Odette's Last Waltz

Role: Game Designer,

Level Designer

Engine: Unreal Engine 5

Team Size: 8

Development Time: 1 month

Platforms: PC

Use your powerful movement abilities to deliver packages to the customers in the zombie apocalypse!

Made in 30 days for the Bad Ideas Game Jam

Game Trailer

Level Designer:

Drafted entire level layout on paper, implementing the block-out into engine.
Took multiple passes on each area of the level, implementing both original and marketplace assets.
Tested distances, time to deliver, and gameplay loop while making the community of houses feel realistic.

Blockout:

While the initial concept shows a more city-like design, I ended up doing something more rural or like a gated community. Given the time limit and only having one 3D artist, we wouldn't have the art capacity to make a fleshed out city.
This first pass was figuring out where to create height differences and test distances between destinations.

concept

House Layout with Terrain

House and Road Blockout Top Down

concept

1/5

Asset Implementation:

During this step, the game started to come together with mechanics and art being implemented and ready for testing.
For some of the more generic assets, I used some from the Unreal Fab store (trees, grass, flowers, hedges).
Having actual assets of course led to map adjustments that better worked with the spacing.

Asset Implementation 1

Asset Implementation 2

Foliage Pass

Asset Implementation 1

1/5

Release:

The release build has a full day-night cycle and all of our planned mechanics.
The general reception was that the game looked great, was slightly too difficult on the balance of the game, but once the player knows what they're doing it's a lot of fun.
The game itself finished 56th overall out of 522 with 45 ratings.

Near Final Pass

Near Final Pass 2

Near Final Pass 3

Near Final Pass

1/3

Post-Jam:

While an updated and expanded Steam release was planned, things fell through. I however did finish a first pass map update that you can see here.
The focus was on more buildings and varied spaces in contrast to the wide open lots of the jam release.

Updated 1

Updated 2

Updated 5

Updated 1

1/5

What Went Well

Game design and theme locked in early, accounting for art style and each team member's production bandwidth.
Fun, simple, and fast gameplay loop.
Appealing models, art, music, and a focus on how the movement feels make the game very replayable.
Level design passes went smoothly and the map feels believable and at a good scale.

What Went Wrong

The level could've used more height variations or hills. Not having a mod-kit also makes many houses feel similar.
The simple tutorial, while helpful, wasn't enough to guide players entirely. Many players didn't figure out how the upgrades work easily.
Difficulty initially is high and gets easier as the player gets upgrades and abilities, eventually making avoiding zombies trivial.
General playtesting didnt occur until the last few days so next to no feedback get implemented.

What I Learned

While a weekly meeting helps, having more consistent check ins with each area of development is important for helping manage the scope.
Even with best intentions, plans can still fall through unexpectedly, so being resilient and taking breaks is important.
A strong initial vision and understanding by the entire team goes a long way for project productivity.