Dreadtome
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Dreadtome is a single player, action/adventure first person shooter. Players are tasked to explore a mysterious abandoned library to retrieve ancient knowledge. The library seems to be alive, turning players insane and trying to keep its secrets.
Team of 27
Unreal Engine 5
ABOUT
Project responsibilities - project phases
Concepting
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Concept and prototype puzzle elements, such as the portal mechanic.
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Experiment and define core gameplay loop and player goal.
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Narrow down the level design intentions.
Pre-Production
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Experiment and iterate on combat scenarios.
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Experiment and iterate on puzzles.
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Create a gym level and establish metrics.
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Polish and refine core gameplay loop and player goal.
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Create vertical slice level, to use as benchmark during production.
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set-up and update documentation.
Production
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Collaborate on delivering a 20-30 minute level, split into 3 sections.
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Puzzle and encounter design using previous prototype gameplay beats from pre-production.
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Bug-fixing and optimization.
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Iterating based on player feedback.
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Collaborate on set-dressing.
Overview
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The levels are set in a mysterious abandoned library, the environment is meant to feel grand, and almost infinite. The space needs to have a liminal atmosphere. A sense of growing insanity is part of our target player experience and should be reflected in the level design.
Players are equipped with a high-recoil gun, as well as a push back ability.
The levels
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Encounter design
Environment kills
We found the most fun part of combat was using the push ability to kill enemies with the environment. We leaned into this, encouraging players to handle encounters in creative ways!
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Shooting barrels to explode enemies.
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Making barrels fall onto enemies.
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Pushing enemies off the map.
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Pushing enemies into spike walls (in red).
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Pushing barrels into enemies.
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Pushing exploding enemies into other enemies.
Challenges
The enemy design and AI evolved a lot through development. It was important for me to remain flexible and update the levels to match the new design and test them.
Constant communication with the AI designer was crucial here.
Environmental puzzles
Our game has more of a focus on combat,
and with the theme of insanity, I found that creating puzzles around the environments fit our player experience the most, and encouraged exploration.​
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The portal mechanic is a feature I concepted and pitched to the team during pre-production, and prototyped with the help of a programmer.
It tied well with the theme of insanity and eldritch magic/tech of the world our game was set it.
Portals
Early prototype of the portal
The portal segments went through the most iterations. Since the game focuses on action and combat, we kept them simple, to act as a palate cleanser and support the narrative rather than provide real challenge.
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keeping it simple
One of the final portal sections
What changes gets increasingly hard to notice, making the players feel smart, and pop-corn enemies are introduced.
The action space remains limited, to ensure this does not interrupt the pacing of the game, and players progress quickly.​
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Building the fantasy
What fantasy ?
- Secret library hiding a dark power
- Eldritch mysteries beyond your understanding
- Gradual buildup of insanity
- Scavenging the remains of previous expeditions
- Lone soldier against unsurmountable odds
The concept of an infinite library was there since my early sketches
Research
To establish a believable narrative, it was important to create believable environments. The set dressing, level design, progression had to be anchored in real-life spaces that made sense.
We spent a lot of time researching and looking at libraries, their layouts, architecture, style...etc
In-game screenshots of the environments we designed.
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A method to madness
The game has three sections - where players descend deeper into the library.
This physical descent was meant to reflect the player’s descent into madness.
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I experimented to find ways to disturb, disorient and make players uneasy through level design, I did not want the madness to be only visual, but also felt by the players.
Mirrors
I have been very interested in using reflections and a sort or "mirror reality" to create trippy and interesting spaces for the player. Unfortunately this idea was discarded mainly due to performance constraints, and was generally quite limited.
Folding reality
This is a prototype for non-Euclidian/liminal space repeating/folding on itself, inspired by games like "The Exit 8" or other "Anomaly games". Confusing the players by creating truly infinite spaces.
Impossible spaces
I tried to make spaces inspired by M.C. Escher's famous artworks, known for their surreal and confusing spaces. This was a big inspiration for me and how I wanted these spaces to feel
Using the shadows
Messing with players perception and assumptions they make about their space was interesting to me. When done correctly, subverting those expectations can feel quite shocking!
This is something I experienced a lot while playing "Superliminal" which was also a big inspiration of mine.
Some of my early prototypes
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Retrospective
This project was the first "long-term" project I had, being a year long and with a scope to match it. Being on board since the beginning, I also contributed to establish the player experience, the core game loop, and the kind of levels we were going for. This came through so much iterations, a vertical slice, and many little experiments to really "find the fun" of our game. I do think we might have spent too long in that "experimental" phase of the project, I think its important to know when to move on.
Throughout the project, I also had the pleasure of leading the level strike team, comprised of artists and another level designer, this helped a lot in being aware of what everyone was up to, and align the priorities. Especially as scope and the art bottleneck were concerns, it helped us keep a constant communication and find compromises to deliver on the levels with minimal art scope!
This is a game I am really proud of, and the reception from players all around the world has been very positive ! Seeing so many people play you game, react to it, and reading articles about it is really an incredible feeling, we did good :)