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Level & Environment Designer
Thermal | Unity 3D
Trailer
Thermal is a top-down mobile survival game in which you play as an alien organism using thermal energy to locate her children (Baliens) and either escape from or eliminate the enemies who have captured them.
At each level, the player begins at HOME (the base planet), which provides infinite thermal energy. As the player ventures deeper into space to find their Baliens, there is a risk of losing all thermal energy (Game Over), either by moving too much without recharging from scattered ASTEROIDS or by sustaining too many hits from enemies.
This game offers a unique space exploration experience from an alien's perspective. The use of sonar simulates the mother's calls to her Baliens, setting a clear and easily understandable goal, allowing the player to focus more on the tranquil exploration of space.
Thermal
My Role: Level Designer
Engine: Unity 3D
Team Size: 1 Artist, 2 Designers and 2 Programmers
Development Time: 7weeks
Platform: Andriod
Average Playtime: 30 minutes
My Responsibilities
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Game Design Document
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System Design (Enemy, Stats, puzzle)
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Level Design​ and Buidling in Engine
Level Design Features
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I was responsible for designing Levels 4 through 7. These levels focus on reinforcing the player’s skills in movement and objective location, while introducing new attack mechanics and enemies.
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Level 4 Design Features
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Overview Map of Lvl 4
Level 4 introduces the Explosion Attack, enabling players to counterattack enemies. This level also features the puzzle Ice Blockers for the first time, rewarding players with energy pickups after they break through the Ice Blockers or defeat enemies.
When the player activates the explosion button, it releases a wave that destroys nearby enemies and ice blockers. To encourage the use of the Explosion skill, I placed Ice Blockers at certain entrances in Level 4. Players must destroy these to advance and will receive rewards for doing so.
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Ice Blockers and Explosion Attack
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Level 5 Design Features
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Overview Map of Lvl 5
Level 5 adds more types of enemies based on Level 4, and the map design of the scene becomes more complex, featuring asteroid clusters like a maze, with an increased number of enemies to raise the difficulty of the game.
In Level 5, I designed and introduced a new enemy: Fort, the Fort can perform ranged attacks and cannot move. I also introduced the bunker (a shield made up of Ice Blockers surrounding the Fort).
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Fort surrounded by ice blocks
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Level 6 Design Features
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Overview Map of Lvl 6
Level 6 has introduced a new enemy. These enemies will form formations to collectively attack the player.
Additionally, the distance between resources in the scene has been adjusted,
requiring players to manage resources more carefully.
In Level 6, I designed and added a new enemy: Destroy. It has a faster movement speed and high attack power, and I set its characteristics to often team up with Minions.
Compared to the previous levels, Level 6 has set the positions of the three objectives slightly farther from Home, encouraging players to actively return to Home for supplies to make full use of it.
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Destroyer
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Level 7 Design Features
As the final level, Level 7 does not introduce new enemies or game mechanics.
The map in this level is more complex, and the enemies are more challenging.
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Overview Map of Lvl 7
The map design of Level 7 is more like a maze, where players need to make reasonable route plans based on the enemies and resources in the small spaces within the maze.
These mazes offer players diverse strategies and routes; some routes can reach the goal faster but require dealing with more powerful enemies, while others are slower but carry minimal risk.
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Maze in Level 7
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Maze in Level 7
Enemy Design
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Enemy List
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