QUEST OF VALOR
DESCRIPTION
Quest for Valor is a third person action adventure RPG for PC , where we play as Juno, a warrior princess on a mission to retrieve the famous treasure that once belonged to the Legendary Muire’s King. Nothing is as easy as it seems: Juno is instructed by a mage that she needs to acquire 3 gems to finally unlock the chest.
The gems are located in the deep cave, scattered behind obstacles and dangers where Juno has to show all her agility and intellect to succeed. Once past the Lava pit, mazes and ancient traps, Juno can finally place the gems and get the long awaited reward!
Suddenly, she comes to realize that the chest was cursed and by placing the gems she woke the Legendary Muire’s King from his endless sleep, he’s now angry and looking for revenge! Only by defeating the King will she obtain the trophy!
PRODUCTION
3 WEEKS
ENGINE
Unreal Engine 4.23.1
TYPE
Solo Project @ VFS
GENRE
Action-Adventure
TRAILER
INTRODUCTION
Quest for Valor is the biggest Unreal Engine solo assignment we worked on while studying at VFS. We had 3 weeks to deliver a gameplay experience composed of 3 beats: Puzzle, Athletics and Battle.
The project was realized following the strict industrial pipelines, starting from a 2d concept and layout of the level, to the rough level creation in engine to the polished version. We were given precise measure for the level, it had to be in box shape and we were also given the main feature of the game, even though I decided to spend some extra time on making some unique features for the Gems count and the Boss fight.
This project was essential to improve my Unreal Engine skills both as a scripter and designer, thanks to playtests and feedback, I had the chance to iterate my work and improve where needed to finally bring to life my level design ideas.
DESIGN
LEVEL DESIGN
First I research the metrics of the game, such as: characters size, jump eight, health points, damage dealt and more. Then I realized a 2D layout of the level using Photoshop, following the metrics that I discovered and the rules of the assignment.
Once the 2D layout was done, I jumped into the engine and made a quick layout using only BSPs, this helped me visualize the actual size of the rooms and gave me the chance to play the level beats and make some changes.
I then moved to the scripting phase. Here I coded the narrative of the level as well as the gem collection mechanic and the Boss fight. I spend most of the time learning the already existing code and modify it to realize what I need. The biggest challenge was the Boss fight, where I spent some extra time diving it in 3 phases that scaled up in difficulty.
At this point we were also able to get players feedback to address the biggest issues and polish the mechanics.
Lastly I polished the level: using lights and reflection spheres to create the desired atmosphere,as well as props and textures to create a realistic environment.
LEVEL DESIGN FACTORS
Mass and Void were probably the most important but also the hardest to follow. Since the level had to be a perfect square, I decided to break the level in floors and fill some of the corner shapes with meshes to break the monotony of the box.
Another key factor was Elevation. Since the level was quite small, I used ramps, elevators and hills to create the feeling of a natural environment, especially for the bottom floor where the volcano beat starts, since it had to resemble a lavic biome.
The hardest to implement properly was the use of FoV (Field of View), due to the shape of the level, I found it extremely hard to guide the player towards the objectives. I relied mostly on small hints, like lights or paths, to guide the player to the next objective.
