Lua Zoe Ying
Game Designer | Level Designer
Diversus
Level Designer | Artist
Diversus Gameplay Video
Drive up walls to evade obstacles!
Shoot enemies down!
Fight for your life and clear the Death Rally!
Description
Diversus is a Third-Person Vehicular Shooter where Somat, the mechanic, and Sirhc, the pilot, created a drone that climbs walls in the slums. They decide to join the Death Rally in the city to win its huge prize pool. Somat links Sirhc's brain to the drone and sends him off to the rally. However, the rich don't like the idea of people from the slums winning their own tournament. They unleash their robots and stops Somat from unlinking Sirhc. The catch is when the drone is destroyed, so is Sirhc's brain! Can Somat and Sirhc overcome these obstacles and win the big prize pool?
Genre
3D Vehicular Shooter
Role Summary
Duration
Aug 2017 - Dec 2017
Team Size
6
Engine
Unity
Level Designer
I was tasked with designing the linking areas whereby the player drives through obstacles and small enemies. These areas link the arenas together and also teach the player about the mechanics of the game.
Roles:
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Designing the roads for linking each arena
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Building the level in Maya, and then to Unity
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Playtesting and iterating on the level to ensure difficulty is just right
Linking the Arenas
The aim of the track between arenas is for the player to learn the wall-climbing mechanic, as well as for the player to engage in traversal obstacles instead of shooting enemies for a change. This is done with obstacles that block off certain areas of the road, roads that have their sides or floor cut away, and enemies that do damage to the player if he does not kill it quickly enough.
Playtesting and iterating is done to ensure that the enemies and obstacles placed are not too challenging or unfair.
There are some simple enemies that do damage to the player if they drive into them. The player has to simply destroy it while he is driving.
There are some simple enemies that do damage to the player if they drive into them. The player has to simply destroy it while he is driving.
Obstacles and certain parts of the road will be taken away. The player has to drive on the walls to avoid taking damage or being destroyed!
Obstacles and certain parts of the road will be taken away. The player has to drive on the walls to avoid taking damage or being destroyed!
For quick level building, I spent a few days experimenting how to build modular tracks in Maya. They also had to be in line with the metrics that my team has decided on. The walls that have sides taken away, or tunnels, also have to be wide or tall enough for the wall-climbing mechanic.
After the pieces are finalized, I built the entire track in Maya and exported the entire model to be placed in Unity. This ensured quick building of the tracks and that there will be no gaps.
Artist
I was tasked with providing the 2D art, and texturing the environment of the game. I did the layout for the UI, menus, and some feedback that the player needs in the game too.
Roles:
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Iterating on the UI layout and wireframe for the game
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Art for the UI elements in the game
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Scripting the visual feedback for the game in Unity C#
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Texturing the environment in Maya and Photoshop
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Building the environment using pieces provided by another artist on the team
UI Wireframing and Art
The UI wireframing was done and then implemented as simple shapes into Unity. Through much prototyping as the game mechanics were tested, we removed some UI elements that we decided were not needed (e.g. HP bars on small enemies).
The final art is then implemented once the wireframe is finalized.
The UI Wireframe done in photoshop, and all the elements that would be displayed.
After prototyping, the final art is implemented
After prototyping, the final art is implemented
The UI Wireframe done in photoshop, and all the elements that would be displayed.
Texturing and Building of the Environment
As the game is set in the steam-punk era, I chose the colour palette of the game to have more beiges, browns and also blues for certain objects to stand out. The entire city is also built in Maya and later exported into Unity for quick building and changing of textures.
The environment was built in Maya
The environment was built in Maya