SURREALISBON
2023 | tsb Game maker | the sandbox
Surrealisbon is a Metaverse experience made for The Sandbox platform by our team at Hermit Crab Studio. It's a 3D Platformer based on Lisbon's architecture and surrealistic art movement for the NFC Conference 2023 and used as one of the quests for The Lost Wallet, a crypto treasure hunt event.
Surrealisbon was nominated for "Best Experience of 2023" at The Sandbox Awards.
My Role
in this project, I was given a lot of freedom and responsibility.
I was the main Level Designer of the project reporting to a Lead. I worked on this project from the briefing, pitching ideas for the level, to the final product.
The Polished bubble diagram of the level, We use a 3x3 Grid becuase we have a limited dimmension for the level inside the Sandbox.
A "Side View" of the experience Bubble Diagram, to maximize Vertical Space, since The Sandbox has Dimension Limitations.
An Early Sketch i did for the Pitch
My Responsibilities on the Project:
- Documentation on the level and progression;
- From Level Maping to Level Decoration in engine;
- Requisition of Assets, prots and NPCs to the Art Team;
- Reserch and brainstorm themes, ideas and mechanics;
- Develop puzzles to the mechanics developed by the Game Designer;
MY GOALS:
- Create a Fun and beautiful experience for The Sandbo, very different from anything that they currently had;
- A very Fun and Intuitive Level with a lot of Fundamentals;
- To Polish my process of Pre-production, including using "Bubble Diagrams" (more like Square imo);
- Simple Puzzle, with a lot of A-HA! moments;
Concept and Planning
We pitched something different and visually striking to The Sandbox, normally metaverse experiences go as a trip around a pocket version of a place, so, instead, we pitched the idea for a level to be more like a 3D Platform that happens on a surreal version of Lisbon's focusing more with the theme of connecting of the city to it's art history, a Linear point A to point B level but with a striking visual and simple but fun mechanics.
Since it was approved, Our goal was to make it simple but very fun. The Sandbox users are not hardcore gamers, so I took inspiration from N64-era 3D Platformers with intuitive jump puzzles with a huge visual impact, so the world would keep twisting and being unpredictable as the player progresses.
Since it was approved, Our goal was to make it simple but very fun. The Sandbox users are not hardcore gamers, so I took inspiration from N64-era 3D Platformers with intuitive jump puzzles with a huge visual impact, so the world would keep twisting and being unpredictable as the player progresses.
We started we Bubble Diagrams to plan around our space usage, the mechanics progression and pacing, and how would our landmarks guide the player (The Sandbox Levels have limitations on the number of meters we can use). With these diagrams we developed each zone map, and some initial sketches to then Blockout and do some playtests.
Level Design
For the Blockout, we did indeed use Grey checker boxes as the base geometry and some colored ones to mark future, NPCS, assets, buttons, etc. So very early we were already playtesting and improving zones.
The core mechanic of the level is these button puzzles, instead of making hard puzzles we've developed simple puzzles with a lot of juicy visual feedback. In the beginning, the player presses buttons to turn platforms On/Off to eventually resolve puzzles around buttons and doors.
To help the player flow as the Level Designer my main goal was to approach heavily on the fundamentals,
Since the Surreal concept was already heavy on information, I made the level layout very linear, always gating the player to take away the possibility of backtracking, showing Doors before Keys, and letting pretty clearly where to go. This approach was a way to ensure that any players would not get lost or confused, minimizing frustration.
This Puzzle in the video is an example of the approach I took with the level, from the very early stages of production we wanted fun but very intuitive puzzles with a lot of visual feedback.
Garden Labyrinth Puzzle Breakdown:
The First Puzzle, the green square is the moving platform that goes under the black building, it is the "Reflex Climax"
The Second Puzzle, for ease the visibility on the mapping, its supose to be the "Action Climax"
The Third Puzzle, is the hardest puzzle in the level, it is the "Thinking Climax"
Gauntlet Breakdown
the finale of the experience is a Gauntlet of 3 puzzles, each one of them with a button and a portal. As the player reaches his view is guided to the last portal inside a waterfall with 3 platforms "turned off" so naturally he knows that he must push the 3 buttons to pass.
In the First Puzzle, the player must jump on a moving platform, then he needs to jump through three unstable platforms then in the end jump back on the moving platform.
In the Second Puzzle, the player must go up a stairway of paintings with unstable platforms.
In the Third Platform, the player has to press buttons to enable/disable platforms, by pressing them in the right order the player can progress.
After beating every puzzle, and pressing its button on the end, the player can go through the big waterfall portal, rise to the highest point of the level, deliver the final quest then get a little cinematic.
This Gauntlet Goals:
The first was to make a Climax that felt like a Challenge, it between a calm section of dialogue and serene visuals and the Narrative Finale so it works as the Gamey Finale.
The Second is that it goes just under the Highest and Biggest Landmark of the Level, the place that the player has seen clearly since the beginning, so the idea was to make a center Room with a Big Door and challenges that go from this hub back to it again, so all this part can be spatially located internally bellow this huge landmark, working as the last thing between the player and the cool place.
What do i Learn?
As I said before, in this project, I had a lot of responsibility and freedom, and in this situation, I learned something about myself, that I wasn't so sure before, I'm a good Leader. I KNOW, what an ego right? But seriously, it became clear to me, that I wanted to DO games not only work on them, but I wanted to be responsible for debating ideas, approaches our cores our goals.
In this project, I learned that I could do it and that I wanted to do it. In the end, it got nominated For Best Experience in the Platform of the Year (2023).