The images below represent some of the
World Design, Level Design, and World Building work that I did on Richard Garriot's Tabula Rasa.
Even though this game came out a long time ago, I remain proud of my contributions to it. I learned a lot about level design from the experience of working outside my comfort zone at the time... dreaming up worlds and creatures, crafting stories, inventing puzzle interactions, and thinking big. I created 5 of the
15 shared "overland" maps in the game, plus 6 instance maps, from initial paper design to finished product. More specifically, my work involved:
- Writing world design documents and developing the initial fictional bases/frameworks
- Planning map layouts for game-play, flow, and pacing
- Acting as a consultant for the art team during concept phases, and producing my own concepts when needed
- Sculpting heightmaps for landmasses using a proprietary terrain edtor and hand-painting terrain materials for a hand-crafted result
- Placing all props, flora, structures, and lighting
- Creating models for features, props, and structures, when necessary
- Setting up map soundscapes by placing 3d sound effect emittors and designating music and ambient sound changes for different locales
- Setting up gameplay components such as map teleporters, hospitals, waypoints, and other various mechanical features
- Collaborating on mission ideas and setting up supplementary spawners, patrols, encounters, and interactions
- Optimizing maps for performance
- Working with Technical Artists to set up and export user outputs for in-game maps and UI elements
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