Adepts Arena - Pre-production exploration

This was a vertical slice used to pitch a potential open world sandbox mode for a VR and flatscreen game called Adepts Arena.

My goals here were to have intuitive non-linear navigating with a heavy emphasis on framing key landmarks with strong composition and context to guide the player. Major locations we're place in a way that players not only have clear orientation but rewarding reveals around every corner, along with immediate an understanding of density of exploration/general hierarchy of difficulty they may encounter in the location before traveling to it. Breadcrumbing clues, enemy patrols, and world building subtly and subconsciously nudge players into the handcrafted moments that best accent the player's experience without them feeling like they have no agency.

Lamont Barry contributed as level design support taking on the Farm village and Cliffside village PoIs after the macros were established, as well as defining additional micro scattered around the level.

Ultimately, this level was used as an exploration to help narrow down the direction of the game, explore the scope of potential avenues, and act as a vertical slice for investors and may not appear in the final product.

Concept art by Adriano Lorusso | https://adrianolorusso.artstation.com/
Please go give him a follow!

And wishlist here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2268430/Adepts_Arena/