DESIGNER / PRODUCER
Timeless Tale is a turn-based RPG where you take on the role of a boy mysteriously transported back in the past, to a Victorian style 1800s town. Guide the young lad around the new area talking to NPCs, obtaining items, and battling enemy creatures, to unravel the mystery as to whats going on and how to save Adelaide, a young woman with a seemingly incurable illness.
I was in charge of the level design, designed the main battle mechanic, the chronobooster, and managed the project for our team of seven.
RESPONSIBILITIES
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Level Design
When making the levels for Timeless Tale, I wanted to make sure every level looked different from the next so that players would know where they are and not get confused. In the town, the buildings you can enter all look distinct compared to the generic houses. Also, when the player moves between scenes the camera's position freezes to let them know they are entering a new area.
ChronoBooster Mechanic
With our game being a turn-based RPG, and inspired by Paper Mario and South Park: Stick of Truth, we wanted to make sure our combat was active and original. The ChronoBooster fits in with the time theme of the game and rewards good timing with extra damage. The patterns for each attack are the same, but the buttons are different every time.
Progression
Originally, entering a battle would give you random enemies, both in type and amount (1-3 enemies). During playtesting, we found that this gave less incentive to battle and more to run away, especially if you got 3 enemies. We reworked that system to be able to set the enemies that appear manually so that progression felt more natural and gave a better difficulty curve as you play the game.
Items
I helped design both the consumable items the player uses, and where the player obtains them in the levels. Using the camera fade script, I was able to hide items in fun locations behind sprites in the environment (Items also drop from defeated enemies). I also worked on balancing items so that each were useful and that item amounts were even.