Liam Person
Wild Luminary
ROLE: Level Designer, Programmer, Audio Designer
DURATION: 2 weeks (school project)
TEAM: SOLO
PLATFORM: PC
ROLE: Level Designer, Programmer, Audio Designer
DURATION: 2 weeks (school project)
TEAM: SOLO
PLATFORM: PC
Description:
Wild Luminary is a linear first-person-shooter set in the wild west during the 1800’s. You play as Mav, an orphan boy that carries a trusty revolver and totes the ability to cast illusory animals at his foes. Mav is tasked with slaying monsterified versions of classic gunslingers from across the ages. Wild Luminary was made as a midterm project where the goal was to come up with an original idea and analyze how well you could execute your ideas into something playable. I wanted to create something that blended my ability to create wild and imaginative stories with grounded mechanics and flowing level design. Could I design serviceable gunplay and enemy AI within an aesthetically pleasing world? Utilizing my passion for wild west settings and historical fiction I knew I had to capitalize on the mashup of the two when I realized I wanted to make an aesthetically pleasing setting seen infrequently in video games.
I began my ideation with some basic design documentation using the SSM framework, sketching more detail into the areas that spoke to me (the world/level and narrative design). Once I felt I had solid ideas of mechanics I wanted to create I jumped into Unreal Engine, first designing the shooting, enemy and health mechanics before focusing on the level design I had pictured in my head. After some peer playtesting and bug fixing I created a final packaged build and received some last bits of feedback on Wild Luminary. Most of which was positive, though my enemy AI did stick out as a sore point among players. It was quite unresponsive and weak in terms of health and damage output as compared to the player character. Creating serviceable AI from scratch is certainly very difficult!
The controls and shooting were also seen as an improvement from the initial playtesting phase. The areas that stood out most within the player's minds were the level design and aesthetics of the level I crafted. I received praise from both peers and my instructor in this regard. In the end, I was able to earn a ninety-five on the project.
Wild Luminary is a linear first-person-shooter set in the wild west during the 1800’s. You play as Mav, an orphan boy that carries a trusty revolver and totes the ability to cast illusory animals at his foes. Mav is tasked with slaying monsterified versions of classic gunslingers from across the ages. Wild Luminary was made as a midterm project where the goal was to come up with an original idea and analyze how well you could execute your ideas into something playable. I wanted to create something that blended my ability to create wild and imaginative stories with grounded mechanics and flowing level design. Could I design serviceable gunplay and enemy AI within an aesthetically pleasing world? Utilizing my passion for wild west settings and historical fiction I knew I had to capitalize on the mashup of the two when I realized I wanted to make an aesthetically pleasing setting seen infrequently in video games.
I began my ideation with some basic design documentation using the SSM framework, sketching more detail into the areas that spoke to me (the world/level and narrative design). Once I felt I had solid ideas of mechanics I wanted to create I jumped into Unreal Engine, first designing the shooting, enemy and health mechanics before focusing on the level design I had pictured in my head. After some peer playtesting and bug fixing I created a final packaged build and received some last bits of feedback on Wild Luminary. Most of which was positive, though my enemy AI did stick out as a sore point among players. It was quite unresponsive and weak in terms of health and damage output as compared to the player character. Creating serviceable AI from scratch is certainly very difficult!
The controls and shooting were also seen as an improvement from the initial playtesting phase. The areas that stood out most within the player's minds were the level design and aesthetics of the level I crafted. I received praise from both peers and my instructor in this regard. In the end, I was able to earn a ninety-five on the project.
Design Documentation available to download here.
