NASCAR Arcade Rush
Company: Team 6 Game Studio
Software: Unreal 5
Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, XBOX series X & S, XBOX One, Switch
Role: Level Designer
Released: 2023
Development Time: ~1 year
The thrill of NASCAR meets the rush of arcade racing in a new game that puts you in the driver’s seat of a completely new NASCAR experience with re-imagined, iconic racetracks in unmatched high-speed, wheel-to-wheel action!
Responsibilities:
I found myself in the curious position of being the only full time level designer on this project. My responsibilities were therefore expansive.
- Spearheading the Level Design process from pre-production until release for 12 total tracks.
- Setting up and managing the Level Design pipeline and timeline.
- Determining and communicating the track design pillars and intentions in tandem with Game Design and the Game Director.
- Establishing the intended racing experiences, POI’s and NASCAR recognizable elements per track based upon research into their real-life counterparts.
- Designing and iterating upon the first track to establish an example and bar-of-quality for the following tracks.
- Concept, metrics and blockout, gameplay pass, testing and iteration, polish and bug fixing.
- Writing and maintaining a Level Design Doc and Creative Handbook to onboard parties into the level design process.
- Managing and providing feedback to 1-3 Game Designers helping out with the level design workload throughout the project.
- Actively iterating upon track designs to elevate them to the established bar-of-quality.
- Discussing and solving or communicating any high-level issues that arise.
- Maintaining direct communication with all departments and parties involved with the tracks.
- Taking part in design brainstorming sessions and being a general team player.
- General QA & bug fixing
Level Design Highlights
Initial preparation
Due to time restrictions it was determined early that the Game Designers would help out in track creation. It was therefore imperative that I had completed all the initial research and track concepts so they could immediately get started with a solid understanding of the experience of the track they were to create;
- Information and interesting facts about the real life counterpart the track is going to be based on.
- What the main Points Of Interest should be.
- What the intended racing experience should be with similar examples from other games.
- How the racing experience should compare to the other tracks in terms of difficulty, racing elements, technicality VS speed and lap length.
- General information on the ‘building blocks’ and metrics (corner types, lane widths, minimum and maximum banking, etc.) of our tracks.
I assembled this information in a Level Design Document. Additionally in cooperation with the Game Director making quick-and-dirty concept track mockup that show off the feel and experience.
“Bar of Quality” Track
To establish a “bar-of-quality” for the gameplay experience of our tracks that would fit within the timeline I designed the initial track and made a ‘rough drivable version’. This gave the other designers, the stakeholders and myself a more concrete example they could play to get a feel for the direction the game should go for. Additionally giving the artists a blank canvas to test their environment style.
Designing & Guiding
After pre-production, me and the assisting designers went into full production, eventually designing a total of 12 tracks. During this time I designed 2 further tracks besides the “bar-of-quality” track. Additionally I provided continuous feedback to the designers, being available for questions or help at any moment while managing stakeholders’ expectations, the timeline and pipeline.
With the designers we established an “anyone can iterate” rule, meaning no track was holy and when properly substantiated any designer could make a change to any track if it would better serve the intended gameplay experience (or general enjoyment) and would still fit within the timeline. I also had several review, iterate and sign-off passes within the pipeline of every track for me to verify the track design has reached the set goals.
Below is a look into the additional 2 tracks I designed.
Check out more of the game on the official website!