Interstellar Racing League
Engine: Unreal Engine 4
Genre: Racing
Position: Lead Environmental Level Designer
Design Goals: Creating an environment that is satisfying to traverse during the heat of a race.
Interstellar Racing League is a high-speed racing experience with 4-player local coop. Players race along gravity defying tracks, collecting special abilities along the way to knock away or defend against rival drivers. Speed pads offer an extra boost to skilled players who activate the "expertise button" at just the right time.
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The game is intended to be a high speed, thrilling experience that encourages friendly competition. The most defining feature of each track is its multi-axis design. Players race up the sides of sky scrapers or corkscrew through the air at breakneck speed. As lead environmental level designer, my goal was to accentuate the fantastic nature each track by constructing memorable landmarks that offer players a point of reference for their gravity defying journey.
Design Process
Open Desert
The greatest challenge with the open dessert was designing around the shape of the track. Because there were no buildings to hide the loops and twists, we chose to break the line of sight by embedding the track in a canyon.
Top Left: To improve the visual variety of the strait away section I covered the walls in massive bones. The repeating shape of the ribs were a good reference for players’ speed.
Bottom Left: A large portion of the track is a corkscrew. The uniform shape meant players had an opportunity to focus less on driving and more on the environment. I wanted to offer a visually stunning vista and chose to populate the area with floating boulders.
Right: While long lines of sight came with performance and track conveyance issues, I incorporated small opportunities for the player to appreciate the multi-axis nature of the tracks.
Oasis
To keep the two organic environments (Open Desert and Oasis) distinctive, I used very different lighting palates. In contrast with the alien, overly saturated Desert level, the Oasis has a soft blue and pink hue. The inclusion of flora also contributed to the soft, vital atmosphere.
Top Left: Part of the game’s narrative was visiting alien worlds. Rather than creating another vibrant city, I populated the world with a fallen civilization. The scale of the ruins is suggestive of a once monolithic society.
Bottom Left: To break up the clutter of the rest of the level, I left the starting line intentionally spars. As the race progresses the more impressive elements of the track are revealed. The single tree also provides a landmark for the starting line as players complete their intermediate laps.
Right: The highlight of the track is it’s namesake oasis. The large, sweeping turn at the beginning of the oasis allows players to take in the scenery as almost a panorama. Driving above the water and passing through arches adds to the grandeur of the environment.
Outskirts
The Outskirts was the first level to enter production. The goal was to create a densely packed metropolis that grew faster than it could be planned. The streets are heavily shadowed with bright lights for contrast. The highlight of the track is a massive vertical section where players race up the side of a monolithic construction.
Top left: While most of the level’s aesthetic is disorganized, the midsection of the track features more conventional architecture. I wanted to break up the racing experience with a stand out section that doesn’t distract too much from the task of driving. Using regular shapes contrasted strongly with the rest of the track without appearing aesthetically dissonant.
Bottom left: The most hectic part of the track was the power plant district. Many elements of the track were under frequent revision. To allow for iteration, I placed the large reactor first as a point of reference for scale. Other elements such as the power lines and cooling stacks were arranged toward the end of development.
Right: To emphasize the overpopulated theme of the level, I literally packed the buildings together. They lean precariously into the track, creating regularly spaced overhangs which help give the player a frame of reference for their speed.
Post Mortem
What Went Well
Rapid Prototyping: Instead of immediately approving or vetoing my team members’ ideas, I encouraged rapid prototyping for proof of concept.
Encouraging cross disciplinary collaboration: The environment team was originally organized to be split into artists and level designers. Early in the development process I chose to pair artist and designers to bring multiple perspectives to each task.
Offered rapid, precise feedback: I was almost always able to provide feedback immediately on request. All my feedback was specific and included actionable items. I made sure my feedback was understood and offered multiple explanations when needed.
What Went Wrong
Over emphasis on individual work: Towards the end of the development process, instead of focusing on facilitating my team’s needs, I took on tasks myself, leaving many of my team mates without clear direction.
Poor communication with other teams: I struggled with communicating my team’s needs to other groups and was not very effective in disseminating incoming knowledge and decisions to my team.
Not advocating for the needs of my team: When other teams were struggling I was quick to offer help from my team. While it did boost morale, it also meant that I didn’t push very heard for my team’s needs. For example, I didn’t enforce the deadlines for deliverables my team was dependent on.
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What Would Be Better
Value of Prototyping: Rapid prototyping is essential in evaluating the efficacy of new ideas, as well as communicating them to the rest of the team. Being able to present a prototype is one of the best ways to get approval for new features.
Importance of cross disciplinary communication: Successful collaboration necessitates good communication not only within one’s discipline, but outside as well. Having a good understanding of other specialties means I can anticipate their needs as well as potential stumbling blocks.
Need for enforcing deadlines: Part of professionalism is adhering to one’s own deadlines. The task is made much easier when dependencies are made clear to the rest of the team.
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