Video game enthusiasts rarely see games in anything other than the final, sentient state – or something very close to it. I’m sure I do not have to tell you, but video games do not appear to be fully rendered and ready to use; there are many unseen developmental steps that players simply do not see.
On Twitter SaturdayRespawn Entertainment Senior Game Designer Alexa Kim pulled back the curtain on part of the development she had in hand for the recently released virtual reality game Medal of Honor: above and beyond. Kim specifically called for the prototyping stage of level design, which is meant to set out a specific level’s ‘function’. The tweet has since gone viral, and players are amazed at the differences between the prototypes – called block outs – and the final product.
In the thread, Kim said she was responsible for laying out prototypes, and adding the game. From there, adjustments are made: “In my case, it was a shooting game, so it was about moving players toward AI movement, sight lines, covers, etc.,” Kim said on Twitter. “This level can be played in this state, but not polished for the eyes.”
Once the level regarding gameplay works, art is added. According to her, the art at Kim’s level comes from the development studio Virtuos Games, which was involved in games such as Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Dark Souls: Remastered, en Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. According to the website, it handles anything from game development to art production. Kim said she “polished” the game through a back-and-forth collaboration between the artists and her team.
Kim followed up her Twitter thread with a YouTube video posted Sunday, commenting on developers Medal of Honor: Over and above‘s “Back to the ground” level. (You can see this included above.) She walks through the level with the player and describes the process behind decisions made during development. For those looking for more information, Kim has another video on YouTube, in which she talks about another Medal of Honor: above and beyond level called “Welcome to Norway.”