SPOOKULELE

(In Development)

SPOOKULELE trailer video.

Description

SPOOKULELE is an Action-RPG set in New Orleans with fast-paced musical combat. Play as Spooky and Haru as they embark on a creepy, cute, and darkly funny adventure through the iconic American city, fighting back against the dead with the power of violence and jazz music.

"When a fabled disaster causes ghosts to spill into the human world, an apathetic reaper and a fearless young girl with magical powers must use their musical abilities to fight ghosts and save the world from an endless night."

This is a capstone project currently under development in USC's year-long Advanced Game Development course. Updates on its progress and more info can be found at: https://spookulele.wixsite.com/my-site/spookulele

My Role as Lead World Designer

  • Designed and grayboxed the French Quarter level to best blend gameplay and narrative together while preserving the authentic feel of the real French Quarter of New Orleans.
  • Documented key design problems and decisions for internal use and presentation to key industry and faculty members.
  • Interpreted playtest and review feedback, and used it to inform subsequent iteration on the levels, encounters, and narrative sequences of the game.
  • Communicated with artists on the level's design goals and ensuring we meet key deadlines and milestones.
  • Worked with a multidisciplinary team to design the game's encounter system, and used it to design and implement the game's combat encounters.
  • Led blockmesh and encounter design discussions, providing feedback, guidance and technical advice.
  • Collaborating with World Art Lead to establish pipelines between artists and designers for the efficient creation of content.
  • Established clear level design goals and worked with fellow disciplines to best make them shine while remaining consistent with the director's vision.

Design Examples

Mobirise

The path we chose to make the level around hits several iconic locations as well as provides plenty of interesting gameplay and narrative opportunities.

Level Design Layout

While working on the French Quarter blockmesh, I wanted the player to feel as if they are weaving through the city, taking detour after detour, as they sought to reach their goal of the Jazz Museum. To evoke this feeling, I blocked off the more direct streets and created an interior bar sequence, as well as a rooftop sequence to break up the street navigation. 

This design allowed for both unique narrative and combat opportunities. The player starts the game as just Haru, and after the interior fight, Spooky and Haru reunite, providing the player with enough time to learn the basic controls of the game without being overwhelmed by the presence of another character. Additionally, changing up the combat space beyond just the asset placement but with making a cramped interior area, and an open rooftop area makes the player think differently about combat and enemy management. 

Ultimately, I sought to make the game's French Quarter level best blend gameplay and narrative together, and while our fantastical version of the space diverges some from the real life version, our hope is that we best illustrate its vibrant aesthetic and night life vibes!

Mobirise

Here is an example of how an encounter is composed in-engine, as well as a peek into its features.

Encounter System

I was part of a multidisciplinary team that designed and developed our game's encounter system. I helped guide discussions on the system's features and in-engine usability options for our designers, as well as advocated for its compatibility with our narrative system. 

I am the primary encounter-maker on the team. I help answer questions the team may encounter(!) while using our tools, and review and provide feedback to other designers on using our system and creating interesting combat spaces. 


Mobirise

Screenshot of an early narrative implementation.

Narrative System

Our narrative system works hand-in-hand with our encounter system, as we have the ability to have events play before/during/after a combat encounter. Expanding our ability to have the characters exchange dialogue beyond scripted narrative sequences and cutscenes allows for a lot more character development and exploration. Furthermore, we work to properly pace character realizations and reactions to line up with those of the player's.

We only recently acquired this capability, but I intend to explore what possibilities can be done with this expanded system to get the most mileage out of it possible. The more we can harmoniously blend gameplay and storytelling, the better!


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