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Syzygy is the last chapter of Jusant, it portrays the characters in their final challenge crossing a rugged frozen path and climbing a huge structure towards the end objective on the higher point of the tower.
Story wise, the character and their companion are exhausted by their journey, especially for the companion who's also freezing in this hostile environment. They are trying their best to reach the top of the structure protecting their companion and wishing that it positively conclude their quest.
This chapter is also unveiling the Tower's past, telling players more about the use of the immense structure and what happened to the creatures, residents of the Tower were searching for.
In this last chapter the main proposal was to separate the level in two sections, one as a horizontal path and the second as a vertical last climbing challenge.
The horizontal section calms the pace after chapter 5 windy challenges and an action focused transition sequence. It also serves the narration, establishing the silent melancholy of this area, and the precarious state of our companion.
The vertical section is made of challenges through the ascent of a huge structure. Those challenges are not so harsh, since we didn't wanted a huge and demanding climax experience for this last level. We prefered to extend the atmosphere of this area, by an accessible challenge, only using the main climbing mechanics, that also fits the global experience of Jusant.
Horizontal Section
Game Design Features
Game design features in this chapter are mostly oriented around giving a narrative context. We wanted to change the main character posture so that it fits with their companion state. I scripted this feature using a gameplay modifier only occuring in this section of the game, and deactivating climbing features. Then an animation work was needed so that the characters kept their specific posture, while also adding the detail of a smaller visual effect for the companion's ability. It comes through talks with my coworkers so that every assets were created and goes well with each other for, then, being integrated by me. Once the integration done, everybody could test the feature, and project on the final result to establish its use in the game.
This new posture also comes with a second one, in which the character warms their companion by keeping him closer to their chest. It was as well scripted through the visual scripting tools of Unreal Engine, by linking it with the triggers players were holding during all the game. A feature that reward the players who try it with special animation and sounds while slowing pawn's movement speed.
Again it's a narrative feature using players controls so that they embody further the current state of their characters.
Hoziontal Section
Level Design
Chapter 6 was the first level I have worked on, in my time on this production. I started from scratch with blockmeshes, to the end stages of assets integration and debugging sessions.
The main guidelines for this level were to create the top of the Tower through a vast space in a caldera shape with the final objective at its center.
I began by creating the global shape of this area by arranging blockmeshes in oval while sculpting the main path from the landing point of the players, towards their objective. Since most of the environment in this chapter is not reachable by players, blockmeshes were mostly providing vista ideas and context for the environmental artists team.
The main path players cross, was made through few iterations.
First one was a straightforward way with a lite vertical curvature, establishing the global pace, and timing to reach the center of the area. Then by talks with directors and 3D artists, we worked on giving it more depth. This goes through adding obstacles on the path, more verticality giving a clearer visibility at the structure, and forcing turns (screenshots below).
Those tweaks provided a sequence that is more interesting while keeping its atmosphere and narrative context. This also came via the use of Frozen Ballasts as obstacles, serving both the gameplay and the environmental storytelling.
Vertical Section
Game Design Features
Arriving at the structure base, players trigger an in-game event that launches a special animation. This allows them to use their climbing abilities by deactivating the gameplay modifier I mentioned before, and protecting the companion in its bag.
This event contextualize a change of state for the characters, by a narrative animation while guiding players through a funnel towards the first grip.
Since we wanted each level to end by a structure that acts as objectives, this chapter is not an exception. Those structures represent an observation tool for the inhabitants of the Tower.
We were wondering how to illustrate that this structure has an astronomical study purpose. Through the iterations I found interesting that players would climb grips on the structure which form constellations. It served both the gameplay and the environment storytelling.
Therefore, I created two blueprints, one for climbable constellations, and another for lures constellations that also fill the empty spaces. Then we scripted the climbable ones so that they illuminate progressively from the point that has been gripped, to the ends. Showing directions to follow.
Vertical Section
Level Design
As most of the design work on Jusant, the structure level design was made through a lot of iterations. I began by delivering documents that showed an overview of each side with an arrangement of constellations, without any breaks during the climb. I then proceded to integrate it in the engine, by creating the blueprints, and placing them on a huge blockmesh. This proposal was tough and we found that it wasn't fitting with the experience of this Chapter.
Those feedbacks in mind and with the delivery of the final 3D asset, I reworked it by splitting the ascent in three sections intersperse by two horizontal bridges, inside the structure. Once all the constellations positioned, I decided which one will be climbable, creating dedicated pathes for players to follow.
The Constellations challenges are oriented around character's main mechanics. This part was too short to introduce a new gameplay feature dedicated to this chapter. Thus, I focused on the use of Jumps, double Jumps, and abseiling while leading players from left to right on the structure.
The bridges serve as breaks between climbing sessions, preserving players interest, while not being too long so that they keep their flow. Moreover, switching side presents various vistas of the environment, reinforcing the global atmosphere of this chapter.
Just as other levels I've worked on, I scripted the transition between this one and the end game credits. Here it is represented through a cutscene that is triggered when interacting with the game element at the top of the structure. It was mandatory for me and the QA team that everything was working, so that the Cinematic Artist can peacefully create the cinematic and test it in real gameplay condition.