Project Info
Mantra, AKA “Project Rubyshark”, is a first person shooter being built in Unreal Engine 4 by a small, passionate team. The game is inspired by other titles such as Halo, Doom and Titanfall, which can all be reflected in our gameplay and design choices.
Our main design pillars were structured around fast, movement based combat, exploration and puzzle solving. These core design pillars helped our team ground ideas in reality in order to avoid scope creep.
We participated in Steam Next Fest, generating over 1,100 wishlists and 9,100+ downloads!
My main responsibilities include:
Prototying multiple puzzle and gameplay mechanics through the use of Unreal Engine's Blueprint Visual Scripting.
Blockout and interation through the use of level building tools to create an engaging singleplayer, narrative experience.
Collaborate with other designers through weekly scrum meetings.
Scripting impactful narrative moments through use of level sequences.
Guiding and mentoring other designers in the level designer process and advise on best practices.
Manage events to promote Mantra on various platforms such as LinkedIn, Steam and Twitter as well as several other game design spaces.
The Factory tower (Show in red)
From Concept
I wanted the main tower of the factory to stand out from the rest of the environments and able to be seen from practically anywhere. I used the Citadel from Half-Life 2 as inspiration to this foreboding structure.
The main portion of this level is to take place inside the robotics factory. In order to help our art team bring the vision of the level to life, I researched many examples of concept art and other sources of inspiration to provide a clear design. This also included a level design document to help keep things focused.
Half-Life 2 Citadel
Blood and Oil
Combat for “Rubyshark” revolves around one main core concept, Fast-Paced Combat.
From the start, we wanted to create combat spaces that were interesting but allowed the player to easily traverse these spaces as if its a place they’ve been a million times before. This includes allowing both horizontal and vertical traversal options, as well as special alternatives such as the grapple hook I designed.
Nuts and Bolts
While coming up with some interesting traversal mechanics for Rubyshark, I tinkered with the idea of a grapple hook because, who doesn’t like grapple hooks right? I created basic logic that would propel the player towards appropriate anchor points. The further away you were from an anchor point, the harder you would be pulled as long as you were within the grapple hook’s range.
Another main mechanic with the Factory level is a train that brings you to various sectors within the factory itself. This specific mechanic has gone through dozens of iterations, but it coming close to a finalized concept. The main goal I had in mind with this section is to provide a unique traversal puzzle the player has to solve on their way to the main factory. Along the way, the train will make several stops which require the player to complete a puzzle to activate again.