LITHIUS SKY

INTRODUCTION

Summary

In Lithius Sky, you play as a Time Ranger attempting to reach the mountain summit within 3 minutes to prevent a catastrophic meteor shower.

Features

  • 3 minute loop

  • Time slow ability 

  • Gain new abilities to open new traversal opportunities.

CONTRIBUTION

  • Design and build engaging levels keeping gameplay and narrative objectives. 

  • Collaborate with the art team to build as efficient as possible. 

  • Prototypes and scripted gameplay elements such as moving platforms, air geysers, and unused gameplay assets. 

  • Implemented environment assets to ensure that the level not only plays well but also looks good. 

  • Improving collisions.

LEVEL OVERVIEW

1.Tutorial

2.Village /movement introduction

3.Dash pick up tutorial.

4.Mountain skirts, Grappling tutorial.

5.Mountain summit.

PREPRODUCTION

After brainstorming ideas and the direction of the game was clearer for us, I created a GYM where we could test movement and basic mechanics to set metrics and understand how we would need to shape the environment.  

Keeping in mind the scope for the game, I worked closely with the environment artist and requested basic modular pieces which are eventually polished to the final version and that helped us to populate the level in a much manageable manner..

I used 2D maps to communicate my vision to the artist and the team more effectively.

BLOCKOUT

From the beginning I was presented with some interesting challenges.

  • Repetition.

    The player is going to repeat the same area a couple of times because of the time loop, and this area must be as engaging for the first run and for the tenth.

  •  Time Constraints

    The game was supposed to be played between one and three runs. I had to make the level work within these parameter to broaden the appeal of the game to a casual and a speed run audience.

THE SOLUTIONS I FOUND

REPETITION

 Shortcuts, hidden in plain sight.

  • This approach means that I wanted to have shortcuts, not particularly hidden but that once you understood a mechanic the player could realize that there was a similar dash/ jump or time stop opportunity somewhere else in the level.

  • The way I wanted to communicating shortcuts is by maintaining consistent metrics and utilizing familiar patterns. By doing so, players can revisit areas and gain a new perspective on previously visited locations.

TIME CONSTRAINTS

 8, 6, or less than 2 minutes.

  • Rewarding alternate routes by saving significant time in each area motivates the player to actively look for short cuts. Saving time from the usual 10 minutes of gameplay and moving faster and faster to eventually finish the run in 3 minutes or even less.

  • While the game will never challenge the player to finish the game in under 3 minutes, it was surprising that some players took this challenge once they finished their first playthrough.

Dash tutorial pick up without any skips or jumps.

Dash tutorial pick up with shortcut.

 The way to the village (Tutorial)

  • The tutorial was one of the last parts I blocked out, since during the first iterations there were changes to the progression and decisions on what was the first item the player should get.

AREAS

 The Village (Introduction)

  • The village is an introduction to the core of the game, after restarting every loop the player will spawn here skipping the tutorial.

Elder Temple (Dash pick-up)

  • A tutorial for the dash and the systems that go with it, also layering what the player learned in previous areas.

    A new narrative beat and goal are presented here.

 Mountain Skirts (Grappling pick-up)

  • The mountain skirts helps the player familiarize themselves with the grappling mechanic and transmit the opportunities to look for during the run. Its easily skippable to if the proper shortcut is known.

 The summit (Last challenge)

  • The last challenge, it doesn’t contain any skip relaying on precision and skill.

    If the player has less experience they can count with check points that aid on the path forward.

 My attempting to do a 2 min full run

  • It is possible to do a run from tutorial to finish in one single run but its complicates and demands a lot of precision, and gaming abilities I do not possess. It is doable and I’ve seen it happen. Maybe you can try!

Communication

Communication was key in a fast paced and constantly changing project. The gameplay designer always kept me updated on changes, or we made decisions together. Programmers provided the basic mechanics, which were then refined and polished.

As far as art was concerned, we agreed on modular pieces, and I wrote a document outlining the level design, including the areas where unique or specific assets were needed.

Of course, there were compromises and times when I had to let go of certain ideas and make changes to the blockout so that it made more sense with the art department.

I’m quite happy with what we achieved in the time we got and with our expertise with the tools, The team and the collaboration were great, and we always keep it professional and civil.

My biggest teaching from this is that there are a lot of ways a player will behave at a level and might be complicated to anticipate all of them, so waiting for them to surprise you during playtest is quite important, and even after those playtest someone else will find a new way of breaking the game or find a missing collision that was crucial for a predetermined path.

Thank you so much for making it this far!

POST MORTEM