Gameplay overview trailer

Project Overview:

Mermaid Strata

Duration: Jan 2025 - April 2025

Team Size: 1

Engine: Unreal Engine 5

Tools: Blueprints, Game Animation Sample

Role: Level designer (research, concept, blockout, scripting, encounter design)

Playtesting Sessions: 6

Iterations: 7

Design Goals

Set out to create an introductory encounter for players to learn mechanics.
Wanted to improve at creating levels that teach/are good at communicating information to players (i.e. tutorial)
Plan and construct a helix shaped map with multiple floors that intertwine and overlap (hence the name "strata")

This is a small-medium 3D level blockout with traversal and environmental puzzle challenges. This is an introductory level with simple mechanics such as jumping and collecting. The creation of this blockout was inspired by the rewarding progression of Dark Souls 1, the simplicity of Infinity Nikki, and how Uncharted reinvents its encounters.

Video overview of player's objective

Level Overview

Story: A flooded beachside cavern, seemingly maintained by an elusive dungeon keeper, holds artistic artifacts at various depths. As you reach the deepest point, you discover the keeper is actually a prisoner, longing for her freedom to return to the sea.

Tone: The mysticism of the cave creates an ebb and flow of serenity and mystery. The only path is forward, but feelings of sorrow linger at each discovery.

High Concept: Jump and plunge through intertwining passages in a flooded cavern, discovering enchanting artifacts left behind.

Player Objective: Find 3 pearls to open the locked Ornate Door

Top-down Map

The elevation differences end up quite flattened in the top-down screenshot, but this is a good way to show the looping nature of the level and how tight the map actually is.

This specific area gets its own top-down screenshot since it is covered by the floors of other areas above it.

Level Map Ideation

Due to the nature of the level of it being a multi-layered cave, each tier is separated into its own map to better represent the flow and navigation of it.

Tier 1

Basic shapes make basic rooms

Carving boundaries create level flow

Flow creates intuitive player decisions

The space teaches, the player learns

Tier 2

Using symbols to depict points of interest

Shape language creates area identity

New encounters shift player perspective

Pacing space prevents visual fatigue

Tier 3

Some ideas start out too messy

But do-overs do wonders

To address feedback and refine the map

Polish aligns vision with player experience

Level Flow & Blockout Passes

Cave Entrance

The cave entrance leads to the locked Ornate Door and a forking path: an alternative water passage and an alcove.

Introduces key objective: There are more pearls to find that complete the slots on the ornate door
Introduces key obstacle: Water is hazardous

Alcove Pitfall

The alcove has varying elevated surfaces the player can jump on until they reach the top. A pitfall is hidden under a shell.

Introduces key mechanics: Jump, mantle, and plunge, which are all used to traverse elevated and uneven surfaces.
Introduces dynamics: Objects (like shells) can be destroyed with plunge

Isopod Playground

Falling through the pitfall, there will be isopods scuttling around stone pillars.

Introduces enemies: Isopods that can be plunged on
Practicing mechanics: Introducing new platforms the player can jump to

Mural Pillars

The player will reach a safe zone: the Mural Pillars. The murals depict abstract scenes and self-portraits of a mermaid.

Introduces side objective: Scales are hidden but collectable
Narrative build-up with murals

Water Passage

Nearby, there will also be a water passage leading to the Shell Grotto. Leeches will wait for prey to fall inside the glittering water.

Recontextualizes obstacles: Shells can float on water and can be surfed on
Scaling hazards: More water means more flexibility in traversal options between surfing or parkour

Shell Grotto - Court

The entrance to the Shell Grotto consists of an outer court surrounded by murals. The structure seems to be supported by large pillars.

Narrative build-up with remains of a structure deep in the cave. Isopods will emerge when the door is unlocked.
Introduces puzzle elements: Movable boulders are blocked by crumbling corals and can go inside octagonal pits

Shell Grotto - Gallery

The inside the Shell Grotto, there is an art gallery, with a variety of artifacts. One of these structures is blocking an upper shelf but can be manipulated.

Introduces puzzle element: Pulleys are affected by plunge
Information recall: A window shows the alternative water passage from a different angle

Shell Grotto - Cell

Beneath the Shell Grotto, there will be a strange room with a conch shell anchored and chained down.

Narrative build-up with belongings inside prison and abandoned shed skin
Interactive storytelling: Player can complete a mural using found scales

Wishing Well

The furthest point in the cave has a hollow Wishing Well and a shimmering pit of water.

Combining puzzle elements: Moving a boulder unblocks a water passage to surf on and later, using a pulley to catapult a boulder.
Challenging the player: An isopod surfs inside the well, encouraging the player to take a leap of faith into the well.
Narrative build-up with wishes not working inside Wishing Well

Alternative Passage

There's a large waterfall connecting to the alternative water passage from the cave entrance.

Dramatic surprise: The entire pit ends up flooding but the player can reach safety with floating shells
Information recall: Climbing up the waterfall, the player will return to the alternative water passage
Interactive storytelling: Player can complete the pattern on the ornate door using found pearls

Level Highlights

Enemy Placement

Composition

Using isopod enemies as player feedback - Isopods will appear right after the player learns how to plunge, granting another opportunity to test out their new ability. In scripted encounters, isopod enemies use motion to direct the player's attention

Laying out all the clues - The composition of puzzle events is specially made to allow the player to identify the problem through intentional sightlines. Obstacles have similar solutions (plunge on objects, fill in empty slots) presented in unique ways.

Traversal Challenges

Introducing concepts and scaling - There are instances where the player must figure out where to jump in order to proceed or complete a puzzle. Jump height was used as both a mechanic and a constraint to emphasize this.

A way around - Water serves as the ultimate traversal obstacle. Shells are versatile objects that can be used as a way to surf over extended water obstacles as they are the only objects that can float. Shells relieve environmental tension for players.

Combing puzzle elements - The player has the chance to learn the vocabulary of the level as they progress through different puzzles in isolation. In later sections, these elements are combined to challenge the player!

Progression

Mystery through pitfalls - There's a clear distinction where each tier ends and a new one is introduced. Through one-way valves, the player is able to transition to new, unexplored areas. These pitfalls are covered by breakable objects, gently nudging the player to trust their decision to fall through.

Contrast and connections - Each space is specially designed to be unique in color palette, shape language, and room size. However, some details are meant to be reoccurring such as a blocked off path. As the player progresses, they will see this same path through different perspectives and eventually loop back to it.

Collectables

Interactive Elements

Pearls - The primary objective of the player in order to open a locked door. They are extracted from clamshells by plunging on them.

Iridescent Scales - There is a secret completable quest involving these scales. They are found near murals and can be used to complete an unfinished mural.

Crystal Tears - These are found all throughout the cave as both an implicit form of storytelling and as a traversal affordance tool, helping player's find their way.

Crumbling corals - There are a variety of destroyable objects by plunge, but the crumbling corals are unique because they regrow after a few seconds and have a randomized shape and color. In every playthrough, the corals will appear different.

Shells - They are found both on ground, floating in water, and are destroyable. The shells are used as progression tools and additionally used as "loot chests" the player can crack open by plunge.

Narrative Moments

Mermaid's artifacts - There are various points of interest depicting the elusive Mermaid's life such as art murals made from her scales, a conch shell bed anchored down, and her shed skin.

Unfinished mural - If the player finds all of the iridescent scales, they will be able to finish an abandoned mural since the scale color matches the scales on the mural. Upon interacting, it will reveal the fate of the Mermaid.

Scripting

Plunge Ability

My first gameplay idea for this project was actually this ability. I initially had concepted it for completing objectives, specifically for cracking open the clamshells, and defeating enemies but ended up using it mostly for puzzle interactions. Additionally, I used the word "plunge" to name it since it is descriptive, short, and a water pun.

In this simple prototype, the ability checks if the player is in a falling state and the action input, then launches the player downward.

Destroyable Objects

This is an example of how the destroyable logic works with the shell objects but enemies use the same logic. It basically checks if the player is plunging upon contact and destroys them.

Gif of player using their "plunge" ability to crush various types of objects.

Crumbling Corals

The inclusion of crumbling corals was to have them as a way to raise the intensity of some platforming sections. It ended up not being practical because of how the player leaps, rather than jumps, so landing on relatively small colliders was tedious.

They ended up becoming an interactive environmental asset instead, so I leaned into their respawning behavior to randomize their appearance. They come in three different shapes and two different colors!

Puzzle Events

This is the puzzle event at the Shell Grotto Court, but all other puzzles follow the same logic. Once the player climbs up to the upper shelf and destroys the coral, an event will begin:

the boulder will teleport into the hole to represent that it has moved to the correct location,
the door will unlock and slide open
isopod enemies will jump out from the door as it is opening.

Playtesting Feedback

Although my level was easy to complete and players had no issue finding the way forward from start to finish, there were two main issues:

Playtesters would find an unintended solution to a puzzle
There were reoccurring affordance issues with traversal elements.

Some specific case studies I conducted in my level were

Figuring out how to communicate the main objective with the ornate door and missing pearls
Introducing additional affordances to guide the player in more complex puzzles in phases
Adapting an encounter based on what was on paper verses what felt good to play

This is a gif example of how visual communication elements adapted over time in the level based on multiple rounds of playtesting.

The door and pearls are meant to communicate the main goal but it took a few steps to get there. Throughout every playtest, the changes from feedback didn't seem to influence player on how they interacted or perceived the door... except the simplest change: #5

Giving the door a unique design with a pearl on it to help it stand out
Suggestion to move the first pearl on the floor to have player put it in the slot
Some playtesters didn't put the first pearl on the door because the door didn't seem relevant so more decorations were added
Some playtesters claimed pearls don't seem important, and the one should start on the door like before.
Suggestion that there should be 4 pearls instead of 3

Playtester's reactions to the first shell surfing segment

The shell surf challenge was concepted to be a high intensity encounter where leeches would try to climb onto your boat, and you were tasked to avoid having it break. However, due to the nature of prototyping, the "stress" aspect became secondary.

This ended up with playtesters, and even myself, preferring the relaxed version of a boat ride (some even requesting more time on the boat).

The changes went as followed:

Simple boat ride with one optional parkourable element towards the end
Forced parkourable section followed by a smooth boat ride
Smooth boat ride with the area completely parkourable and optional collectable

In retrospect, I never suggest to the player that they can parkour with the shell boat before this encounter which resulted in players finding a way around to the Wishing Well instead of trying to go in. This ended up with trying to gradually add details to draw the players to the "correct" path.

Adding a delay to when the canal gets filled with flowing water
Adding a breadcrumb path of shiny coins leading from the canal to the well
Adding moving shells starting from the canal and moving towards the wishing well with the current
Added a surfing isopod that jumps into the well if the player gets near them
Added a "jump trajectory" using the Crystal Tear collectables.

With these changes, although the goal became clear to players, one symptom did not change: they would try to rush through the area because they had enough information on what to do. This would interfere with delayed scripted events, like the cave flooding, which had player's jumping back into the water before they realized what was happening.

There were some changes that I added to subvert the player's expectations and to encourage them to explore. What ended up happening was that later puzzles needed to get minor alterations and quality of life changes since players began to interact and solve them in unexpected ways.

Video example

By introducing the option to run along a mural to find a secret, this lead to player's "cheesing" the pulley puzzle, never actually solving it to understand how it works for later.

Other examples (seen in Wishing Well video)

Although I wanted players to jump into the Wishing Well as an exciting moment, if they failed the jump, it became annoying to find a way back to the shell boat.
The delay of the flood had to be lowered because 5 seconds didn't make players associate it their last interaction and were confused when it occurred.

Level Walkthrough

This is a video playthrough covering the gameplay, main objective, side quest, and alternate passages that can be completed in Mermaid Strata

Workflow

Research and formatting (Pre-production)

Used Miro as a massive collage to store and organize references, screenshots, personal thoughts, and ideas
Analyzed game references on how to integrate or reinvent specific gameplay or design ideas
Outlined specific notes about chosen image references on how to integrate in level

Defining Inspirations

One of my primary motivations for this level was my fascination of dungeon or cave themed spaces. I often feel like they are hit or miss for me and when they do hit, I absolutely love them. So, I wanted to have my own stab at it!

Design-wise, my inspirations came from...

the rewarding progression of Dark Souls 1
the simplicity of Infinity Nikki
how Uncharted reinvents its encounters

Despite being starkly different tones, I found similarities with their level design's sense of interconnectivity. Making this Venn-diagram helped me visualize which aspects I wanted to pull from each inspiration.

Since I was making an introductory level, it felt right to analyze sections of each game that take place early on.

Above: Image collection of real-life locations to integrate as part of my dungeon's visual identityBelow: Image collection of miscellaneous media to explore different themes and visual elements.

Caves and dungeons are often tied to horror or medieval themes, but I wanted to explore a different direction. Though I made sure to keep that classic dungeon-style atmosphere with environmental tension through verticality and contrasted lighting, I ultimately went for a whimsical mermaid visual twist.

Beat variants

Map and Level Beat Variants (Pre-production)

Created variants of the top-down map sketches addressing different ideas or concerns I had with the current map.
When drafting puzzles, drew out sketches and variants to explore difficulty.

Puzzle variants

Final Beat Sheet version

Mouse over image and scroll to zoom in!

beatshet.jpg

Mouse over image and scroll to zoom in!

Simple Prototyping (Production)

After sketching my initial map, I imported each map and converted them to materials. I then build my initial blockout on top of a plane with the map materials.
When planning out gameplay features and mechanics, I wrote them in pseudo-code to best understand how to implement them.
Additionally, if I didn't know how to script something specific, I would research existing documentation or through Youtube videos, then adjust it for my own needs.

As the map got updated, so did the blockout

My playtesting notes consisted of quick observations made during live playtesting

Playtesting Assessment (Production)

Kept track of my own changes for each ideation in personal "patch notes"
Documented peer playtesting feedback to access and implement suggestions for next pass
Additionally, if I needed a larger sample size to make a decision about a change, I would reach out and ask peers or a mentor for feedback.

Each iteration version had its own patch notes!

Reflection

What I learned

Things don't need to be perfect the first time

Doing things in small steps gives you more room to figure out what works and why it works.

Maps and beatsheets work in unison

Before, I'd make a map with "ideas in my head", meaning I would have a vague outline of what I wanted where and why. This lead to having awkward gameplay or pacing. Doing a map and a beatsheet together allowed me to clearly measure how a player navigates through a level.

Simple prototyping is enough

I used to get caught up in feeling like I needed to have complex scripting to create gameplay and beautiful art, so my level feels like a real level. But ultimately, my job is to focus on the wireframe of the game and to make a good level and proof of concept.

Visual communication is different for everyone

Yellow paint doesn't always work on me, but it does for others. Composition and framing works on me, but it doesn't for everyone. What's important is to not use one element but multiple, such as using unique colors, spotlights, motion, etc. to properly inform the player.

What I'm proud of

I fulfilled all three of my design goals!
I overcame my aversion to Unreal Engine!
Players and playtesters found my level enjoyable!
Completed the challenge of making a cave level!
My documentation is detailed and easy to share!
I learned new ideas and techniques and even applied them to this level!

Consistent issues in the level and player habits

One of the reoccurring themes in my playtesting feedback was that even though the flow was my level was very good, and the player always knew where to go and what to do, there were some affordance issues for traversal elements. This was mainly caused by the fact that I used both the default mannequin jump and the Game Animation Sample's additional animations for different traversal areas. I thought of them as two variations of the same mechanic, but through players' perspective it felt inconsistent because they didn't know which traversal ability to expect when doing the traversal challenges. Creating visual distinctions between the traversal blocks did help players, but the only proper solution would have been to stick to either jumping or mantling in the level, not both.

One of the reoccurring themes in player behavior was players gaining "confidence" towards the end of the level. Naturally, players explore more carefully when they are initially learning the rules of the game world. Although Tier 1 and Tier 2 are linear, I specifically designed Tier 3 to be methodical so players would strategize how to complete its puzzles. What happened was, that most ended up rushing through the final part and would even skip interactions to complete the puzzles right away. Technically, this may have been a symptom of having clear logic for the puzzles and exploration. Even if players did end up completing the level, in their own way, I thought it was interesting how this disconnect came to be.

What I would change and why

Expand the Wishing Well

I wanted the area to be quite big, and I thought I did make it big, but I underestimated how much adding additional elements like walls and water passages would make it "shrink". Due to this oversight, the Wishing Well has too many beats that feel too back-to-back. Even though there are exploration breaks between combat and puzzles, they feel artificial to me because players ended up not spending any time utilizing it. I would alter the layout to allow extra room for each beat to have its own time to shine and also prevent players from running past everything.

The Mermaid is missing

In my original map, I wanted to have the mermaid in the cave's story appear before the player as a tragic mini boss. I had mechanics and interactions planned out for it that utilized the player's plunge ability, but I knew it was out of scope, so I cut it. If in some alternate world I did add the mermaid boss, it would have been the best and most dramatic conclusion to the story the environment was trying to tell (and also the story I wanted to tell from the start...) instead of leaving it open ended and mysterious like it is right now.

More jumping

If I had to go back and change how I would approach the main puzzles, I would try to lean even more into the high jumping ability and plunge. There are more opportunities to explore using such a high jump and the breakable mechanics for puzzle solving using vertical elements and parkour. I think this didn't happen mostly because of the intended nature of the level being simple and tutorial-like.

Overall experience

Doing this level was a wonderful experience and every part of the workflow was an incredibly fun experience that I can't wait to do again for the next project. Throughout this process I got to study and collaborate with other level designers as my peers who gave me valuable feedback on how to improve my level so I couldn't have done it without them. I also want to shoutout my mentor, Nathan Kellman, who shared his wisdom and encouragement which helped me bring out my best work.

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