— PROJECT DETAILS
Wrath: Aeon of Ruin
Professional / Contract
— ROLE
Level design – greybox, texturing, lighting, item placement, scripting
— DATE
2019 – 2022
At the start of 2019 3D Realms went on the hunt to recruit level design talent for their new retro-shooter Wrath: Aeon of Ruin.
Each level designer was assigned a level to own from blockout through to completion, with other designers able to assist where needed. I chose E1M4 – The Gardens, based on initial concept art. It was to be a large industrial agricultural complex that had fallen into ruin and decay.
At the heart of the level stands a giant dead tree covered by a large broken dome. As this was the central focus of the map I made this a hub area that led off into individual sections but always brought the player back to the hub to unlock the next key door, to help the flow and avoid them getting lost.
The level took around a year of part time working to complete, and I welcomed the additional assistance from fellow level designer Romain and game lead Jeremiah to help polish and detail the visuals and enemy encounters before it was shipped out as one of the early access updates.
Initial paper designs and ideas
I did a lot of sketches to help establish the theme as well as roughing out ideas of how an area might flow. Initially the level had more temple influences, and I researched ancient Babylon and the hanging gardens. Thematically it moved towards a more overgrown industrial facility, with large brick built aqueducts feeding in to the central tree, and the greenhouse like dome towering above. I managed to retain some feel of ancient temples in the adjoining sections that house the second save shrine.
Despite the larger size of the level I kept the player route linear, and tried to always guide them without making flow feel restricted or too corridor-like. I used scale variation to transition from small claustrophobic tunnels that repeatedly brought the player back out into the large hub area.
