Sorelle Game Design: Pier
Directed & guided design team through a 1-year development cycle.
Made substantial level re-designs for the game’s release to Steam.
Overview
The Pier level is the first “real” level of Sorelle after the tutorial, where the three sisters must help the town fisherman fix the magical lighthouse and repair the docks.
Initial Level Design:
The Pier Level concept implemented by the Sorelle team for our initial game release was to have Alessandra and Bella work together, using their levitation and ground-pound abilities to set up a mirror sequence for Capri, who would use her light powers to restore the lighthouse’s glow.
Previous Level Analysis:
There were some design difficulties we discovered during playtests:
- Objective of revealing mirrors was unclear
- Players had trouble noticing where they could platform
- The area looked moderately empty
Footage of before the re-design:
Level Design Changes:
I wanted to keep the core design of the level the same: slowly unvieling mirrors to ricochet Capri’s light all the way to an unreachable lighthouse in the distance.
With this in mind, to fix the usability issues I implemented the following:
- Designed gameplay sequences. Cutscenes showing moving gates that highlight important objects around the area
- Redesigned mirrors to be “magical,” making their importance clear as they are revealed throughout the level
- Balanced utilizing the three sisters’ powers
- Updated set dressing & environment art to bring more life to the Pier location
Footage after the re-design: