Malus
Platform: Unreal Engine
Completed: December 2021
Team Size: 1
Malus is a surreal exploration level, where an unnamed space agent suddenly finds themselves in a surrealist land at the end time. Inspired by Surrealism from Salvador Dali and Giorgio de Chirico, this project is a 10-week development of level design and environmental work.
The overall inspiration took the open environments and contrasting objects from surrealist paintings such as the Son of Man. While the level design is mostly linear, the space is designed to feel open, unfamiliar, and ominously vast. This level was designed with the use of block meshing, landscape scan/inputting, and iterations using external Unreal assets.
Gameplay
Malus utilizes simple movement and jumping via WASD and Space. Players can walk to the pink information triangles, which show what lies ahead on the map. The platforms are designed to lead the players through the level toward the golden apple, held by the largest central statue.
Level Design
Players begin in a landing area, where they are shown a long looming tunnel and an information pointer.
As my first Unreal Engine project, multi-path level designs and camera pointers were some key mechanics I wanted to implement. The Pointer shows the level that is to come, and players are shown the entire breadth of the large fruit-headed statues as a surprise. I leaned into a linear design, utilizing camera reveals, walls, constrictive paths, and platforms to guide and lead players through the linear course. I also chose to use apples and fruits as a stark contrasting element to draw attention and add to the surrealist design.
Scale
In part with the level design, playing with the scale and size of objects was also very important for informing my environment design.
Inspired from stories like James and the Giant Peach, I wanted to make the player feel extremely small in the face of these unnaturally giant objects like fruits, using scale as a design tool to make players feel intimidated or surprised at the unnatural scale of the utilized assets.
Landscape
Using a scanned topographic map, I was able to create a dynamic desert landscape. Using sculpting and other landscaping tools, I shaped the sand into a dynamic desert environment. Additionally, I utilized skylights, ambient fog, and color correction to add a yellow, desert hue, helping set the desert scene.
Guidance
One of the biggest design challenges I dealt with in creating this level was how to properly guide players to remain on a path. In using some constrictive walls, the other way I was able to lead players was through the use of camera controllers as well as focal-point structures to draw players’ interest. As a result, most of the exploration was still confined within the bounds of the larger fruit surrealist structures.