Fledge
Role
Level Designer
Genre
Platformer
"Fledge" is a 2.5D platformer that follows the journey of nurturing a young rocket until it’s ready to take flight. Players navigate four tricky levels, using a unique charge mechanic to blast past obstacles and master the art of flying.
Made with
Unreal Engine 5
Creating a One Pager
To communicate our design idea to the stakeholders, the team created a One Pager, outlining the game´s summary and USPs, our central player mechanic and four different level mechanics.
Creating 3Cs and a Gym Level
To design a responsive and enjoyable character experience, I used Unreal Engine’s Blueprint system to develop 3Cs that feel quick and snappy, giving the player a high level of control. I also created a gym level to test the character within a context resembling a potential game environment.
Above, you can see some of the variables tested in the gym level. I gathered playtest data on people´s perception of the character and whether these metrics felt right.
Using the playtest data, I iterated the character to feel quicker and more in control for the player.
First version of player character
Iterative version with higher ground speed and less slide
Sketching and building level challenges
To ensure that the level would be interesting and fun to play, I spent a lot of time exploring challenges through sketching. I implemented these challenges into my gym level and tested them with players to ensure that their difficulty was just right.
Above you can see some sketches blocked out in the gym level
Level Design Documentation
Together as a team, we derived our Level Design Documentation and Guidelines from our playtest results and sketches. This served as a great reference during the building process of our level.
Sketching the Level
Using the Level Design Guide, I was able to combine the best activities into a full level experience. I sketched out an initial plan of what I imagined the level to look like and created a One Pager before blocking it out in engine.
My level had destructible walls as its main mechanic, which saw me combine them with a lot of other level mechanics.
Level One Pager, depicting its intent and showing sketches
Whiteboxing and Testing
Using the sketches as guidance, I was able to whitebox the level in engine. The level is divided into four main sections, each providing challenges mainly related to destructible walls.
Section 1: This section is designed to introduce the player to destructible and respawnable walls with some simple challenges. The player is in a safe environment at first, before spikes are added.
Section 2: This section combines destructible walls with moving platforms; The player must use their blast to avoid falling off the platform, whilst still making sure not to overshoot.
Section 3: This section ties into the warehouse theming and serves as a playground for exploring a new twist on destructible walls, namely not to blast through them to have more safe ground to move on.
Section 4: The blast refresh is introduced in combination with destructible platforms. I recieved feedback that blasting downwards does not feel intuitive, which is why I will align the refreshes to be on the same height as the player or higher.
I tested the level with multiple players and iterated accordingly.
Project Postpartum
To reflect on our processes, the team held a postpartum at the end of development. Below, you can find our notes.