Hill of swords

About Hill of Swords

The Hill of Swords is a speed-level design project in which I try to create a suitable level for a fight between two characters under 48 hours. The gameplay is fairly similar to the open world demo and the soul’s games as both originate from berserk. The tools I used were primarily Figma mood board, UE5 level design gray boxing, environmental design, megascans, and blender for 3d models.

Game concept

Recreating the PS2 and manga level from berserk where Guts and Zodd battle each other in UE5 environment. 

https://youtu.be/3uU7v76rJuU

Research

I had to research mostly on how the PS2 battle was done and the manga chapters to where this scene takes place. Simple concept gameplay mechanics from the open world demo projects were used to save time. I then began to create a mood board with a collection of references to use for the next process.

used for reference purposes only to create the level
used for reference purposes only to create the level

Low fidelity

Created low fidelity prototype in the engine to get a glimpse of how an up climb to a hill can look like using boxes to quickly decorate the level on where to walk, ramps based on the source material, and the overall size of the path up to the hill of swords

Fast iteration on the level of the hill. Scale, path, and locations to fight. The first location is on the right, the second location is in the middle.
Fast iteration on the level of the hill. Scale, path, and locations to fight. The first location is on the right, the second location is in the middle.
Decorating off the side of the level with red boxes to indicate "blockers" and placement for environments
Decorating off the side of the level with red boxes to indicate “blockers” and placement for environments

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High Fidelity

Replacing grey boxes one at a time with mega scan meshes. Using nanite to create a fully playable level instead of block-outs to save time and performance when working with high quality assets in UE5.

Back view of level when replacing grey and red boxes with megascan meshes
Back view of level when replacing grey and red boxes with megascan meshes
Front view of level after the environment was placed on top of level layout
Front view of level after the environment was placed on top of level layout
Final results after 18 hours of level designing and environmental design to recreate the scene.
Final results after 18 hours of level designing and environmental design to recreate the scene.

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Final results. Total time spent, 18 hours.

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