SPELLCASTERS CHRONICLES
GAME OVERVIEW
In Spellcasters Chronicles, you play as a powerful mage who fights with his allies to control the Source by destroying enemies'
Lifestones. You will build a deck made up of different spells. Control the battlefield from the sky, summon powerful creatures and use devastating spells to destroy your enemies. Each fight takes place inside crucibles of power that take the form of arenas.
DEVELOPMENT INFOS
Role - Level Designer
Time - 3 years (2023 - 2026)
Genre - 3rd-person action-strategy
Type of project - Professional
Studio - Quantic Dream
Tech - Proprietary engine
Platform - PC (multiplayer 3vs3)
MY RESPONSIBILITIES
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Level design on every arenas and their variants from pre-production to shipping of Spellcasters Chronicles.
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Prototyping multiple game modes with their respective levels and features.
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Designing and implementing various gameplay objects.
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As an owner, designing and integrating NPC behavior inside all arenas.
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Working on several iterations of the FTUE with scripted events.
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Maintaining level design documentation (guideline, design document, balancing, arena tracking).
OVERVIEW OF MY WORK
Introduction
Before anything, I would like to show a part of the work I did during my time on this project. I worked on 3 published map, Mausoleum, Nordic Shore and Kamazad. I also worked on arena variants like Mausoleum by Night and Nordic Sunny.
Futhermore, I worked on several unpublished arenas.
I joined the project near the end of pre-production and I worked on a lot of arenas at different stages of their production. For example, one of the first map I worked on needed a complete redoing but another one only needed a partial rework of one of its gameplay space.
I also worked on a lot of other subjects like the neutral creatures and bosses, the altar system, the spells in bottle, the game pacing, the unique game modes, the first time user experience, the tutorial, the creation of the metrics, thearena checking and other things.
To showcase my work, I will take 4 subjects and talk about what I did on it in a comprehensive manner.
Designing an arena
I will update this part with a deep dive on the last arena I worked on.
Creating the neutral creatures
I will update this part with an explanation of the design and integration of the NPC inside all the arenas.
Defining the global pacing
I will update this part with a look at the global pacing design of a match and the reasoning behind it.
Documenting the project
I will update this part with an example of the level design documentation we used during the project and how I maintained it.
POST MORTEM
WHAT WENT WELL :
That was my first AAA project where I could work with larger teams to help me create great and distinctive levels.
It was also my first live-service project where I could see the players feedback in real time and find solutions regarding the issues they encountered.
WHAT DIDN'T GO WELL :
During the production, the project went through a lot of changes that largely impacted the level design. Sometime it could mean a big rollback on an already well advanced arena.
We had to wait until the end of the project to obtain some numerical level design data. That means, for a large part of the production, we needed to be extra careful when creating arenas regarding their balance and gameplay opportunities.
FINAL THOUGHTS :
I am proud of our level design work on the arenas. We successfully created unique playgrounds for players during their time in the game. Each arena felt unique and proposed a different design approach. I am also glad that, after 3 years of work on this project, it feels like I developed the right vision during my design work and I could clearly see what were the next steps.
It was a pleasure to work with so much talented people that help me grow as a Level Designer on a clearly unique game.
Even if I was a brand new Level Designer, on a new type of project that Quantic Dream never attempted before, I successfully, sometimes on my own, found solutions to design problems I never imagined before and I am proud of this.