WARHAMMER: VERMINTIDE 2 - A PARTING OF THE WAVES (2024)
A Parting of the Waves is the fourth level in the Karak Azgaraz narrative storyline, which was added to the DLC upon its release in 2024.
I joined Fatshark's Warhammer Vermintide 2 Level Team as a Level Design Intern in August 2023. At that time, the project was in its late pitch stage. Collaborating closely with Vermintide 2's Lead Level Designer and the rest of the Level Team to develop the level from its initial concept to its release in 2024. My role encompassed a wide range of tasks across various areas within the level, spanning from the start of the level to the end of the level. We comprised a small team consisting of one Lead Level Designer, myself as the Level Design Intern, two Level Artists, one Environment Artist, and one VFX Artist. Additionally, we received support from leadership, directors, and shared resources, including the Sound, Narrative, Code, and Art departments, throughout the development of the level.
Company Website: https://www.fatshark.se/
Steampage Karak Azgaraz: https://store.steampowered.com/app/552500/Warhammer_Vermintide_2/
SYNOPSIS
"Some of the Skaven fleet from the end of Khazukan Kazakit-ha escape the bombardment from the Dwarves. Our Heroes are tasked with sailing after them to defeat them once and for all. A huge storm erupts and the Heroes get stranded after being misguided by a lighthouse. Wet, thirsty and in need of a new boat, they seek a nearby town. The lighthouse mystery needs investigation, why does the light sometimes go dark or flickers in strange colors? The Heroes investigate the local town and realize that it has been raided by chaos warships so the heroes keep moving through the lower shanty town towards the top of the cliff after repairing a elevator. When reaching the lighthouse, they find a huge Nurgle infestation spreading fast. It seems to be coming from within the mountain and the Chaos is trying to get it out, what ever ancient evil that lurks in there must be stopped. The Heroes need to take action and torch the whole place and burn down the lighthouse to stop the corruption from spreading by heating up a whale-oil container underneath the lighthouse and then escaping on a sea-worthy boat."
MY CONTRIBUTION TO A PARTING OF THE WAVES
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Level Design
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Analysis & Refinement
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Layout
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Level Flow
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Guidance
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Pacing
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Optimization
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Gameplay
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Blockers & Collisions
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Spawners
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Hangledges
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Climb Units
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Navigation
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Pickups
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Volumes & Triggers
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Visual Scripting
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Level Scripting
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Event Scripting
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Unit Scripting
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Encounter Design
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Mid Elevator & End Lighthouse Terror Events
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Secrets & Rewards
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Secret Parkours Paths
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Skaven Island (split paths) & Harbor
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Tomes, Grimoires & Ravaged Art
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Set Dressing
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Environmental Storytelling
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Lower Village (before elevator) fiery demise
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Upper Village (after elevator) fiery demise
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Rumbling of the Cliff (escape slope)
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Villager's Fate
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LEVEL DESIGNER HIGHLIGHTS - VERMINTIDE 2
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Worked across all currently released levels of Vermintide 2, where I squashed over 80+ bugs of various types and severity, effectively decimating almost all of the known Level Design and Level Art bugs present in the entire game!
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Developed and designed a variety of debug levels and proof-of-concept levels & ideas, both for exploring new content and for personal growth and learning purposes. Some examples that I can show are showcased below.
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Sharing responsibility for Level Design for two Vermintide 2 projects: “A Parting of The Waves”, the fourth level in the Karak Azgaraz DLC released in 2024, and another project that is currently unreleased.
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Collaborated with the team to take "A Parting of The Waves" Level, from Pitch stage to Release stage in April 2024.
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Collaborated with the team to take "Unreleased Project" from the Pitch stage to LDD stage.
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Pitched and authored the three LDDs (Level Design Documents) for the unreleased project, receiving approval from both the team and leadership to proceed with development and further refinement.
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Concepted, prototyped and blocked out 3 different levels for the unreleased project, with 1 of them still in development and ongoing further refinement and iterations.
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DEBUG & PROOF OF CONCEPT LEVELS & IDEAS
Below is some videos of debug & proof of concept levels & ideas that I developed during times that I were low on tasks and there was not much to do. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to finish them and consider them 'done,' but they're still cool works in progress.