Fastival
A high-speed kart racer developed in only three months.
Technical & Level Designer | Unreal Engine 5
47 Developers | 3 Months
Holy-Moly Mountain
Fastival is an arcade racer. My primary responsibility was design input for the track from inception to final launch, including length, balancing, visual design, quality assurance, and game feel. I worked on a team of nearly fifty people, contributing my own ideas, and ensuring the ideas of others were properly considered and implemented.
Choices in Pathways
The game was pitched with a throwing mechanic, which eventually morphed into targets being driven over. I contributed to the original design of the targets--the pulsating white ring was my idea and originally represented the timing for throwing--as well as their final placement in this level to ensure a player driving over them got immediate visual feedback.
Eye Candy at the Circus
I designed the initial blockout for the track, focusing on sightlines and the placement of objects to ensure the track remained visually clear as well as enjoyable to drive through despite a potentially limited asset palette.
Making a Mountainous Mole
These were originally drawn as enormous mallets on a whiteboard. As development continued, based on interdisciplinary feedback, I pitched moles as something that would fit the timeframe of the project more suitably. A few artists got onboard with the idea, and the result was a very satisfying and visually distinct hazard.
Postmortem
What Went Well?
​Playtesting.
At the start of the project, all three tracks had very different gameplay feel. After multiple designers conducted playtests throughout the project, all the tracks aligned, providing a unified but still unique experience across all three.
Getting content on screen.
Particularly with a nearly fifty-person team, it is difficult for everyone to visualize the same game. Providing content early and fast, content that is playable, was incredibly helpful explaining what assets or systems were needed for the design.​​​
What Went Wrong?
Cross-discipline communication.
This was the first large scale project for everyone on the team, and as a result many participants became siloed. This caused particular issues for decoration in tracks, as several elements were changed without designers being aware, and vice versa.
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What Did I Learn?
Communication is the most important metric of success.
The biggest successes in development, and what caused the project to come together in the end, was a refocused commitment to communication between team members.
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