VEGVÍSIR
A Hellblade inspired experience
PROJECT GOALS
With this project, I’ve sought to create an atmospheric single player experience. One that focuses on simple puzzles and traversal, where the spectacle of the environment drives the player forward just as much as the story and gameplay.
I wanted to channel the sense of awe and wonder I feel when exploring worlds such as God of War or Hellblade, while also working towards making the journey engaging from a gameplay perspective.
DETAILS
DEVELOPED OVER: 5 weeks half-time
ENGINE: Unreal Engine 5.2
TEMPLATE: Developed by me for the project.
PACKS: Low Poly Viking World, by PolyArt3D , Unreal Marketplace
OVERVIEW
Act 1
Act 2
Act 3
NARRATIVE
Intended as the opening section of a freestanding experience, Vegvísir follows the player on their journey towards Yggdrasil, the World Tree of nordic mythology.
Having landed on a mist-shrouded shoreline, they must now brave a strange and unwelcoming isle to reach their goal.
I wanted this journey to not only be an external one, but also represent the character’s internal turmoil, even acting as a manifestation of it. Each act's environment infused with what they are experiencing on that particular story beat.
GAMEPLAY LOOP
For this project I chose to focus on a Puzzles, Traversal and Skill Challenges.
PUZZLES. Where an obstacle (locked door, missing path etc) is presented and can not be circumvented until the player finds the “key”. Usually simple, but requires the player to constantly explore and interact with the environment.
TRAVERSAL. Means of moving through the environment, with enough variation to keep the player engaged.
SKILL CHALLENGES. Platforming or timing based challenges, relying on the player’s mastery of the movement system. Intended to raise the stakes and allows for variation in pacing.
ACT 1 - A SHIPWRECKED SHORE
OBJECTIVES
NARRATIVE: Reach the World Tree.
DESIGN: Teach player base mechanics.
THEMES: Harsh, Cold, Unwelcoming, A Long Journey Ahead
A JOURNEY BEGINS
The player stands on the shoreline. Their boat in front of them. This journey is a dangerous one. Surrounded by shipwrecks and harsh and jagged rocks, the only way forward is blocked by a mysterious fog.
Here I aim to give the player space to take in the world of the game, as well as to begin getting used to the basic controls. This is also where they encounters their first Guidestone and must interact with it to clear the fog and continue onwards.
ESTABLISHING THE END GOAL
Interacting with the Guidestone scatters the fog, revealing more of the shipwrecked shore as well as our end goal, the massive World Tree, looming in the distance.
The tree and its roots serve as a landmark throughout the experience, reminding the player about their end goal and their current relation to it. The pulsing yellow light of the tree matches that of the Guidestones, creating a mental link between the two for the player.
POINT OF NO RETURN
Leaving the shore, the player interacts with another Guidestone, revealing their next mid term goal, a cave entrance at the top of the cliffs, marked by a giant stone dragon's head. Here the the player learns about vaulting, crouching and the climbing mechanics.
While on a vantage point looking back at the shore, the player experiences the first of The Quakes. The ground begins to shake and the tide swallows up the shore as well as your boat. These Quakes will return throughout the journey, affecting the environment.
JUST OUT OF REACH...
Once the player reaches the centre of the island, they are rewarded with a vista of their end goal; the World Tree.
From here on it should be easy. Just cross the bridge.
That’s when a second Quake strikes and the bridge begins to crumble. The player now has to race across, but will ultimately fall into the depths below...
ACT 2 - THE QUAGMIRE
OBJECTIVES
NARRATIVE: Escape the Swamp
DESIGN: Introduce new challenges
THEMES: Sorrow, Stagnation, Lowest Point, No Way Out
STUCK IN THE MUCK
The player has encountered their first major setback and is facing failure. They are at a low, both internally and externally.
The World Tree is far, far above, the muddy waters of The Swamp slows them down and is littered by giant, weeping stone heads. This place is sorrow and defeat.
INTRODUCING SPIRITS
Wading through the waters, the player is introduced to a new obstacle.
Malovent Spirits that must be avoided. Always heralded by a Quake, these enemies move in patterns and hurt the player when touched, so timing and speed is needed to avoid them.
FINDING THE WAY
Up until now, the Guidestones needed to clear the way have been easy to access, but now the player must further explore and interact with the environment in order to reach them.
I made sure to always have the Guidestone visible from the ground. Once spotted, the player has to figure out how to reach it.
ACT 3 - ROOTS OF THE WORLD TREE
OBJECTIVES
NARRATIVE: Climb the roots of the World Tree.
DESIGN: Previous challenges, but with a twist.
THEMES: Ascension, Overwhelming, Growth
AN OVERWHELMING CHALLENGE
The player is faced with their final trial, a large cavern underneath the World Tree. Impossible to climb, enormous roots are connected by bridges and the only way forward leads to one of many strange portals that glow with a familiar yellow light.
I wanted this space to feel like an impossible task, where the player can not make sense of the full room nor immediately figure out the solution but rather have to approach it step by step.
THINKING WITH PORTALS
While each portal is placed to have a clear view of its sibling, and marked with matching symbols, travelling through them and figuring out how they are connected can be disorienting, something I wanted to be part of this challenge.
Along the way they must find levers to activate connecting bridges and find Guidestones to clear up blocking fog. To keep the player on their toes I also reintroduce the Spirits from act two, and made use of some platforming.
AND STILL I RISE
Thematically, act 3 is about ascension; the player fell and is now figuring out how to climb the unclimbable. At the end of this experience, they reach the final portal and pass through the light to the next step of their journey.
Whatever that may be.
THE PROCESS
PRE PRODUCTION
INSPIRATION & REFERENCES
I drew a lot of inspiration from Hellblade: Senuas’ Sacrifice and God of War (2018). Not only in their takes on nordic mythology but for the sense of grandeur found in their levels. These are worlds I’ve enjoyed moving through and I wanted to create a similar, if leaner, experience.
Thematically, I also wanted to touch on how these games intertwine story and environment and I eventually settled on a three act structure, each one with a core theme; Strength, Defeat and Ascension.
SKETCHES
Sketching everything on paper allowed me to quickly visualise the journey and efficiently reiterate.
Already here the project went through aquite a few different iterations where I initially intended the whole experience in one singular level, but later settled on three seperate spaces.
ALPHA
FEATURE GYM
I decided on not using a pre-existing template, but rather script everything myself.
First thing I did was to set up a Gym, allowing me to test and tweak everything I scripted. This helped inform my choice of metrics once blocking began.
BLOCKOUT
Getting a rough blockout done was a top priority.
This allowed me to quickly try things out and get consistent playtesting and feedback early. I like to keep things in a stage of blockout as long as I can, as it keeps the reiteration process simple and expedient.
Each act was kept as its own seperate level that I load in as the player progresses.
BETA & POLISH
THE SHORE
IN THE SWAMP
BENEATH THE WORLD TREE
REITERATIONS
PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS
The iteration process didn’t end until the project itself did. Through a steady stream of feedback, areas kept seeing changes. One such change was the presence of the Spirits.
Through playtesting I learned that:
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It felt like Spirits were being introduced too early.
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They didn’t have enough presence in later game.
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In terms of gameplay, Act 2 didn't have as much of a identity as Acts 1 and 3.
My solution:
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I removed the Spirits from Act 1, and chose instead to introduce the concept of the Quakes here.
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Spirits were given a Quake signalling their spawn-ins
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Spirits were given a clearer introduction and role in Act 2
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More Spirits were added to Act 3.
This helped give each Act a more distinct purpose and improved the flow of the experience:
Act 1 taught you the basics
Act 2 challenge you by introducing Spirits
Act 3 put a twist on things by adding the portals.
PLAYTHROUGH
REFLECTIONS
This project started as a love letter to some of my most cherished memories of games. That sense of awe when you turn a corner and come face to face with not just a pretty picture, but something explorable. Something I know that I will get to take part of, traverse and maybe even have an impact on.
My roots are in storytelling and here I wanted to work towards something fantastical, something with an inherent narrative to it, without having to get into the nitty gritty of writing dialogue and plot.
Deciding to script everything myself was definitely part of the challenge, but one I appreciate that I took the time to do, as it gave me a chance to develop further in that field. I do however feel that from a gameplay point of view, the project would have benefitted with at least one additional core feature. Something akin to God of War’s Leviathan Axe, that allows the player to interact with the world and solve puzzles through the use of projectiles. Were I to take the project further, this is something I definitely would want to explore.
Thank you
Victor Majorin