Aris
- Boon Siang Leok
- Apr 23
- 9 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
Project Overview
Aris is a single-player puzzle platformer where players control Mover-bot, a robot reactivated in a long-forgotten lab. With his magnetic abilities, Mover-bot must navigate through a maze of dangerous obstacles and hostile bots to escape the lab and find the last robot sanctuary.
Game Engine Used: Fireworks Engine (Custom Engine)
Game Genre: Puzzle Platformer
Roles: Level Designer, Narratives, Props Designer,
Duration: 6 Months
Team Size: 7 Members
Brainstorming Sessions
Our initial ideas revolved around fireworks, which later inspired the name of our custom game engine. Our thoughts revolved around explosions, bombs, gold mining. But we later switched our ideas to magnetism because we felt that it was more managable for the developers and for the artist as well.
Inspiration and references
We set out to create a game that delivers a fresh and exciting platforming experience by blending unique mechanics with captivating game play. Inspired by the stunning camera work and inventive spirit mechanics of Ori and the Blind Forest, we explored how dynamic perspectives and versatile abilities could bring new depth to our game.
We also took inspiration from Unruly Heroes, where players can switch between four different characters, each with their mechanics, to overcome challenges and explore the world. This idea of constantly changing up the gameplay to keep things fresh and engaging was exactly what we were aiming for.
Design Pillars
The Key Design pillar that the game would have would be puzzle solving as that would be the way that the player can achieve the player fantasy of accomplishment by having the design pillar of discovery, we can draw the player deeper into the game by introducing new mechanics for the players to learn and master.
Player Fantasy
We wanted to develop a feeling of a lonely vast world that the Aris has found himself in where many things have been "destroyed,"
or worn out. We took stylistic inspiration from this game called Prior, where it revolves around a cube who has lost his memory in a futuristic dystopia. He has to read various notes found in the city to learn more about himself (game controls and movement) and what actually happened in this world that he had found himself in. This feeling of loneliness and self discovery is further emphasized in th film noir graphics and strong contrast.
We looked towards games like Limbo which has a similar look and vibe to the game that we are creating. What really drive the gameplay is the immersive sound design which sets the mood for the entire game. They integrate story elements into various parts of their level design and they have very basic mechanics of moving and grabbing objects. Some bad points would be the difficulty of the game where the player has to restart the entire game if they died and this trial and error element takes the player out of the immersive experience they find themselves in.
Mechanics Exploration
Explorations
We tried to explore the different ways that the magnet mechanic can be used within the game such as pushing or pulling objects,
Unique Interactions
Through the use of base mechanics we explored various ways that these mechanics can be utilized. The image above showcases some of the gimmicks and interactions that we wanted to implement into the game.
Timeline
Level Design
Metrics
The first step in designing the level is figuring out the metrics. This would determine the measurements needed for each action and props to help us dictate the placement of the objects required for the game and to balance out the timing that is required for each level.
In this game, Aris will be traversing through the abandoned Lab he was created. The Lab contains facilities that are used to develop machines to help mankind, however, due to time some of the areas are no longer functional thus, the only to navigate through the level is through unorthodox ways but thankfully our character is equipped with tools to help him in this journey. The Lab is divided into 5 levels, Creator Room, Main Lab, Generator, Research Facility, Training Facilities and Station
I was in charge of the Creator room, Training Facility, the generator room and Research facility which i would be breaking down below. One key thing about our level design was that we wanted the Player to have the feeling that they are exploring an abandoned Lab thus the levels can be traversed forward and backwards.
Creator Room
The creator room serves as the tutorial for the entire game. In this part of the level players are introduced to basic controls such as movement and their possible interactions with the world like jumping.
Blueprints: For letting the player know the controls of the game
Stairs: Allowing players to know the height matrix of the game
Acclimatization of controls: A safe space for players to test out the movement controls in the game
Introduction of Magnetic ability: The first challenge of the game where the player has to use their magnetic ability to get through this part of the level
Secret Room: A place to store easter eggs or narrative elements to promote the player to explore the entire room in the entire game
High jump: Introduce player that if they jump from a high spot, they will lose health
Wall Climb: Introduce wall climb for player
Monkey Barring: Introduce to the player that if they reach the top of the map, they can monkey bar
Jump Quest: To acclimatize player to jumping and failure will teach player that if they fall from height, they will lose health
Simpler Jump Quest: To ease of the level as it ends
Exit: To send player to the next room
Final Changes after playtest feedbacks
Updated Blueprints: Changes made due to the changes in controls and set more towards the right to gain player’s attention
Simplified the level: After reviewing with players, we realized that the jump quest was too difficult for the player and we wanted to introduce more mechanics during this level thus we made the level less complex.
Removed Secret areas: To remove chances that the player will miss out on the tutorials about falling from height, wall climb
Added Posters: To add more backstory
Added Lighting and shadows: To add more depth and make the level look more visually appealing
Added Gas and light particles: To add more life into the background
Added Dialogue: For narrative Purposes
Training Facility
The training facility was the first level we created, thus it features many different elements that we had brainstormed during the initial phase of the game and various challenges that we thought of. Below is a breakdown of the level.
1st pulling challenge: First simple pulling puzzle for the players
2nd Pulling Challenge : Player has to pull the metal to form a staircase
3rd pulling challenge : Player has to pull the platform in order to pass this challenge
Deathtrap: Easy to get out of, purpose is to
Stairs: provides a variations in height and gives the player a sense of progression
Wall climb challenge: Onward to the next part of the level
Secret area : A space to Add in one challenge or easter egg to encourage player to explore
Pulling challenge : Puzzle element for the player to add on to the list of puzzles in the game
Stairs: Progression to the next part of the level
Pulling Puzzle : Another pulling puzzle added to increase the puzzle count
Pulling puzzle : A more difficult puzzle to enable that adds on an element of precision for the player
Transition: Tight corridor to signify to player that things are getting more difficult
Stairs: Progression to the next part of the level
Pulling challenge : Recap on pulling mechanics
Pulling Challenge : Precision Challenge without spikes
Pulling Challenge : Precision Challenge with spikes
Epic Pulling Challenge : Most difficult challenge of the level
Secret Area: Area to add easter eggs and also allow player to climb up to the ceiling
Ceiling climb challenge: Player has to try to ceiling climb for a prolonged period time
Exit to the next level: Loads up generator room
Changes made to the level
Removed pulling obstacles: This is due to the playtest, we noticed that not all players would try to complete the level we intended them to and also complaints of certain areas being too difficult
Inter Traversal Level: For the exploring expect of our game
Made Spikes Reddish: To draw attention to the player and also because red is a colour for danger
Brighten pipes: To let players know that the pipes can be interacted with
Added Posters: For narrative purposes
Added Key Card: For exploring purposes
Lighting and Shadows: To make the level more aesthetically pleasing
Gas Particles: To make the level feel more lively
Research Facility
Purpose: To have a room to showcase our new developments with our mechanics such as temperature, AI and Moving platforms however due to time constraints we decided to make use of what we have to build and interesting and experimental level.
Wall climb challenge: difficult wall climb challenge as it was designed that the player would fall to 13
Pipe: To have a more interesting way of going back up and also to emphasize that the theme of this level is wall climbing
Push pull challenge: Simple push pull Challenge
Easing off period: Space for player to breathe
Push pull challenge: Player has to push and pull in order to get through this level
Wall climbing/ platforming challenge: Combination of wall climbing and wall climb challenge
Secret area: For easter Eggs or rewarding the player for exploring
Stairs: To provide verticality in the level
Metal boxes: Precision push pull challenge
Simple push pull challenge: To ease off player after the platforming level/or to ease player in to the challenges
11) platforming challenge: Players would have to either high jump or wall climb to get through this challenge
12) Platforming + Wall climb challenge : Players have to make use of their platforming skills plus wall climbing skills learnt to get over this part of the level.
Changes made
Shorten distance from entrance to the other side: Reduce difficulty, but still takes considerable skill to get to the other side
Increase box sizes in the dumping grounds: To reduce player’s frustrations and anxiety if they fall down to the dumping grounds
Made the spikes reddish: To signify danger
Health Power-ups : To help players get through the level easier
Lighting and shadow : To make the level look aesthetically pleasing
Gas and dust particles: To make the level livelier
Posters: For narrative purposes
Key : To give the players an objective for exploring the level
Reduced Glass Alpha: To make the Key card holder more interesting
Brightened Pipes: To let the player know that the pipes are interactables
U shaped room: Players can find the key by going either path and has to return to the same position to exit the level
Generator Room
Starting the level: Short space to introduce dangers of this level and the main challenge through the posters
Introduction of long jumps : First long jump challenge, slightly shorter due to the platform
Breathing Space: Space to ease off after first challenge
Long Jump Challenge 2: Even longer jump compared to the first long jump challenge
High Jump Challenge 1: Higher Jump to propose a slightly different long jump challenge
Secret Room: Reward for players who manages to get into this part of the level
Falling Challenge: Players have to try to get down the level without losing health by using the wall climb mechanics
Simple Wall Climb: Helps players to ease off after the 2 challenges with a simple challenge
Puzzle element: To emphasize the puzzle element of the game
3rd Long Jump Challenge: Final long jump as the theme of this room which was having long jump challenges
Ease off: Easing off after challenge and puzzle
Changes Made
Added Moving platforms, changed certain part of the level into moving platforms based due to feedback saying that long jumps are difficult to achieve and it was a mechanic that was in development by our tech team
Electrical animations: Made electricity brighter which makes them seem to glow and be more visually attractive
Added Health power ups: To help the player get through the level as this seems to be a very dangerous level
Added Dialogue: For narrative purposes
Added Key cards: As a reason for players to explore
Inter Traversal level: Player can start from the bottom of the level or the top of the level, the difficulty curve of this is easy - medium - easy
UI Design
Here are some mock up screen as we slowly worked our way to our final iteration. The first few images are placeholders as we waited for our artist to come up with the concept art. The first iteration was based off a simple UI system where the player is introduced to the character.
Immersive Game Menu
After looking through some games, we realized that we wanted to have something that is immersive for our UI, thus we reworked our Game Menu to
Diegetic Blueprint design
We decided to go with a diegetic blueprint to properly introduce our character. It was also better for our artist as well because it would take significant amount of time to draw out a realistic scene and it might not be of the same artstyle as the game. Our artist has been churning out props for the level and due to time pressure we wanted to reuse whatever assets we have at the moment to save efforts for the final dateline.
Comentarios