Game Design
Level Design
Jon Tittley
UnBoxed
UnBoxed is a first person puzzle game in which the player manipulates their environment to create a path to the exit.
I was the level designer on this project, and along with three classmates and two audio collaborators, we were able to bring the project to completion on a tight schedule of only 4 months.
Below you will find a description of my building and design processes, from concept and whiteboxing to art implementation and determining the order of the levels
Whiteboxing began immediately at the start of production. The use of basic shapes in the level design meant prototyping levels went quickly, and we were able to create more than enough and
pick the best ones to move forward with.
Level iteration began early in development to ensure that levels not only made sense on their own, but also in the order in which they were placed.
The tutorial level walks the player through the games controls and basic mechanics such as movement and navigation. The mechanic of manipulating the environment is not introduced until the next stage.
Once players reach the second room, they are introduced to the core mechanic in a safe and controlled environment. This environment allows them to get comfortable with the rotating world without risk of failure.
Levels gradually increase in difficulty and introduce different methods of manipulating the environment.
I introduced players to new features by placing them in an environment where they are forced to use them.
Documentation providing a step-by-step guide on the designed solutions for each level. The orange lines indicate the level movements that must be completed, while the white lines represent the player movement. Along side the documentation providing the "as-designed" solution, there was additional documentation providing the solution that requires the least amount of level movements.