Description
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Design Process
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Post Partum
Luminati is a first person puzzle game that uses gravity to explore a 3D environment in a far off galaxy.
The game makes full use of 3D geometry, as you travel upside down, right side up, sideways, and a variety
of other directions to make it to your goal. The shifts in perspectives were heavily inspired by MC Escher and
mirrored environments in video games, and they truly bring a new approach to exploring 3D environments.
This game takes place in the far future where the heat-death of the Universe is drawing near. You play as a drone in a mysterious
abandoned space station whose job is to activate the station's system to revive the nearby star. The station has various gravity
altering systems in place as a security measure to deter intruders. It is your job to reactivate the system's star to make the
area habitable once again.
I wanted to create a game that makes complete use of geometry. Far too often in 3D games, we only make use of one side
of a geometric shape - whether it is the ground, the wall, the ceiling etc. Being inspired by bonus mirrored environments
such as in Ocarina of Time's Master Quest, which felt oddly new during its second traversal ,
I wanted to take this concept a bit further. What if the wall can be the floor? What if the floor that has helped you get closer to your destination becomes a wall between you and your goal?
By flipping worlds for traversal, the perspective shift creates a paradoxically foreign yet familiar world.
Awards:
IndiePrize USA 2015 Showcase - Nominated for Most Innovative Gameplay
Credits:
Director/Lead Designer/Programmer/3D Modeler - Thomas Lu
3D Modeler - Christina Orcutt
Composer/Sound Designer - Julie Buchanan
Concept Artist - Gregory Chen
Design Challenges
- A lot of disorientation and motion sickness was caused by the initial gravity shifting mechanic and has since been padded out since its inception. Currently, there are constant iterations and improvements to this mechanic and work is ongoing to create the best experience possible.
- Level design flow has been difficult to iterate on since the gravity switch in environment can often get the player lost and frustrated easily. Currently the game is going through extensive level artistic iterations to mitigate this effect.
Art Challenges
- Level design and art needs to work synergistically in order to create the optimal experience. Since these are heavily interwoven in this type of game, every single design choice in the environment must be carefully placed and thought out in order to create the desired experience.
- Visual intensity of the level layout and placed props need to tell a story.
Programming Challenges
- Physics play a heavy role in this game, which has been a challenge throughout the development of this game. Through working with Unity's in-game physics engine, it was clear at the beginning that it was not suitable for the needs for this game. As a result, a layer of custom physics features were built on top of Unity's core engine, and although this has helped a lot, there may be a need for a custom physics engine of its own in the end.
- Camera stability while the gravity changes - this is interwoven with the physics engine since the majority of the problems and bugs comes from the gravity change of the world. The camera needs to be stable and smooth while the gravity changes in order to give the player a less disorientating experience.
Design Process
Luminati's design had initially started out as a school project. I had originally wanted to navigate an
MCEscher-like world while turning the world around - in order to create the feeling of familiar yet foreign worlds.
The initial prototype was abstract - The player navigated a world full of staircases and walls. Though the prototype was difficult to navigate - the sense of getting lost in the same space was there - and I felt that I had achieved what I wanted in terms of an experience goal.
As production continued outside of the school project, there was a lot more refinement to be done with the core gameplay's mechanics and gravity switching methods. I started testing the gravity flipping mechanism on more abstract shapes and structures and the feelings I had initially set out to induce were magnified.
Most of the designs of the level were based off of a refinement/testing basis. With every test, I marked areas where people were having particular trouble, and noted down if there were areas that the player moved off in the wrong location, or made note if they had trouble in certain areas. Tweaks were made every subsequent time, and with questionairres at the end of every playtest session - this allowed me to gauge if I was going in the right direction.
A narrative was need - in what setting did changing gravity make sense? The most sensible answer was Outer Space - so I chose that to be the setting.
As for art design - I opted for a simpler look, sticking with cell shading rather than a more realistic approach. I chose this aesthetic mainly for scoping and aging reasons, feeling that a small team would not be able to create a hyper realistic environment with the time commitment team members have, and also the fact that hyper realistic environments age fairly quickly. The art currently is still undergoing much refinement since it has been one of the lesser focused areas since development started, and I am quickly realizing that this is an area that I need to address in order to create the intended experience
The initial prototype was abstract - The player navigated a world full of staircases and walls. Though the prototype was difficult to navigate - the sense of getting lost in the same space was there - and I felt that I had achieved what I wanted in terms of an experience goal.
As production continued outside of the school project, there was a lot more refinement to be done with the core gameplay's mechanics and gravity switching methods. I started testing the gravity flipping mechanism on more abstract shapes and structures and the feelings I had initially set out to induce were magnified.
Most of the designs of the level were based off of a refinement/testing basis. With every test, I marked areas where people were having particular trouble, and noted down if there were areas that the player moved off in the wrong location, or made note if they had trouble in certain areas. Tweaks were made every subsequent time, and with questionairres at the end of every playtest session - this allowed me to gauge if I was going in the right direction.
A narrative was need - in what setting did changing gravity make sense? The most sensible answer was Outer Space - so I chose that to be the setting.
As for art design - I opted for a simpler look, sticking with cell shading rather than a more realistic approach. I chose this aesthetic mainly for scoping and aging reasons, feeling that a small team would not be able to create a hyper realistic environment with the time commitment team members have, and also the fact that hyper realistic environments age fairly quickly. The art currently is still undergoing much refinement since it has been one of the lesser focused areas since development started, and I am quickly realizing that this is an area that I need to address in order to create the intended experience
What went right
- The mechanic sparked a lot of interest to first time players and captivated the level of intrigue. The mechanic was also described as a fun and interesting way to traverse levels.
- Early prototypes were promising, which lead to a passionate team designing behind this game.
What went wrong
- Communication between art and level design was poor, creating incoherence in the art which lead to a lot of disorientation for the player.
- Concept art plays a critical role. Initially, this game started off without any concept art and relied heavily on 3D model sketches. The environments as a result did not have a coherent look to it.
- Level design difficulty curve varied for players depending on familiarity with games like Portal. There was very little middle ground, with many players either finding it too difficult or too easy.
What I learned
- Level design and art direction plays a critical role in working together. Communication IS KEY to this, and it is important that the artist understands the vision behind the level.
- Concept art is crucial - to have the environments look coherent and to have it tell a certain story, concept art needs to be created. Sketches that "look cool" cannot just be inserted into the game for use.
- Project metrics and constant play testing plays a crucial role in the level design and difficulty curves. Setting a target audience also helps in what we were looking for in the metrics