When choosing what I wanted to prioritise (the game or the role), I picked the game because I knew that I have a broad enough skillset to get by working in different departments like art or programming. What I really wanted to do was take on a design role with a game I knew I could really have fun with because of the way it combines creativity and storytelling with technical skills.

So votes are in and we are put into groups – I get to work on my top choice. Yay! Everyone cheered! I am chosen as the World Designer for Those Left Behind! It sounds pretty self-explanatory. The world designer… designs worlds. Duh. And yet, I still wasn’t quite sure what that meant.

After researching the role, I can confidently define the World Designer as the one primarily responsible for creating the fictional world within a game, including its geography, lore, and other details that players will interact with. Essentially shaping the overall environment and immersive experience of the game world.

In this project, being the world designer means considering:

• World layout & geography
  • Design the world structure (open world, hub-based, linear, etc.).
• Lore & history of the world
  • Decide how Earth was ruined (war, climate disaster, etc.).
  • Understand the characters and their impact on the world.
• Environmental storytelling
  • Work with the environment artist to ensure the world tells a story through ruins, signs of past life, and hidden details.
  • Think about how architecture and nature have evolved after the apocalypse.
• Survivor cultures & societies
  • Establish how the last survivors live, what they believe, and what conflicts exist.
  • Work with the narrative designer to connect lore with the player’s journey.
• Gameplay implications of the world
  • Work with the technical designer to ensure that the world supports the mechanics.

Part of this role means I’ll be working closely with the technical designer to refine mechanics and gameplay as well as collaborating with the story and narrative designer to create a cohesive structure for the vertical slice. I’ve taken a lead on project management, overlooking our jira board and writing most of the weekly meeting posts on the shared dev blog.

Mini Update

As of writing this update (week 7), I will have taken on the additional role of UI artist. Working with this role includes:

• Wireframe Screens
• Gathering References
• Explore UI Style
• Create Buttons, Widgets, Icons
• Import & Setup UI Assets
• Documenting Workflows
• Choosing & Editing Typography

What about Lament?

My game from last semester was also chosen to be worked on, I’m very excited to watch it come to life from the hands of others. I’m interested to see what choices they make and how they navigate creating a vertical slice, I’ll definitely be snooping about and sticking my nose where it probably doesn’t belong.