MI-CLOS STUDIO

FREEFLIGHT

FreeFlight is a 1st Person Survival / Exploration game, where the protagonsit, Sile, needs to explore the remains of a worldship abandonned a long time ago.

DETAILS

Engine : Unreal Engine 5
Genre : Survival / Exploration / Sci-Fi

Scope : AA
Release : Cancelled

Team Size : 30

Role : Level Designer
Duration : 1 year 8 months

From 2022 to 2024 I was in charge of :

Layout of multiple levels & Level art intentions

Creation of a modular pipeline in the studio, in tandem with artists and producer

World design, conception, high level blocking

Mission design for a demo level, in tandem with narrative designers

Design and implementation of gameplay elements

Concept and prototyping in early stage of the project

Modular Pipeline

One of my main mission on Freeflight was to set up a pipeline based on modular assets for the creation of the levels, in tandem with artists and producer.

The main goal of this pipeline was to give a great autonomy to the designers and allow a lot of iterations, while letting the artists focus on visual iterations and key locations of the levels. Therefore Level Designers were greatly involved in the level art pass.

Image : First draft of the vertical slice level, using modular asset packs.

VERTICAL SLICE

Production time : 3 months

Duration : ~ 45 min

Team Size : 20

Focus : Exploration

Focus on affordance, diegetic communication & exploration in a large scale level. We wanted the players to be able to explore without relying on quest markers and by only using diegetic elements (signs, room names). But also to integrate gameplay elements in a a way that make sense in the environement, as well as guiding the players.

Image : map of the level (WIP)

GAMEPLAY DEMO

Production time : 3 weeks

Duration : ~ 10 min

Team Size : 8

Focus : Gameplay / Pacing

Focus on pacing in a small level, to make new balancing of the gameplay after playtests of the vertical slice. The main constraint was to make the level with only existing assets and gameplay elements & with very few artists on the level (only for lighting & UI).

Image : map of the level

First Playable

Production time : 2 month

Duration : ~ 10 min

Team Size : 12

Focus : Narration / Atmosphere

First playable of the game. Focused on art, narration & premises of gameplay elements. Emphasis on digetic gameplay elements and affordance with the flux mechanic that act as guide for the player, while making sense in the environement.

VIdeo : trailer of the level