Break the CYCLE
Coming Soon
Coming Soon
SUMMARY
GENRE
Abyssus is a fast-paced FPS roguelite where players can team up with their fellow Brinehunters in co-op.
FEATURES
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Customisable weapons that offer personalised playstyles.
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Distinct locations with unique enemies and bosses.
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Build variety that incentivises using every tool in your arsenal.
MY CONTRIBUTION
Created progression systems from onboarding to endgame and different skill levels.
Balanced the pacing of the meta progression, Achievements, and difficulty curves.
Tutorialisations based on explicit and implicit player needs.
Designed 30+ enemies with unique archetypes.
Created unique movesets for
12 bosses with multiplayer mechanics.
Designed and implemented
hundreds of weapons, upgrades, and modifications.
Designed 100+ encounters for dozens of different enemy types and bosses.
Made modular levels using level instances.
Set up level generation, navigation meshes, loot, and collision.
Additional Work
Writing & Localisation
I wrote the bulk of the text, including the narrative, UI, and in-game descriptions for enemies, player abilities, etc. I also managed communication with our external localisation partners.
Quality Assurance & Porting
The porting process included designing and implementing Achievements for all major platforms and setting up features such as controller rumble. I was additionally the point of contact between the development team and our outsourced QA/CQA teams, while also handling our internal testing.
Marketing
I made pitches for publishers, in which I presented the USP and gameplay loop. After we sealed the deal with our publisher, I also produced trailers and short-form content, amassing 1M+ views.
PROGRESSION
TUTORIAL
PLAYER CUSTOMISATION
Workbench
The Workbench is the first meta progression players are introduced to.
A new weapon can be looted after the tutorial, which acts as an implicit tutorial that introduces Achievements.
Purpose
The Workbench reduces the friction that randomness can cause in roguelikes by providing high player agency in the playstyle they want to pursue, be it by changing weapons, abilities, or mods.
Skill Tree
The Skill Tree (Soul Wheel) is a guaranteed unlock after the first run, with the first Skill introducing weapon upgrades for the next run.
Purpose
Skills are extrinsic rewards, motivating players to collect more currency to unlock new in-loop content and power.
Players spend the most time outside of runs here, theorycrafting builds due to the limited slots available.
Difficulty Tree
The Difficulty Tree (Deep Water Tank) is the last meta progression players unlock, and they are told it's required for the True Ending.
Purpose
Each optional modifier increases friction by, e.g. adding time limits or more powerful enemies. While the in-loop rewards increase and new cosmetics can be unlocked, this system is primarily an intrinsic motivation where players progressively attain complete game mastery.
COMBAT
COMBAT TOOLS
Weapons
Apart from unique weapons that can be looted, such as the Tesla Gun and Disc Thrower, I also designed modifications that enable dozens of distinct playstyles and firing types for every weapon. Above is an example of just two of those modifications on the Engine Rifle.
Abilities
I designed and placed lootable abilities that players can find, each of which offers a new avenue of play. Examples include melee weapons, automatic turrets, and defensive auras.
Blessings
Completing encounters rewards players with Blessings, which were designed to be equipped on any part of the player's toolkit. Blessings with the Wind or Fire attunement will therefore play differently on a slow, but forceful, Anchor build compared to a fast Revolver build.
ENEMIES & BOSSES
Design
The moveset of each enemy was based on the enemy archetype, such as melee, ranged, tank, and support. Bosses were designed similarly to MMORPGs, where each boss mechanic has a specific tool that overcomes it, such as single/double jump, dash, or DPS checks. Each new boss was designed with unique multiplayer-specific abilities.
2D Prototype
Designing enemy movesets would be done first on either pen-and-paper or digitally on Miro. These prototypes would be the basis for in-engine prototypes.
3D Prototype
Each attack got an in-engine prototype using existing metrics and engine gizmos as part of the design document.
LEVEL DESIGN
ENCOUNTERS
DRAG SLIDER to compare blockout & art pass
Top-down map
Process
1. Ideation
Coming up with a theme, basing the direction on my level design moodboard and enemy movesets.
2. Paper Prototype
Making a digital top-down map in Miro with a grid for determining the scale and to easily adhere to the existing metrics.
3. Blockout
Importing the digital map as a guideline, then iterating based on the expected flow. Tech such as level generation, enemy spawns, etc., is also set up.
4. Level Art
I would do the first art pass, then hand the level over to the environment artists for a second pass. We would iterate before a final collision and polish pass.
Flow
Figure Eigths
Combat arenas do not have dead ends to keep the player in motion. Instead, they are built like looping race tracks, where players can switch between tracks.
Cover
Cover is sparse to incentivise movement as the primary defensive tool. However, to break the line of sight, pillars, railings, and differences in verticality can be used as protection from aerial attacks or as partial cover.
Mastery
Increasing Friction
New areas should initially feel daunting due to increasing complexity in navigating and unknown hazards.
Decreasing Friction
After learning the layout of a combat space, players can kite enemies toward holes to push them down or quickly reach vantage points.
TRAVERSAL
Modular
Building-blocks
Spaces are built from modular pieces, enabling fast iteration and deep variety by switching out level instances.
Dynamically Generated
When the level generation won't allow certain rooms to fit together, transition spaces seamlessly load in to connect them.
Lower Tension
Safe Spaces
Non-combat spaces are short but regular, acting as introductions to new areas and as moments of respite.
Rewarding Progress
Loot appears between combat encounters so that players can safely strategise about what upgrades to get without stressing over enemies they might have missed.