the part where the player had to push an Electric Block into place in the last section of the puzzle.
The shipped version of the Push Block puzzle's first area. I moved the decals closer so that players could see them better. I also pushed back the shootable Electric Block so that the players would realize their melee can't activate it.
The Alpha version of the Push Block puzzle's first area.
The shipped version of the Push Block puzzle's first area. I moved the decals closer so that players could see them better. I also pushed back the shootable Electric Block so that the players would realize their melee can't activate it.
The shipped version of the Push Block puzzle's second area, I removed the movable Electric Block that needed to be pushed at the end.
The Alpha version of the last Push Block Puzzle section. In the final version, the movable electric block is removed as it would sometimes cause confusion to the player, on top of feeling like an extra step.
The shipped version of the Push Block puzzle's second area, I removed the movable Electric Block that needed to be pushed at the end.
The shipped version of one of the second area's lever puzzles. Each lever puzzle has a pattern to how each lever interacts with the others, helping the player solve it.
The shipped version of one of the second area's lever puzzles. Each lever puzzle has a pattern to how each lever interacts with the others, helping the player solve it.
The shipped version of the first Lever Puzzle area. I created the puzzle in a way to ensure it always takes at least two lever flips to solve, making sure that the player learns the new mechanic.
The shipped version of one of the second area's lever puzzles. Each lever puzzle has a pattern to how each lever interacts with the others, helping the player solve it.
The Alpha version of the Lever Puzzle. In this version, the player could accidentally solve the first section immediately, resulting in them not learning the new mechanic. In the second area, the player would activate levers to turn on electric blocks, however they couldn't see the electric blocks when using the levers. This resulted in some players getting stuck due to confusion.
The Beta version of the Lever Puzzle. The first area worked as intended, however the second area's electric block section had poor readability due to the camera angle and block positioning. This would result in players sometimes being unable to see some electric blocks activate.
A closeup of the Beta version of the electric block section.
The Alpha version of the Lever Puzzle. In this version, the player could accidentally solve the first section immediately, resulting in them not learning the new mechanic. In the second area, the player would activate levers to turn on electric blocks, however they couldn't see the electric blocks when using the levers. This resulted in some players getting stuck due to confusion.