Legends & Magik
Legends & Magik is an open-world RPG where the player is given access to incredible magical abilities. The player is dropped into a high fantasy world inspired by the likes of Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, and Dragon Age.
This project was made so I could improve my skills with Unreal Engine 5, as this would be the first full project I would do with the engine that allowed for player input.
As I was designing the layout of the world, I tried to make multiple varied locations so that I could challenge myself and try out new ideas.
These locations include; Ebondale, a small farming hamlet. Goldvein, a mining village. Rivervale, a town based on Skyrim's riften. a walled-off, excluded hamlet where the player starts from & Lighthold, a 3 tiered city built into a mountain side complete with a royal castle on highest tier.
Design Intentions
When I started this project I wanted to make a world that would allow me to test systems for an RPG I was tinkering with for some time. After using a heightmap generator for the game City Skylines and creating a heightmap of Glasgow and the surrounding areas, I naturally fed it into unreal and made a landscape. Upon seeing the landscape in view my imagination started running wild and started visualising various villages, towns and cities that could inhabit this land.
Soon after I started thinking of what I was wanting to do and came up with 3 objectives for myself.
Objective 1: Create a world that the player would want to explore fully.
Objective 2: Create varied settlements that would focus on different mechanics/gameplay
Objective 3: Make the player feel like a powerful archmage.
With these objectives set I started whiteboxing the first town the player would visit Rivervale. The following is the individual intentions I had for each of the nameed settlements.
Rivervale:
Rivervale was made with the intention of a being a starter town where the player would be able to orientate themselves in the world if they got lost just by following the river that flows through the world. This town would have allowed the player to get a better understanding of the games mechanics and to pick up some side quests that would allow them to get some gear.
Ebondale:
Ebondale was made with the intention of showing the player that the settlements outside the capital are more rural in nature and serve singular purposes. This place would also allow the player to explore nearby areas and dungeons that would reward them with better loot that the Rivervale.
With this area being filled with farms I decided to add some wooded areas that would play host to various materials that the player can exchange for items from this settlement.
Goldvein:
Goldvein was made to show the northern areas is where the capital gets their magical items from with the player being able to gather materials which would allow them to purchase more powerful magical spells in the capital. This area would also only be available fully to the player upon completion of a quest and boss fight allowing the player to see how powerful they are.
With this settlement being a mining area I decided to make the surround areas more hazardous and uneven. Doing this will allow both the player and enemies to create ambushes where they could have a height advantage or even the element of surprise.
Lighthold:
Lighthold was created to show the wealth and power gap in the world, where all the magical items, spells and mages would flock to in bid for a better life. The city was designed with 3 explorable tiers showing different qualities of life.
With the bottom area being where the most people stay and where the player can acquire a selection of more powerful spells as well as some quests. The 2nd area would house the rich and powerful people, upon reaching this area the player will also unlock more quests with greater rewards. The last area is the royal castle where the ruler of the land resides, the player would need to be recognised by the monarch to be allowed entry and upon entering the player can acquire the most powerful spells in the game.
