Design. Share. Iterate.
BIOMORPH, LUCID DREAMS STUDIO - 2024
BIOMORPH is a 2D Metroidvania with the unique twist of controlling the monsters you defeat to navigate levels.
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Steam Release: April 5th 2024​ (Steam Store Page)
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94% positive user reviews out of 238 reviews (as of May 1st 2024)
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Prizes: BIOMORPH was nominated for Game of the year at the 2024 Canadian Game Awards
Roles:
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Level Designer
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Quest Designer
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Writer
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Tasks:
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Developed in Unity
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Designed more than 10 zones for a 2D Metroidvania
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Created over 200 interconnected levels
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Introduced the player to many different mechanics
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Over 21 monsters with unique abilities the player can control​
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10 different traversal abilities
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Wrote the story and dialogues of the game
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Designed the flow of quests to match the story​
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MAP & LEVEL DESIGN
Levels:
​Created every step of a level's design
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Initial documentation stating the level's intention
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Blocking to create the initial flow
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Make sure the zone connects properly in the world
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Implement the gameplay ingredients
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Test and play the levels at every step of production
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Zones:
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Every zone has its own feel and progression
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Each with their unique elements to introduce to the player
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Unique monsters​
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New traversal mechanic
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New gameplay ingredient
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Flow:
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The map was designed to let the player explore freely
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Progression is gated with abilities by strategically placing chokepoints to control the player's flow
CREATING A ZONE
STEP 1
SIMPLE LAYOUT
​Create a layout to define the following
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General flow of the zone
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Intentions for every room
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Use all required ingredients
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Spread them over the zone in an interesting way
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Place safe spots strategically​
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Every 3 or so rooms was the best for the game's flow​
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Make space for narrative elements​
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Including NPCs, towns, narrative rooms, etc.​
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STEP 2
BLOCKING
​Create a 2D blocking in SketchUp
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Every zone in the game connects to each other
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Metrics had to be respected to make sure every room and their units fit with each other​
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Use the most interesting and fun LD patterns​ in the rooms
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Place them in a way that offers an increasing challenge to the player​
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STEP 3
EDITOR INTEGRATION
Integrate the zone and its rooms in the editor​
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Follow metrics already calculated in the SketchUp blocking
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Add gameplay ingredients and integrate any necessary data: Quests, Monsters, etc.
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Playtest (a lot !)
STEP 4
LEVEL ART
Meet with the art team to share the zone's vision
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Make changes based on their needs and ideas
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Playtest (again !)
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To make sure the art does not hide any important gameplay elements​
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STEP 5
UNFORESEEN CHANGES
Late into BIOMORPH's development, a huge change was decided by the direction:
Monsters could now be used everywhere !
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All levels were integrated at this point
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This game has 21 monsters with unique metrics and character controllers
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Where a room had at most 2 useable monsters, they now needed to be playable with all of them
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I had to go back through all the levels in the game to make sure no monsters would get stuck or create sequence breaks
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New secrets were added to give an incentive to the player to use this new feature
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Playtest (necessary !)​
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So many changes were made and I had very little time to implement them​
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Fast and efficient playtesting was crucial​
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STEP 6
MAKE IT FUN !
The zone is almost done, time to make it has fun as possible
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Playtest (always !)
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Make sure everything in the zone is fun and has a reason to be
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Cut anything that hinders the flow​
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Cut anything that ends up being unfun
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No place in a game for good ideas that are not fun​
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Make changes based on playtesters' feedback
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Where were they lost ?
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Make the objective clearer​
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Where was it hard and is it supposed to be hard ?
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Adjust to the intended difficulty​
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Any gameplay objects or enemies not understood ?
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Teach it better through tutorials/first interaction
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Rinse and repeat all steps for every of the ​​​13 zones!​​
