REFORM
DESCRIPTION
ROLE :
LEVEL DESIGNER,
LEVEL ARTIST
ENGINE :
UNREAL ENGINE 5
GENRE :
PARKOUR RHYTHM
PLATFORMER
Reform is a parkour rhythm platformer heavily inspired by works like Jet Set Radio, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, and Hi-Fi Rush.
You play as Reform, a young music-addicted creative who wishes to change his city for the better, and break their enthralment with cellphones by connecting his boombox to the city's radio tower, all while racking up style and sick moves to avoid the call to glare at his own screen.
My contributions to the game are as follows :
• Help conceive the first prototype, discovering what would be the mechanics, and how they would interact with the world.
• Conceive the second half of the game's level.
• Greyboxing the section, whilst modifying it with playtests and feedback, and helping to replace it with finalized meshes and blueprints.
• Other tasks to help production : leading QA tests, handling project budget, communications, etc.
Playthrough
Level Flow
Pre-Production :
Humble Beginnings
I was initially brought on board to help with pre-production. This first phase involved exploring the mechanics, metrics, and overall flow we wanted for the game, as well as designing the level. My contributions included:
-
Helping to create a basic test environment to test the core mechanics, before being passed off to be refined by our lead LD.
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Designing a section of the level that would be included in the final game.
Production
Proposition : City Skyline
The goal of this section was to be a direct followup of the previous one, as well as to give a sentiment of ascension, reaching higher and higher heights until the player reaches the Radio Tower.
I thus wanted to ascend from the bustling streets and alleys of the first section, and go straight for the rooftops. Initially, the player could choose two routes : the freeway and subway, for a harder route of platforming, or the rooftops themselves, which would be a simpler bout of jumping in and on top of buildings.
Initial paper design for the level.
Greyboxing & Iterating : Funky Changes.
The design was approved by the team, and the next step was greyboxing. The first attempt was okay, but a lot of what was planned originally for this section had to be cut and changed. Tests showed some ideas were either to risky on our time and resources, or were dull.
I spent the next two months polishing and recreating the greyboxing. The final result I came up with was a much more compact, tight experience, focusing on having layered paths focused on risk and reward.
Dressing & Polishing : Grooovy!
As more playtests came and went, the main goal now was to take what was already here, and crank it all to 11.
This period of time during development was particularly fun. On top of helping our level artist to fill the scene, I passed through the whole level, tearing down gameplay segments that felt linear to replace them with a buffet of options for the player.
It helped to further emphazise the goal of this section : not only to test the player's skills, but to give them the chance to be creative, and flow from one path to another.
Beginning of level, clear way between cars, as well as using the Tower and it's yellow hues to indicate to the player where he has to go.
Optimizing & Misc : End of the Track
When I wasn't making huge changes to the level, I was mostly helping with other tasks to make the level smoother, such as optimizing the buildings in the environment, making sure the trains worked, and much more.
My goal here was to assist other departments in making sure the level ran smoothly and had its final touches.
