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— PROJECT NAME

Dead Maze

— PLATFORMS

PC, Mac OSX, Linux (Steam)

The project

Dead Maze is an indie survival MMORPG taking place in a post-apocalyptic setting with a 2D cartoony style. It is the first project I worked on to end up being released publicly, on Steam.

The player is dropped in Sacramento after a big tsunami hit the US East coast and Infecteds started to appear. You have to cut your way through zombie hordes, find improvised weapons wherever you can and manage your hunger and thirst.

The game heavily relies on a crafting and recycling system, inciting players to identify spots on the maps where they can find items for specific materials to craft better weapons, healing items or furnitures for their base.

Full width view of the tutorial map

— ROLE

Level Builder & Designer

Quest Designer

— DATE

April 2017 – August 2019

Level Design

First as a simple Level builder and then as a Level designer, I tackled many aspects of the maps, from the basic building of maps to the global design of future and new ones.

The scene taking place in a post-apocalyptic setting without much human, I was particularily focused on narrative-driven level design and storytelling environment.

- Post-blocking building under the direction of the Narrative Designer.

- Level Lighting, global and local atmosphere.

- Visual upgrade and items repartition revision on old maps.

- Layout design and blocking.

- Enemy and hords pathing and balancing.

- Documentation for graphic designers with the narrative and level design intentions.

• Critical Path

• Hardest zone

• Secret Passage

New zone prototype – Power Plant Mountain City – Global zoning

Local blocking – Spawning area

Local blocking – North mountain area

Beginning of the map built, not lighted

Quest Design

Due to my affinity with the game's custom engine and my knowledge of the maps, I was in charge of designing and scripting quests and cutscenes, using a custom scripting language.

As the project progressed, we hired 3 narrative designer freelancers for the purpose of adding several new side quests.

I worked closely with them, managing them during their writing process and implementing their work.