SERPENT PALACE
ROLE | SOLO PROJECT DURATION | 2 WEEKS TOOLS USED | Unreal Engine 4, Jank Soul Kit
The player is a monarch from the kingdom of the sun god. But he is transported to a weird palace on the cliff cooped up by monsters. To return to his original world, the player needs to defeat monster and climb the palace to reach the closest location to the sun.
I was the sole developer on this project, and it was built in a 2-week period under the constraint that its gameplay loop be no longer than ten minutes.
THEMATIC AND VISUAL REFERENCE
I mainly use medieval castles and the remains of ancient civilization fortresses as references. Based on these references, I use a lot of medieval stone columns, brick fences, and broken walls and floors models when I built the level. Those elements are put together in high harmony, which can help me to build up the atmosphere of the level.
Architecture Mood Board
Block Out
level design
AREA ONE - Imperial Garden
There is an easy ambushe. When the players approach the garden, they will see an enemy standing in the distance with his back on the player. When the player goes to sneak up on that enemy, another enemy hiding behind the garden gate will appear and then sneak up on the player. This enemy is very weak so the player can easily kill it. Let the player have unexpected encounters, reminding them to stay focused while exploring, while not giving the player any frustration.
AREA two - Interlocking Walls
After the players defeat a few guards, the players will encounter a mini boss. After the players defeat the mini boss, they will meet two branches. One is to go up from the left to the statues and walls on the high side, and the other is to go down from the right to go directly to the real palace. If players go directly to the palace, they will find the door is locked, they need a key to open the door. At this point, they can find the ladder at the left of the palace entrance and climb to high wall from the opposite direction. After players reach the high wall and the statue, they can get a new weapon: a bow and arrows
AREA three- the last defance
Players need to equip the bow and arrow that they just find next to the statue in order to defeat the archer's enemy guarding area 3. When players successfully kill those archer enemy, they can finish all the foreshadowing from the previous area, such as players can get the loot that they see in area 1, as well as they can find the key to open the locked door in area 2. When the player opens the locked door, the player will be able to fight with the final boss.
When players defeat the enemies in the garden, they can get loot to recover the health, and they can also see that there is other loot in the higher palace that they can't get yet. I put this loot in because I want to let players have expectation about the later level.
There is hidden loot on the high tower next to the statue, which is a reward for those players who explore carefully. The fallen part of the tall tower forms a pipe that allows players to pass through, and players can pick up hidden loot through this pipe.