Esther FAYNOT - Portfolio
Level Design - Student
Level / Narrative / Game Designer
BLood Renegade
- Graduate Project -
Working on this project primarily as a Level Designer and Narrative Designer; creating and testing our game world in UE5 using BSP/BP and making sure they fit the story and pacing I set up. I also support the Game Design team and as Creative Director I make sure our team of 10 developers stay on track with the vision of the game.
A third person stealth based action-adventure game where you play as Isera, a recently turned vampire in a totalitarian run city filled with futuristic soldiers seeking to hunt you down. Use your vampiric powers, move in the shadows and terrify your prey in an effort to escape with your young daughter.
My graduate project - Under Development.
Team of 10 developers.
Working on it as a Level Designer, Narrative Design, Game Designer and Creative Director.
Platform: PC
Controls: Gamepad / Keyboard
Players: 1 (Solo)
Engine: Unreal Engine 5.2
Dev Start: April 2023
Dev End: June 2024
Action-Adventure
Level Design
- Pre/Mid Prod
As the team's sole Level Designer, my work consists in imagining the areas of the city the game takes place in, prototyping the levels in the engine using BSP and Blueprint by making greybox levels and then testing and polishing these levels in tandem with our level artist and game designers.
Feb 2024
Creating the structure
Jan
2024
To prepare the greybox phase and help with coherence as I create levels based on a historic european city, I do research on how these cities, streets and plazas are built. I then compile my research and figure out how navigation would work and how each part would fit together.
Starting Production Phase
As of January 2024, we have finished pre-production. As we have chosen which direction the game is going, I am currently re-creating our level from ground up with all I have learned and experimented with.
This level will reflect and better exploit the changes in game mechanics we chose to do. I am working closely with our level artist to bring this level to life.
Here is what the map of the game looks like from above in early greybox stage.
Some old greybox levels (Pre-prod) :
Oct-Dec
2023
The greybox levels were created to test our game mechanics during pre-production and figure out how to make a stealth game in a old European city. As the mechanics and the story of the game have changed, we won't be using these levels in the final version of the game. I however have learned much from making them.
Jan 2024
New greybox levels (Phase 1) :
Here are some images of our new levels in greybox phase. These are made using BSP by me. You will find images of 2 areas, an indoor unground nightclub and an outside area at a road crossing.
Greybox Alpha stages
March 2024
During the whole of march, I continued developing the different levels going through several phases of tests and modifications. Some elements of game art was also added in parallel bringing some life to the city.
Here is a small trailer done during production to showcase our game mechanics and tease the universe and story. As the game continues developement.
Level Design
- Mid/Post Prod
Midprod Overhaul
March 2024
As we passed the mid-production milestone, we came to the conclusion that the game needed an overhaul in order to deliver the experience we wanted to deliver. As such many aspects of the game were reworked including the game map and levels.
New Workshops & Structure
April 2024
As we proceeded to build our revised game, we needed to rework our metrics and create game workshops / situations where we experiment with our new controller. As such, I produced a total of 20 different workshops.
In the end, after a phase of testing and iterating 6 were chosen to be implented in the new map.
In parallel, the new game map was being assembled with the chosen workshops in order to build a game experience.
They were sequenced into multiple zones representing different parts of this district and arranged to form roads, alleyways and courtyards inspired by European cities.
Iteration & Playtesting
May 2024
As the new game map was established, it was time to start testing/iterating and balancing the whole level. The different zones went through mutliple different versions, each slowly building closer and closer to their final forms.
A tutorial was also being made in parallel by another member of the team in order to ensure player understanding while I focused on the main game zones.
Playtests and QA were set up to maximize feedback gathering and bug spotting.
Finalisation & Level Art / Environmental Storytelling
June 2024
During our last month of development, I continued iterating and polishing the different zones in the level. I also integrated some narrative sequences and triggers (for voicelines/interactive elements etc...).
Another priority of mine was to help with level art and integrating/placing props in the level in order to really immerse the player in our world along with environmental narration.
All of this was done while we finalized and polished everything for the end of production set at the end of the month.
More to come...
Narrative
I also work as the Narrative Designer of the team. My role consists of imagining the story, building the world and transforming it into gameplay sequences. I set the pacing of the game and play with narrative tempo and changes in level / environment to enrich the story. As Blood Renegade is a game that wishes to tell a story, my work is a back and forth with all the other domains (art, design etc..)
Narrative document - January 2024
My work document
Above is my work document where I write and explain everything that has to do with the game's story. From background information to events in the game, dialogue lines and level construction. I try to detail as much as possible and keep the document up to date so that everyone knows where we are headed.
The story of the game may change a bit now and then because of production constraints but I make sure my work is modular as to allow these changes to occur while affecting the rest as least as possible.
Example of a document for external help - February 2024
Narrative document - December 2023
Game Design
Even though Game Designer is not my primary role, I remain in the Game Design team alongside two of my colleagues.
A lot of my work here consists of helping our game designers by pitching, conceptualizing, building and reworking ideas for systems and mechanics. I also offer a lot of feedback and test elements developed in the levels I create.
In the Game Design team, we all have our specialties making it so that we work hand in hand on our different domains.
Controller - January 2024
Level Greybox- January 2024
