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Janne Markkula
Level Designer
Stranded
A "mini-metroidvania" level made for Prodeus, using the official Prodeus Level Editor.
My main pillars for the level design of this project were:
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Metroidvania-like progression: Obstacles that can only be overcome by finding a certain weapon or ability.
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Focus on exploration and platforming with only light combat. Lots of secrets for those willing to seek them out.
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5-20 minutes of gameplay (5 if you speedrun, 20 if you collect everything).
Accomplishments:
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4.5/5 star rating by players on the Prodeus community workshop
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Featured in the "Staff Picks" section on the Prodeus community workshop
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Project Details
Development Time: 4 weeks
Development Platform: Official Prodeus Level Editor
Main Responsibilities: Level Design, Scripting, Lighting and Atmosphere, Set Dressing, Texturing, Optimizing Performance
Challenges: Learning a new level design tool, Creating new mechanics using only visual scripting, Introducing the player to these mechanics
Level Design Showcase
(Full Playthrough + Secrets)
A full playthrough of the level. All secrets showcased in a separate section starting at 12:45.
Design and Process

The main routes, collectibles and secrets of the first room visualized. The level exit can be seen at the beginning of the level, giving the player a clear
goal to aim towards, and giving them a sense of familiarity and accomplishment when they eventually loop back to this room at the end of the level.

The first room at various stages of development before the final version.

The final version of the first room.

The first room at various stages of development before the final version.

The second room at various stages of development before the final version.

The final version of the second room.

The second room at various stages of development before the final version.




Clearly colored lighting, and weather effects in the outdoor areas, make each area distinct and memorable, which helps with navigation.
The level doesn't involve a lot of backtracking, but when looking for secrets, this makes it easier to recognize places you've already been.
Custom Mechanics (through visual scripting)
Activatable Bridges
Bridges can be activated by shooting their corresponding buttons with the pistol.
The second bridge in the video is one of the areas where the player needs to explore a bit to progress.
The bridge is down on the lower level, so the player needs to find a way to the upper level, shoot the button to activate the bridge, then drop down (or circle back around, if they so choose).
Some of the bridges only go half-way.
They are barely out of reach for the normal jump, and as such, they can only be reached once the player has acquired the double jump.
This first one is designed in a way where it is still possible (though not guaranteed) to land on the bridge below, should the player miss the jump.
Destructible Ice
Teaching the player to use their newly acquired shotgun to destroy ice.
The drop is too high to jump back up, so the only way forward is through the ice.
The drop wasn't there in the initial version of the level, but through testing, it became apparent that some players didn't think of using the shotgun to destroy the ice, especially since it doesn't do so in the base game. Hence the additional tutorialization.
These platforms are accessible only after acquiring the shotgun.
With it, the player can destroy the blocks of ice, making the platform above drop down to a reachable height.
There can also be items inside the ice.
Using These Mechanics Together for More Engaging Exploration
The area before the boss fight has the player double jump while shooting ice out of the way, as well as shooting ice to reveal a shootable button underneath.
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Shooting the button activates a bridge, which works both as a way back to the center for the player, as well as one third of the solution to this very light puzzle.
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Doors
Different weapons open different doors. Here the player encounters a blue door that they can't open yet.
Opening the yellow door nearby gives the player a glance at a new weapon, but no way to get to it.
Knowing the weapon's location, however, the player can go back outside and look at the environment more carefully, finding a hidden path to the weapon.
Acquiring the weapon and turning around reveals a blue door. The "blue weapon for a blue door" connection feels intuitive, so the player is likely to shoot the door, opening a shortcut back inside. Now they can progress through the earlier blue door as well.
Grates and Ducts
Grates that lead to ducts were a late addition to the level, but I have always enjoyed them in games like Duke Nukem and Deus Ex, so I wanted to include a couple.
This particular duct is optional, but one duct is part of the main route as well.
The player first gets a glimpse of the secret in this duct if they look up in the previous hallway. It's too high up to reach from there, so they need to find another way to enter the duct.
Screenshots of the Final Level




Closing Thoughts
This level came together really well, and I'm really happy with it overall.
For this project, I wanted to try out a new level design tool, and get more used to visual scripting as opposed to C# (which I have been using in Unity for years). I had read that all the official Prodeus levels were made with this same editor, which got me particularly interested, as some of the levels are quite complex.
Prodeus doesn't have many metroidvania-like mechanics, so I had to come up with a few creative solutions for upgrades and obstacles (most notably, a shotgun that can destroy blocks of ice). This also presented a challenge in teaching the player these new mechanics, but after some iteration, one tester even called the teaching "perfect".
The scripting workflow was really fun, as it's all handled inside the same editor by drawing lines from actual game objects (as opposed to a separate UI window). It was surprisingly satisfying to come up with simple solutions to somewhat complex mechanics (a lot of it involved moving an object out of sight, and moving another in its place, all obscured by some particle effects).
What I would do differently, were I to start the same project all over again:
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I would keep my brush/object sizes smaller.
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I made a couple of huge objects at the start of the project (the main walls of the level were mostly one object, for example), which became a bit hard to manage by the end, especially since Prodeus doesn't seem to have backface culling when it comes to displaying wireframe models.
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I would emphasize the metroidvania aspects even more, and come up with more interesting mechanics for the other guns (besides the shotgun) as well. As it stands, they function more or less like keys, which is a little bit boring compared to blasting icicles.
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I would come up with a reward for finding all the Runes.
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Currently, the runes are just there for 100% completion, but they don't give you anything except for the joy of finding them.
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Something like a secret area, an extra boss fight or platforming challenge, even an easter egg of some kind could have been cool.
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All assets used are from Prodeus. The level is available for owners of Prodeus, searchable under the name "Stranded" on the community workshop.