Blackfrost Sound

Duration: 2 days

Team size: Solo

Engine: Unreal 5.3

Purpose: Practice blueprinting (I don't create them very often on Kristala) and experiment with making more dynamic levels.

Background

This level layout was developed over around 3 hours of work during Blocktober (October, 2024). I revisited for a day of work (around 8 hours) in May 2025 to implement gameplay with the goal of making the level feel more reactive to the player's actions and not just a space they were passing through.

Screenshot of blockout after 3 hours of work in October, 2024.

Full Level Playthrough

Level Flow & Analysis

Level introduction sequence: the dragon highlights the player's objective: the circular tower in the center of the sound.

At the first node, players are denied by a giant frost crystal, but they learn that interacting with crystal altars destroy the crystals.

After leaving node 1, players have a dangerous traversal to the combat encounter at the second crystal altar.

When players reach the second altar, we empower them to destroy level geometry and unlock paths that were previously denied. The dramatic VFX are a powerful reward & conveyance.

After shattering the crystal, I create a magical bridge for players as reward and to prevent backtracking.

This is the second node. There are actually 3 different paths from this point (the critical path is actually to the left by the crystal), but most players will be drawn to crack of light in the wall.

Which leads out to this vista which reveals some loot.

As the player returns from grabbing their loot, they see another chest which they cannot yet reach.

Players then return to node 2 from a different perspective which reveals the critical path.

After node 2, players end up on top of the iceberg, from there they can drop down to the critical path. However, observant players might check out the functional geometry behind them, which will lead them to the unreachable chest they saw earlier.

Finally, players follow the critical path to the level's finale: an encounter with the black dragon.

Post-Mortem

-The node 2 room needs a landmark to make it more quickly recognizable.

-In node 1, I would position the crystal altar to frame the crystal that explodes when the altar is triggered.

-I would develop the crystal altar system to be more "puzzley" by making different colored crystal altars destroy different colored crystals.

-I'm really excited about the possibilities of using more dynamic level elements to give players agency by giving them verbs which have a real impact on the level geometry.