Steamwrecked
In an overheated world, caused by the overuse of fossil fuel. Civilisation has moved higher up in the skies due to the harsh nature on the ground. You find yourself stranded down on the ground due to your airship breaks down. To reach home once more, you must repair and upgrade your ship in order to climb the skies back to society.
Year
2025
Team size
17
Engine
Unreal Engine
My Role
Level Designer
RESPONSIBILTIES
I was a level designer with the focus of concepting, designing the landscape as well as the floating islands. I worked closely with the narrative level designer, environment artist and gameplay designer.
Level Design Process
Iteration was the keyword I followed. When the Product owner told me to expand the map size I did it, when they told me to shrink it I did that as well. This was my first time learning how to use landscaping tool in unreal engine but I quickly learned the usefulness of it. I helped the artists with materials and created multiple material layers you could use to paint.
Design Challenges and Solutions
The level changed sizes a lot during production. First it needed to be much larger than the original size, then it slowly shrunk as we adjusted the level to try and encourage the established vertical gameplay loop. The red line showcases the initial size and the green shows the final level size. The design team had a bigger scope in mind initially but then scoped down.
Design Techniques
Since I was in charge of designing the floating islands I needed to get creative in how they were able to float in a steampunk setting as well as draw the player towards them. What started out as placeholder concept from me turned into something more. Giant propellers keeping the islands airborne. It helped convince the player that these islands could stay floating and it provided movement to a otherwise static world thus drawing the players attention to the mass amounts of giant propellers in the sky above.
Reflection
This project taught me the importance of designing with clear intent and scale in mind. Balancing worldbuilding with gameplay readability was a key challenge, especially when creating an environment meant to feel alien yet navigable. Through iteration and testing, I learned how small spatial adjustments and visual cues can greatly enhance player guidance and immersion. Overall, the project strengthened my understanding of how level design can communicate story, atmosphere, and player purpose simultaneously.
