WIP
Developed in Unreal Engine 5 by a 19-person team, Regradable is a third-person action platformer built around high-mobility traversal. The protagonist features unique “vine arms” that grant players a versatile toolkit, including a vine swing, zipline, and grapple. These dynamic movement mechanics empower players to fluidly navigate massive spaces, highlighting the impressive scale of the game’s sprawling city levels.
Level Breakdown
My primary contribution to the project was the design and execution of Level 2, set within the city's middle-class sector.
- Purposeful Spacing: Unlike the densely packed lower levels, this district features a more open layout designed to accommodate the flow of working-class transport, including trains, cars, and ships.
- Environmental Storytelling: The sky is entirely obscured by the sprawling architecture of the upper-class districts above, forming a massive, oppressive ceiling over the environment.
- Guiding the Player: Right from the starting point, the player's attention is drawn to a distinct opening in the ceiling where ships continuously fly through. This serves as a clear visual landmark and the ultimate upward goal for the level, naturally driving player momentum.
The Train Station:
Set within a transit hub layered over lower-class housing, this section requires the player to reach a central rooftop to secure a zipline down to the market below.
- Tease and Deny: A bridge clearly telegraphs the goal, but collapses on contact. This forces the player to engage the enemies and find a different route.
- Combat-Integrated Platforming: To reach the roof, the player must engage flying enemies mid-air, utilizing them as grapple points to vault onto an active monorail before executing a precise vine-swing off the track.
- Dynamic Environmental Hazards: The monorail serves as an active threat. If the player lingers or pushes too far up the track, an oncoming train speeds toward them, forcing a jump to safety.
The Market:
Constructed from metal sheets bridging multiple rooftops, this area serves as a dedicated combat arena.
- Security Lockdown: Being spotted by a camera drone triggers an electric gate, trapping the player inside the arena.
- Objective-Based Combat: To lift the lockdown and progress, the player must locate and destroy several power generators while surviving the enemy encounter.
- Aerial Exit: Once the gate is disabled, the player swings from a suspended crane hook to access the next zipline.
The Transportation Hub:
The level culminates at a transit hub, where the player boards a transport ship ascending to the upper city.
- High-Stakes Traversal: To reach the hub, players must swing across massive gaps while dodging active traffic, including flying cars and trains.
- Climactic Combat: The final push requires players to survive two back-to-back combat encounters before reaching the extraction point.
- The Visual Payoff: Boarding the ship fulfills the goal of reaching the sunlight and the upper city established at the start of the level. This is a seamless narrative and visual transition to the next area.
Level Maps
Shape Language
Establishing Shape Language and Architecture:
Before moving into full level production, it was important to establish a distinct shape language to visually separate the city’s social classes. This initial blockout demonstrates how the upper city was designed to physically and visually dominate the lower districts.
- The Lower City: Characterized by densely stacked, jagged, and blocky geometry to convey a cramped, chaotic environment.
- The Upper City: Designed with significantly less density, utilizing larger, continuous, and smoother shapes to reflect space, wealth, and order.
- Cross-Discipline Collaboration: My early blockout served as a testing ground for the environment art team to experiment with lighting passes and overall art direction.
Gallery
