Lane Engelberg
Level Design
«
“Spring Up” — A Study in Finding the Fun
As a self-directed project, I wanted Additionally, I expanded on the possible
mechanics and make them fun to use. I resource (Motes) in the world the player
to showcase my ability to prototype
chose Unreal Engine for its ability to let me
build everything from the ground up with
also launches to use.
few restrictions, so I could prove that the After the mechanical implementation was
what the engine provided. small things that improve game feel. From
fun came from my own design rather than
I developed “Spring Up” over a 15-week
Directed Focus Study course as a 3D
platformer, a notoriously challenging
genre to design for. After initial exploration
and testing, I chose to create a launch-
based movement system where the
player aims and launches themselves in
an arc. This tackled the main downfall of
3D platformers (imprecise jumping) by
giving the player full control in that regard.
36
level designs by including a reusable
LEVEL DESIGN
solid and bug-free, I focused on “juice” —
visual flare during movement to particle
effects on important actions, I developed
a greater sense of how to find the fun in a
game.