top of page

Role: Level Designer
Level: Kalthus > Glaivegate
Team: Ascendant Studios
Level Artist: Michael Audije
Engine: Unreal Engine 5

​​

​Responsibilities:

 

  • Owned the design of combat and traversal layouts, shaping moment-to-moment gameplay through composition, player routing, and spatial readability

  • Designed combat encounters emphasizing mobility, spell synergy, and player decision-making, aligning gameplay pacing with narrative progression​

  • Scripted gameplay sequences, objectives, and triggered events in using customized in-engine systems to deliver authored player experiences, narrative beats, and exploration rewards

  • Designed several environmental puzzles based on telekinetic and magic projectile abilities

Glaivegate Let's Play

by MKIceAndFire

 

Arena Design Breakdown: Glaivegate

For Immortals of Aveum, I was a combat and mechanic-space designer who inherited and then owned the full pipeline from whitebox to full implementation, relying on my technical fluency and designer-facing systems to implement gameplay, not just layouts. I took over design ownership of Kalthus, an icy, mountainous level after my senior level designer, Clemence Maurer, started its design. After I got assigned to the level, its overall layout was already locked-in but several areas were still under construction. One of the main areas within Kalthus was called Glaivegate: a military fortress.

​

My main contributions while owning this level were:

​

  • Took pre-existing level from whitebox stage to shipping quality

  • Consolidated combat arenas into a single scope-friendly layout

  • Scripted/refined combat encounters throughout the level using customized in-engine tools

  • Designed environmental puzzles 

​​​

My design principles are:

​

  • Do more gameplay with less space

  • Pace combat deliberately by shaping pace and timing enemy waves

  • Promote meaningful player choice by allowing spaces to be readable

​

The following sections on this page feature:

Original design → production scope change → redesign → further iteration → final implementation.​​​​​

Reference locations

As I was figuring out how to take over and iterate on Glaivegate, I searched for references that would inform its layout and architecture. My primary references included Helm's Deep due to the way it was built into the mountains, Castillo de San Marcos with its architecture and courtyard, and Castle Black due to its barracks and wooden structure examples. My goal in gathering references was also to inform the player's impression of Glaivegate via architectural and environmental grounding.​

​​

​

Whiteboxing & Original Layout

Glaivegate is a late-game section of the level that would act as a rallying point for the protagonist and his allies following a heavy defeat in an earlier chapter. When the player arrives, they trigger a cinematic that transitions into combat. The main design intent of Glaivegate is that the player must adapt to frenetic Player vs. Enemy scenarios.​ The objective for the player simple: kill the invading army.

​

When I inherited the original whitebox prototype of Glaivegate, it featured combat along castle battlements, courtyards, interior garrisons, and sprawling airfields. However, during a game-wide review of the scope of the game, including the amount of assets to model and the scale of the set dressing, the studio leads decided to cut areas out of multiple levels, including Kalthus.

 

Here is a breakdown of my original design to be compared to the later, scoped-down design.

​​​After arriving at Glaivegate, the player spawns in the Courtyard, a space that features a central open space and raised elevation at the edges.
 
  • This space has: longer sightlines → ranged decision-making → broader spatial navigation compared to the area after it.​​​​​​ 
​
  • Enemies would spawn mid-distance away on the golden path as well as atop higher ground around the courtyard floor.
​
  • On either side of the player spawn point, the player may take enter and shoot from within buildings, as well as pick enemies that come in or hold the center of the arena while picking off enemies spawning at the periphery
​
My design thinking is that I wanted to give the player a chance to get their bearings, see the golden path up ahead, and make decisions as to whether they wanted to play as a mid-ranged aggressor by holding the center or become a close-range ambusher by holding down small buildings on either side of the player spawn point.
​​
​​​
​
  • Each area is gated from the next via "magic wards" that clear once the player finishes the combat encounter
​
  • One of the entrances (shut gate) to the third and final area will be blocked, but the path on the left (magic ward) will be cleared to enter
​
  • The narrative context for the gates is that they are placed by the enemy to isolate the protagonist from his allies
Player spawn
Melee Enemy Positions
Ranged Enemy Positions
Enemy Positions 
Shut gate
Shut gate
Magic ward
Mountain Armory
Enemy Positions
Enemy Positions
​​​After clearning all the enemies in the Courtyard, the player gains access to the Mountain Armory - Exterior. 
 
  • This space has: compressed geometry → reduced sightlines → closer enemy pressure → forces a change in combat behavior compared to previous area.​
​
  • This space features 3/4 interior 1/4 exterior combat space.
​
  • In contrast with the Courtyard's mostly open area, this armory presents the player with by a compact exterior court and two-level interior spaces that demand the player switch to frenetic close-range combat not only due to the reduced sightlines but heavy-hitting brute-type enemies as well.
​
  • As the player enters the area, they would have been accosted with heavy brute type enemies who would be supported by archers and grenadiers in the windows above.
​
  • This is where I reference Helm's Deep in how the armory is built into the mountain face itself.
​
Ranged enemies at windows
Enemy brutes
Upon entering the area, the player is presented with choices: they can deal with the enemies holding the exterior area out there but if they instead rush past them into the armory, some of the enemies will be sure to follow...
Enemy brutes
​​​The Mountain Armory - Interior​
​
Once inside, the player will meet ranged enemies in advantageous positions atop the stairs and alcoves.
Ranged enemies on high ground
More enemy brutes impeding path
to next gate
​​​The Airstrip​
​
  • After clearing the Mountain Armory, the player will head towards the final area: the Airstrip where flying skiffs come to land.
​
  • In between the Armory and the Airstrip, I built some break areas with loot and mana crates so the player can replenish.
​
​
mini-boss
enemy support 
enemy support 
Mana & loot
Goal: rescue trapped friendlies
Mountain Armory
enemy support lands using skiffs
Magic wards
Mountain Armory
Airstrip Tower
mini-boss
​​
​
  • When the player arrives, they'll find that their allies can't provide air support with their skiffs because they're trapped inside by enemies trying to get in.
​
  • I designed this area to suit a mini-boss encounter where the boss has clear lines of sight to harass the player
​
  • Features a medium-sized airstrip where enemies will be landing on
​
  • The large tower held shut by friendlies and isn't accessible till after the combat.
​
  • The "Blue Magnus" mini boss will spawn in the center as enemy support troops move in.
​
​

Level Cuts & Redesign

Despite all the planning above, it was decided that the game had to cut down on scope, and that meant reducing Glaivegate down to just one arena. I had to cut most of the original layout, but I also had clear priorities:

​

  • Redesign the courtyard ​to fit all the proposed combat waves formerly spread throughout Glaivegate.

  • Delete the Mountain Armory and Airstrip

  • Delete most of the old Glaivegate level scripting.

    • Keep the cinematic scripting and logic. 

    • Remove all combat-related actors like enemy spawners, pitfalls, and nav volumes 

    • Keep the objective scripting that's was still relevant and cut the objectives pertaining to cut locations (Mountain Garrison and Airfield)

    • Get the cinematics working again with the new layout

  • Implement new, semi-functional combat: three waves with a handful of enemies with the last wave featuring the Blue Magnus mini-boss again.

  • Implement combat space cover and occluder/cover pass

    • To restrict architectural modeling scope, leveraged natural elements like rock formations for boundaries and platforms and avoid suggesting forts and large ruins, while using crates, pillars, rocks, etc. for smaller stuff. 

  • Add a degree of verticality to the combat space via shallow trenches, raised ridges, and scaffolding 

Before
Player spawn
After
Raised platforms
Player spawn
(non-playable area)
(NPCs for scale)
​
  • The player still spawns with their back to the Glaivegate "fortress"
​
  • I utilized the courtyard as the main arena for all three waves of enemies
​
  • I expanded the length and width of the courtyard to be about 1 & 1/5 larger.
​
  • Implemented a shallow valley at the center alongside raised platforms in the center and outer edges of the arena
​
  • Deleted buildings in the courtyard to create a short-mid range combat encounter
​
  • Kept tall some of the tall line-of-sight blockers
​
​
​
​
Raised platforms
full cover
Further Iteration
Before
After
platforms for vantage point
platforms for vantage point
shallow valley aka "kill zone"
full cover
(wooden structures reminiscent of "Castle Black"

Implementing Combat

Archers and ranged enemies spawn atop high ground

melee enemies spawn in the "kill zone"

One of my main jobs on this project was to implement combat encounters throughout the maps. This was a collaboration between the LDs and the combat team. Whereas the combat team would plan the pacing/enemy composition of the combat ahead of time, I would place individual spawners at tactical locations while shaping the combat arena to fit the scale of the encounter.

Player Spawn

Example 1

Combat Plan: Sniper Overwatch Fight 

Enemies: Archers & Blue Constructs

As LD, I raised towers for ranged enemies to be spawned as part of the combat plan, while delving alleys for melee enemies to stalk 

Example 2

Combat Plan: New Magnus Challenge (mini-boss) 

Enemies: Blue Magnus, Archers, & Shieldmen

I spawned the mini-boss at raised location at the center where it's spawn animation would be visible from most locations.

boss front and center.png

Mini-boss spawn location centered and visible from most points in arena

"shield"

"spear"

I place shieldmen next to archers and restrict their movement radius so they stay close while the archers harass the player from elevated spots.

Puzzle Design

I lead the design effort on seven puzzles on the Kalthus map, while soliciting input from with my senior level designer, technical design, and the environmental art team. In this section, I break down the design process for a few select ones.

Animate Staircase

(In collaboration with Clemence Maurer, Senior LD, and Noah Zilberberg, Tech Design, and Michael Audije, Senior Environment Artist)

Protototyping:

The idea was to manipulate a magical platform that could be raised and lowered, like a scale which the player could then use to scale the environment. 

In-game, the contraption's movement axis would have looked something like this:

Once I was assigned to this map, I took over the puzzle. The senior LD formerly assigned to this level I exchanged visual references to help me anchor the design into something less abstract, which lead us to settle on stacked platforms that expand upwards and contract downwards.

To the right, is my first attempt at prototyping this puzzle.

​

A pair of columns reside atop a wide central platform. The wide platform could be manipulated to move forward and back while the columns on either side could be pulled up/down independently of each other. Glowing runes on each of the part designate to the player that whatever it's attached to is moveable. However, with level reviews and feedback, I decided to cut the runes on either side in favor of a simpler setup below.

While the setup above does fulfil the job of allowing the player to platform towards the next area, there were several things I noticed while testing:

​

  • The solve position doesn't draw the eye towards the exit as well as it should

  • It's somewhat cumbersome to traverse (you can see Jak hitting his head jumping underneath a platform)

  • It only moves in one axis: up and down. Not only does this not require much skill, it's limiting the intended use of the Animate spell (to mode objects along more than one axis to the solve position) 

The level review team concurred this puzzle could use a bit more love. So I went back to the drawing board and reconfigured the solve-position of the platforms.

​

Admittedly, this configuration looks and moves less like the game director's concept and more like an angular staircase, but the difference was necessary for a few reasons: 

​

  • It was more intuitive than its prior iteration

  • By cutting out unnecessary platforms, it became easier for the player to visually trace the line from floor to the top

  • This setup could move up/down and side-to-side, requiring a bit more skill while leveraging the Animate spell the way it was intended to

​

The steps to solve the Abandoned Outpost Animate Puzzle are as follows:

​

  1. Stand in front of the Animate rune on the narrow side of the base of the platforms

  2. Using Animate, raise the platforms so that they're high enough to reach the top and slide them right 

  3. Jump on atop the first flight of stairs, then to the alcove in the middle ​​

  4. From the alcove, jump to the second flight and presto

The angle of the stairs form a line that the eye can follow easily

Technical Polish:

Once I had a staircase that visually made sense, I consulted with Noah Zilberberg, the project's technical designer, to help me polish the technical aspects of the puzzle. This puzzle powered by two of the projects tools: 

​

  • Movers: actors placed into the map that can be scripted to move, rotate, and/or scale objects 

    • Can be used to simulate floating objects, raise/lower platforms, open doors, etc.​

  • Animation controllers, which can control movers en-masse ​

​

I poked his brain about which stick directions to best use for moving the platforms along their axes, where to force the player camera to look while platforms are moving, how to fine-tune the extent of movement on the Y and Z axis, as well as how to prevent player's from cheating the puzzle.

​

​

Environment Art Input 

My environment artist for the map, Michael Audije, also helped to accommodate the environment to the puzzle. 

A platform the player can use to jump from the first flight of stairs to the second

That platform became a pillar to jump on

I needed geometry to prevent players from cheesing the puzzle by jumping from one top floor to another instead of Animating the platforms

My artist made these door guards to obstruct undesired platforming to and from the top floors

And so, we have the finished product:

bottom of page