Tren was a huge delight to work on. I designed one of the Ace Challenges, took ownership over balancing the game using data sourced from our playtest with PlayStation London's User Research Team, and assisted with the design quality pass, where we checked that each level was built according to the Tren design standards set by Creative Director, John Beech.
"Tren, the innovative new play, create and share system from your good friends here at BeechCorp! Explore a miniature transportation empire, with twists, turns and surprises at every junction."
Designing Ninja Octopus
Finding a hook
I was really excited when John offered me the chance to design one of the last levels to go into Tren. I took some time to play many of the other wonderful levels in the game till I found a hook. In one of them, I discovered that I can do a backflip mid air from one track to another, if it's timed right, and I immediately thought, I've found my fun!
Because of the shape of the magnetic rails snapped together, I immediately thought of octopus tentacles, and since you're doing cool parkour, the name Ninja Octopus quickly stuck.
In the below video, I recorded an initial playthrough of the level for John to review. He asked me to design a small tutorial section before the main area, so the player could be taught how to do a backflip. When the player reaches the main intersection, we quickly recognised that it hard to gauge what to do without this addition.
Ordering the gameplay like this helped players quickly gauge and practise the core gameplay that will then help them navigate the level. We ended up redesigning what happens at the initial tutorial area, but the practise jump remained.
Please unmute the video as it has my voice recorded :)
The final level, as it is in the game today
I designed the level from 3D sketch, to building it in engine, scripted gameplay using Dreams' Logic system and set dressed the level so to communicate ideas for the Art Team.
Balancing Tren
Documentation
I documented every level and the changes I made, with a link to the Jira bug if it had one assigned for the difficulty/lack of difficulty. This helped us track which levels had changes applied, especially when rechecking levels closer to the end of production.
I used a spreadsheet created from the playtest data that showed which levels players had the most difficulty with ; this told me how strongly to balance the level, and whether to make the level easier or harder. In Tren, challenge is assigned to how quickly a player has to finish the level to receive either 3 pips (the max amount) to 0 pips, so if the time is increased = level is easier, versus, time is decreased = level is harder.
I left detailed notes of why I made the changes so that after I had a review with my senior, I could show her why I reached certain conclusions and decisions - it made it easier for us to discuss and change numbers too.
For example, my notes for a level that needed the time to be increased:
And, my notes for a level that needed the time to be decreased:
I have blurred the full document, which is ten pages in total. I'm really proud of the heavy detail I recorded down, it helped the feedback process be as efficient as possible. I had enormous fun working through this process. In total, I reviewed and balanced 25 levels using our playtest data and on two occasions, I ran impromptu tests with the team to help confirm decisions (you can see those new figures being considered in the last two pages on the bottom right!)
Assisting with the design quality pass
A small group of designers, myself included, assisted with playing all the Tren levels and checking for inconsistencies with how the tracks were built, or how the assets were placed. I've spliced together a couple muted screen records of me checking the levels and showing the supports I built to hold up the tracks. Tren is physical, so everything in the air had to have support structures that had to be built in particular way.
In the first clip, I realise that this small gap can be filled with 0.5 straight barrier; in the second, I'm showing the support structures I built for this loop de loop; in the third, I very luckily spotted this decal error; and in the final clip, I realised after recording that the tracks had been snapped together incorrectly, which is why the cargo carts fell off the track!
Working on Tren and with the Tren team was a complete joy. I think I did a stellar job with how I recorded my design process and progress, and I learnt how to be a better designer off the feedback that came from sharing the videos with the team.
Here's a bonus pic of my baby pic in the game!
Thanks for reading!