Open Veins - Iurupari The traitor
- Guilherme Martins
- 5 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 11 hours ago
Role: Level Designer / Game Designer
Tools: Unreal Engine 5, Maya
Summary
- Overview: Iurupari the Traitor is a zone level built around tension, discovery, and confrontation. The experience is structured as a journey into a hostile and corrupted space where exploration and environmental clues guide the player toward escalating encounters and, ultimately, a decisive boss fight in a dungeon-driven area.
The level blends navigation challenges, curated combat scenarios, and narrative elements embedded directly into the environment. Every space communicates the presence and influence of Iurupari and the overseas invaders, reinforcing the sense that the player is moving deeper into territory shaped by betrayal and conflict.
- Briefing: create a area that rewards observation and decision-making rather than linear progression. Players are encouraged to read the space, choose routes, and approach encounters based on their playstyle.
Exploration reveals hidden paths, optional encounters, and narrative fragments that expand the context of Iurupari’s betrayal. Environmental storytelling replaces explicit exposition, allowing players to interpret what happened through level composition, props, and spatial contrast.
Combat pacing alternates between tight, high-risk encounters and moments of silence and anticipation, building tension before major confrontations.
- Design Ownership: I designed the area from early concept to a fully playable level, focusing on exploration flow, encounter design, and environmental storytelling. The layout was structured to guide players naturally through the space while still allowing freedom of approach and multiple navigation choices. I created and iterated on the level blockout, defining critical paths, secondary routes, and hidden areas to support player agency and discovery. Combat encounters were placed and tuned to reinforce pacing, alternating between pressure and recovery moments while using terrain, chokepoints, and verticality to shape decision making. I implemented environmental storytelling through prop placement, spatial composition, and visual transitions, showing the corruption and influence of Iurupari as players move deeper into the dungeon. Narrative beats were embedded directly into the level rather than delivered through exposition. I designed the progression structure leading to the boss fight, ensuring mechanics, enemy behaviors, and traversal challenges introduced earlier in the level prepared the player for the final confrontation.
The level was built and iterated in-engine using modular assets and prefabs, with continuous playtesting to refine readability, difficulty balance, navigation clarity, and overall player experience.
The Level Breakdown
Briefing
Create a level structured around tension, discovery, and confrontation, guiding players through a hostile and corrupted territory shaped by Iurupari and the invading forces.
The objective was to:
reward observation and decision-making instead of linear progression
use exploration and environmental clues to guide navigation
escalate encounters toward a dungeon-driven boss confrontation
communicate narrative through space rather than exposition
A key design pillar was building a layered environment readable from a top-down perspective, using depth cues and parallax to reinforce spatial hierarchy and progression.
Flowchart
The layout was structured to balance guidance and freedom:
Golden path establishes forward momentum.
Secondary loops reward exploration and resource gathering.
Hidden paths reinforce agency and discovery.
Encounter clusters create rhythm across traversal.
Final convergence leads into a dungeon-driven boss space.
The flow ensures players repeatedly return to the main path after exploration, maintaining narrative and pacing continuity.
Player Flow
The level is experienced as a descent into increasingly hostile territory.
Entry
Players enter a corrupted natural area with low combat pressure.
Environmental storytelling establishes tone and narrative context.
Early routes introduce navigation choice and spatial reading.
Exploration phase
Branching paths allow players to choose how to engage encounters.
Optional routes reveal narrative fragments and hidden resources.
First tension spikes emerge through controlled combat placement.
Mid escalation
Encounters become more structured and deliberate.
Chokepoints and terrain create decision-making pressure.
Recovery spaces appear between high-risk zones.
Dungeon approach
Environmental corruption intensifies visually and spatially.
Mechanics and enemy behaviors previously introduced are recombined.
Boss lead-in
Navigation narrows, pacing tightens, anticipation builds.
The level prepares the player mechanically and emotionally for confrontation.
Encounter logic
Encounters were designed as spatial decisions rather than isolated combat arenas.
Chokepoints create tension and force positional awareness.
Verticality and terrain shape engagement distance and risk.
Safe pockets are intentionally placed after high-pressure sequences.
Optional encounters provide risk-reward choices tied to exploration.
Enemy placement reinforces navigation readability and forward direction.
Combat pacing alternates between:
tight, high-risk engagements
silent traversal moments
anticipation before major confrontations
This rhythm supports emotional escalation toward the boss.
Environmental storytelling and spatial layering
Narrative is embedded directly into the environment:
corruption spreads visually and structurally as players progress
props and spatial contrast communicate invasion and betrayal
dungeon architecture reflects the growing influence of Iurupari
Parallax in a top-down perspective
To reinforce depth and progression in a top-down view, I used layered environmental composition with parallax:
foreground elements move at a different rate than background layers during player traversal
distant environmental silhouettes and structures reinforce directionality
vertical stacking of terrain, props, and architecture creates readable depth planes
This approach:
strengthens spatial hierarchy
improves orientation during exploration
adds visual storytelling without UI guidance
makes progression feel like moving deeper into territory rather than across a flat map
The parallax layer became a navigation tool, not only a visual one.
Design Shortcomings
Early iterations exposed issues during playtesting:
players stayed on the main path and ignored exploration loops
encounter density in some sections created pacing fatigue
visual hierarchy in top-down perspective caused momentary navigation confusion
early environmental cues did not strongly communicate the corruption theme
transition into the dungeon lacked emotional buildup
Iterative Process
Design adjustments focused on readability and pacing:
repositioned encounters to encourage off-path exploration
introduced clearer landmarks and layered parallax silhouettes for orientation
adjusted safe zones before major combat spikes
strengthened visual contrast between corrupted and untouched areas
refined dungeon approach using tighter traversal and reduced open space
improved environmental cues to guide players without explicit direction
Continuous in-engine iteration and playtesting informed each change.
Delivered Experience
The final level delivers:
exploration-driven progression with meaningful player choice
readable navigation in a top-down environment
structured pacing alternating pressure and recovery
environmental storytelling integrated into traversal
layered spatial composition enhanced by parallax depth
a boss encounter supported by previously introduced mechanics and tension buildup
The project demonstrates:
systemic encounter design
production-focused iteration
player-centric navigation thinking
environmental narrative integration
spatial readability in top-down perspective
use of parallax as both aesthetic and gameplay guidance tool
The level functions as a cohesive experience where space, mechanics, and narrative converge toward a final confrontation.
Exploration-driven progression • Encounter-based combat design • Player agency in navigation and engagement • Environmental storytelling through space and layout • Dungeon pacing and tension building • Boss fight as narrative and mechanical climax
