Knightlight

Thanks to team Somninauts for their excellent continuation of the game and the video

Knightlight is a 3D action game built in Unreal where a small but mighty hero protects a town from nefarious nightmare creatures. The townspeople are helpless to defend themselves against the evil creatures on the year's darkest night. So they offer gifts to boost the hero's spirit abilities as they protect the town from nightmares. Will you rise to the occasion in Knightlight?

Role
Level Designer

Engine
Unreal5

Student Project
DigiPen

Year
2023-24

My Role

Level Designer

Level Mapping
Unreal Whiteboxing
Encounter Design

Team Size
19

Workload
28 weeks / 8 hours a week

Maya 3D modeling
Environmental Design

Contributions

As the level designer for Knightlight, I created the level layout and built the level in Unreal. I made each encounter location in the town like an arena to highlight the players' ranged and dash abilities. Each location also had subtle lanes for enemies to navigate toward their target, which the player must defend. In between combats, the player could freely roam around the space to enjoy the environment, so every corner of the level had a curated personality and backstory.

I also served as the game’s encounter designer. Every encounter was a staged series of enemy waves designed to engage the player through evolutions and expansions on previous combat experiences. Enemies would spawn randomly within a zone with a set target after defeating the last wave. The player’s goal was to neutralize the enemies quickly or draw them away from the target, so until the end of the encounter, the player must have laser focus to prevent the town from being overrun by nightmare creatures.

Conceptualization to Implementation

Process

Creating the Level

I determined my level emulation targets in conjunction with the art team.
- The art director inspired the game's theming and narrative, so I wanted to honor their artistic vision when designing the level.
I iterated on multiple designs of the level map on paper.
- I made changes due to feedback from designers and artists.
- I finally settled on the asymmetric level layout on the left.
The game loop features a meaningful choice (choose a stat buff), action (waves of enemies), followed by rest (a moment to take in the environment).
- Each loop would move to a different location on the map, which I divided into three unique “rooms.”
- I designed each space like an arena to allow the player and enemies space.
- This space allowed the player to utilize their abilities, like a charged range attack and dashing.

Encounter Design

Due to some production delays and a significant reduction in scope, I had to design the encounters with less than I hoped.
Each of the 3 encounters features at least 3 waves of 1 or more enemies.
Each enemy targets a location (townspeople’s houses) that the player must defend.
- Somewhat like a tower defense game.
Each encounter introduced a new, increasingly more challenging enemy type.
- A wave produced a new evolution of the combat experience.
  - New targets to defend.
  - New enemy spawn locations.
  - New combination of enemy types.
- Or a wave would expand on previous versions of the same type, target, or spawn location.
  - More enemies.

Tutorial combat room. The player must fend off a couple small threats to learn the mechanics.
Select your stat buff item before battle.
Target enemies from a distance.
The centerpiece of the town in honor of the hero.
Fight off the nightmare creatures with your lantern staff.
Final combat room. The hero must protect many homes in this neighborhood.