Dan Kärrholm

Level Designer

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Genre
Point-and-Click, Puzzle adventure
Time
3 weeks
Roles
Level Design, Game Design, 2D artist
Type
School Project
Tools
Unity, Perforce, Adobe illustrator, Adobe Photoshop

Stargazer

Stargazer is a magical point-and-click adventure game full of puzzles and mysteries. A young girl awakens to find herself in an enchanted tower full of old tomes and strange equipment. But who is she? And why can’t she remember?
Moodboard for the Project

Design Goals

The main goal was to make a point-and-click, puzzle, game, set in a fantasy world. We wanted the game to feel like 2D point-and-click games out there but set in a 3D environment. Style wise, we wanted a cartoon style shader but with outlines.

CONTRIBUTIONS

LEVEL DESIGN

2D ART

PUZZLE DESIGN

  • A level from paper to blockout to finnished level with set-dressing
  • Worked on 2D-graphics
  • Worked on the games different puzzles and riddles.

Level Blockout

I wanted the library level to have multiple floors with bookshelves around the walls in which books and/or items could be hidden. The only way these books/items could be obtainable, was through some floating furnisher the player would raise through the different moon phases in the moon-puzzle. This idea was later scrapped due to complications with the nav-mesh and movement of water.

Final Level

The final level is constructed by 4 floors, each with something for the player to collect, for example a key, crystal and the majority of books with clues to solve the zodiac and potion puzzles.​

For set dressing I wanted it to feel like this part of the witches tower had been submerged for a long time so I added a lot of hanging vines and greenery. I also submitted a task for the artist to make a variant of the material/textures with moss and mold on them to match my vision.​

I also designed the lightsource to be the floating crystal in the middle of the room, following the player as he/she moved up and down the tower.
Animated GIF

2D GRAPHICS

To take some workload off the artists I helped out with the 2D-graphics we needed for the game. One of the biggest elements the player would see was the  zodiac puzzle so that is something I worked a little more on. Other things I worked on are the various 2D items you can see around the game.

Telescope Rings / Zodiac Puzzle

The final level is constructed by 4 floors, each with something for the player to collect, for example a key, crystal and the majority of books with clues to solve the zodiac and potion puzzles.​

For set dressing I wanted it to feel like this part of the witches tower had been submerged for a long time so I added a lot of hanging vines and greenery. I also submitted a task for the artist to make a variant of the material/textures with moss and mold on them to match my vision.​

I also designed the lightsource to be the floating crystal in the middle of the room, following the player as he/she moved up and down the tower.

2D-Arts

I Also worked on the different 2D-arts that can be seen around the game, for example the moon and the "sun" from the zodiac puzzle.​

When designing the moon I had to keep in mind that it would get lit from different angles in the engine so as to simulate the different faces of the moon. To achieve this I tried to make it look 3 dimensional but at the same time have no direct light source. When it comes to the sun, I tried to keep to the same style as the rings.
Size down to normal
Handlebars for before/after slider
d.karrholm@gmail.com
in
Norrköping, Sweden