Level Design Exploration - Echoes Of Extinction

Echoes of Extinction - environment level design to final gameplay in real time.

I was tasked with adding a new playable area to somewhere on the map, so I chose a secluded Island with nothing much for players to see yet. I designed a parkour course from blockout to real time render, carefully placing assets by hand, testing all the motion played well, and using lots of real-life references of jungle / cliff side paths to make it as immersive and fun to play as possible. Our game loop could span multiple hours, so it's important to make fun zones for players to be entertained and relax.

The materials and natural elements are all properties and previously made by the Burning Rock Studios team, with a special thanks to John for helping me with Nanite, optimisation, and materials side of things. I sculpted and cleaned up all the bones, platforms, and lore elements on the path. Those included two hand illustrated decals that went through Designer to get a chalky, rough look as if they were cave man paintings, and one sculpture depicting scenes from the lore of the world. Collisions were tough, especially when scaling to different size extremes, and had to be play tested multiple times to make sure the player wouldn't get stuck anywhere and had just enough difficulty to be engaging.

https://www.artstation.com/johnmarkhenry9

We recently moved to Unreal Engine 5.7 and with that came a lot of optimisation to keep in mind, especially for a multiplayer game with the possibility of 100 players at the same time. Utilising Nanite is important, allowing for large triangle counts but keeping in mind to maintain a uniform triangle density to allow Nanite's clustering algorithm to decimate and cull with maximum efficiency. Smooth normals allow for 30% more efficient decimation. Assets had a sub-30GB build size through Material Instance sharing and aggressive Nanite compression.

The most interesting thing I learnt was that for foliage, John taught to move away from traditional "Masked/Alpha-fold" foliage, instead utilizing 100% full-geometry models with Opaque materials. By eliminating Opacity Masks and Two-Sided Shaders, it forces Nanite into its fastest rendering path (Raster Bins), significantly reducing the overdraw that usually tanks performance in dense forests.

Echoes of Extinction is an open world prehistoric horror survival set on a mysterious island inhabited by dinosaurs and tribal humans. Survival is a test of resilience and adaptability. Players must carve their path in this challenging world, competing for territory, resources and ultimately, their own survival.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2822720/Echoes_of_Extinction/