Mori Vivere

Role

Level designer, blocking, set dressing (dungeon) Texture artist and Modeler

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Date

December 2023

Tools used
Unreal engine 5
Maya
Substance painter

Synopsis

Title translates "to die to live", in a medieval fantasy setting follow the challenges faced by Nesciat; a holy paladin slayer of undead, who died and comes back to (un)life as a skeleton. now (un)living as the very thing he sworn to eradicate he sees life through the eyes (or lack there of) of an undead, will he change his stance on these undead or just reinforce his beliefs?

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​Development as a level designer

A short, third person, action game with a retro PS1 look to it and some philosophical aspects. it is my first complete game ever made, it was made during my second semester game jam at Lasalle college in winter of 2024, the jam's theme was "a matter of perspective", the jam was a month long. I was level designer, modeler and texture artist, all of the textures present were made by me, however this section will only be focused on level design. 

My level, the dungeon, is the most combat focus level in the entire game, excluding the boss fight. so, I wanted enough space for the player to roam around but linear enough to not get lost. the game was designed to be simple and short, that is why the dungeon is essentially a loop and why the key is immediately shown to the player, as they knew even before entering the dungeon they need to collect keys.

As I just mentioned the level is a loop, when the player enters the level they can go in 2 directions; left and right, also with a view from above where the key is located shown in the fifth image. going left, the player will find a door with the sign "EXIT ONLY" leaving only one other direction. I recommend watching my demo reel for this level as it is a full playthrough.
 

I think the most fun I've had is dressing this level, with all the broken table, chairs and weapons every where, placing lit/unlit torches and making almost every prison cell unique with their assortment of items. the entire time I was dressing the level, my goal was to really show that this dungeon was once used and functioned as it was intended, but something terrible happened and now only the remains of the fallen and objects around this dungeon can testify to what happened. 

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Considering this is my first complete game and now with a bit more experience, there is definitively a lot I would do to make this level better for a more pleasant experience. I would definitively make the corridors not as wide and shorter. doing so, I believe, would make it easier do digest, and make it more combat heavy, not as easy to avoid combat. I would also and pick notes, with shorts texts to give more context to the players about where they are and what happened.

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I am still proud of what I and the others have done with this game. this project is something I will always remember for all the things it taught me in such a brief time.​

get the game!:Mori Vivere by MasterAlecClone, Kebo, PaoViGo, angerey, JTcono

the people i worked with
Alec Sylvester - Game designer, level designer (graveyard), audio 
Layla Credali - 2D artist, Narrative designer 
Olivia Vitalei-D'Ermes - 3D modeler, Level designer (Chapel) 
Paola Villa Gonzalez - Programmer, UI/UX, Animations, cinematics