Maluch Racer III

Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maluch Racer III
Project Type . . . . . . . . . . PC Game / Arcade Racer
Job Function . . . . . . . . . . Level Designer
Company / Client. . . . . . . Artifex Mundi
Made with. . . . . . . . . . . . Torque Game Engine Advanced

In January 2009 I switched developers and moved from City Interactive to Artifex Mundi. The first two months (January and February) I spend most of my time working on Maluch Racer III. On this project I was responsible for designing 24 racetracks, distributed over 4 different environments. The roads lay-outs, visual style and creation of the locations were done by the rest of team.

Designing racetracks means more work than one would suspect. It's not just determining the place of the start / finish line and which path vehicles should take. Of course, this is what is most noticable to the player, but placing barriers, player and AI vehicles starting points, AI path points, direction sensors and roadside camera positions all form a part of creating a racetrack. Finally, accurate minimaps are needed to guide the player.

Obviously, the most important criteria for a racetrack is gameplay. It is a good idea to line up paths and place fixed cameras in such a way that the environment is shown at its most appealing, but it must never get in the way of good gameplay. If a track is not fun and/or exciting to race on, it doesn't matter how great it looks.

Some general tips on designing racetracks.

• You have to keep the player on his toes. Make sure the player has to use all the controls, and often.
• Use the environment to your advantage. Don't regard it just as scenery; it can offer unique gameplay possibilities, forcing the player to interact.
• Some tracks can be fast (straight parts, gentle curves), other tracks slow (few or no straight parts, sharp curves), but make sure that each track has a combination of slow and fast paths.
• reason 1: variety keeps the player focused and increases the fun.
• reason 2: allows for a larger variety of vehicle types on a single track. Fast cars with bad handling will do well on straight parts, but slow cars with good handling will be able to catch up in corners.
• Racetracks must have a good "flow". No matter if they are fast or slow tracks, the player must always be provided with a sense of speed - of rushing. If a player comes to a near-standstill in a specific place every single time, then there's something wrong with that part of the track.

01. Box Art. Shown for reference.



02. Credits.

03. Selection Screen.

04. Port I.

05. Port II.

06. Port III.

07. City by Night I.

08. City by Night II.

09. City by Day I.

10. City by Day II.

11. Old Town I.

12. Old Town II.

Thank you for looking.

Logic Machines

Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Logic Machines
Project Type . . . . . . . . . . Nintendo DS / Physics-based Puzzle Game
Job Function . . . . . . . . . . Level Designer
Company / Client. . . . . . . City Interactive
Made with. . . . . . . . . . . . proprietary software / No$ Emulator

In the period october - december 2008 I worked for City Interactive as level designer on Logic Machines (working title Ancient Machines of Horus). In total more than 120 puzzles were made, ranging from the very simple to the mind-twisting complex. Additionally, I was responsible for fitting puzzle descriptions which not only had to be easily understood, but which were also required to fit the classical Egyptian atmosphere of the game.

Physics-based puzzle games are not new (starting with the classic The Incredible Machine), but this is the first for the Nintendo DS. I suggested to include the feature of 'portals', a system which allows elements to be transported between two boards (green - entrance, blue - exit) with conservation of momentum. This is also a first for this type of puzzle games.

The most challenging aspect on this project was finding the right balance of playability. The puzzles were not supposed to be too complicated for casual players, but they should also not have been to easy for the more intelligent player. If possible, puzzles should have more than one solution and have a satisfying reward system.

Besides the difficulties in gameplay, there were also technical difficulties to overcome. Objects could not move too fast to compromise collision detection. Also, puzzles had to be robust enough to give the player enough leeway in positioning elements and still have them work properly.


01. Box Art. Shown for reference.

02. Credits Screen. Shown for reference.

03. Tutorial Puzzle.

04. Tutorial Puzzle.

05. Bouncy Boards.

06. The blue and green boards function as a portal.

07. Blowing up a bomb with a torch and fuse.

08. A puzzle with plenty of balls and an engine.

09. More Portal Fun.

10. Motor and Switch.

11. The fan can be activated by blowing into the microphone.

12. Build-a-bridge.

Thank you for looking.

Retina Software : Industrial Complex

Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Industrial Complex
Project Type . . . . . . . . . . Demo level / Top-down Shooter
Job Function . . . . . . . . . . Level Designer
Company / Client. . . . . . . Retina Software LLC
Made with. . . . . . . . . . . . Blender, Photoshop

In the last quarter of 2006 I participated in a competition organized by Retina Software LLC. This company offered a cash prize to users of the free 3D modeling and rendering software Blender who could design the best looking industrial area which would be used as a demonstration level for a game engine this company was developing at the time.
Of all the entrants, they chose my design as the first prize winner.

My goal in designing this environment was to achieve a sense of realism of functionality. I wanted this industrial complex to feel like a place that could work in real life. Roads, railway tracks and pipes are laid out logically, and even though the style is more science fiction than real life, all the elements have some identifiable purpose.

Due to the limited time available and technical limits, this environment lacks more complex technical things like multitextures, dynamic lighting, decals, etc.


01. Highway and Power Plant.

02. Power Plant.

03. Power Plant.

04. Factory.

05. Factory.

06. Train Track with Cranes and Storage Tanks.

07. Sand and Grit Storage Basins.

08. Oil Storage Tanks.

09. Highway Offramp.

10. Highway View.

11. Transformer grid.

12. Factory and highway.

Thank you for looking.

SAS : Secure Tomorrow

Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SAS : Secure Tomorrow
Project Type . . . . . . . . . . PC Game / First Person Shooter
Job Function . . . . . . . . . . Environment Artist
Company / Client. . . . . . . City Interactive
Made with. . . . . . . . . . . . Jupiter EX WorldEdit

Between february and june 2008 I worked for City Interactive on SAS : Secure Tomorrow as level designer. For this game the goal was to create an environment overrun, and held by, terrorists. It was the players task, with the help of computer controlled squad mates, to eliminate the terrorists and free any hostages. Initially the location was designed to be an airport, but at some point it was decided to restyle certain parts and turn it into a train station.

The biggest technical challenge was to have large indoor areas, while keeping a smooth and steady framerate, because the game engine is optimized for highly detailed, but small areas.

Visually, the biggest challenge was to create a convincing environment with as few assets as possible. For each project there is a budget for art assets which can be requested of the texture and 3D artists. It is important to balance what you ask for.Before you start creating a level in 3D, make a list of what you think you will need, grouped per environment (for example domestic, office and industrial) and size (small - pens, medium - furniture, large - vehicles, or location specific architecture). After the list is complete, remove any doubles (some things can be shared between environments) and start cutting objects. There's a huge difference between what you think you need and what you will actually get.

This particular location is not based on any real-life train station. It is just an amalgam of various public spaces from around the world. Simple and utilitarian were keywords here; public space which would see thousands of people every day.

01. Platform.

02. Platform.

03. Hallway.

04. Customer Service.

05. Stairwell.

06. Main Hall.

07. Ticket Booth.

08. Magazine Store.

09. Cafe.

10. Platform.

11. Hall located between the main station hall and offices.

Thank you for looking.