Hello! Welcome to the first devlog for Hex Chronicles, where I invite you to join me on a journey through the mystical realms of Athera's level design. As the Level Designer, Production Manager, and UI Designer, my role encompasses a diverse array of responsibilities, from sculpting immersive gameplay experiences for strategic gameplay to crafting the visual identity of the user interface. Together, let's embark on this thrilling adventure to bring the fantastical world of Athera to life!

As a Level designer for Hex Chronicles, my role was to design engaging gameplay experiences that challenge and inspire players. As the name suggests, Hex chronicles is set out in a Hex world, and being a top down strategy game it was really a fun and challenging experience to define the game's game mechanics and level design criteria. Every region has a different mix of chances and difficulties, from scorching deserts to the peaceful plains or even a mythical mix of lava and snow coexisting. 

My main responsibility as a level designer is to create imaginative and strategically challenging levels. It was challenging to find the ideal ratio of difficulty to reward in order to make every level of the game seem rewarding to play through careful design and rapid paper prototypes. Here's a level sketch which defines some of the different types of tiles which are present in the map. This also gave an idea while paper prototyping in defining the min and max limit for the tiles in the map. 

We decided to build a random map generator and it was very fun and interesting to define the criteria for the random generators, to make sure that the players are engaged in the combat and it doesn't affect the game flow. I also was responsible for build the world of Athera and its' diverse environmental tiles and weather effects. As a part of the Game design document I had the opportunity to make the world map for Athera, strategically placing the regions in a way that makes sense in terms of progression but also interesting mix of elements from each region. Here's a little sneak peak at the world map of Athera which displays the range of diverse terrains. 

The user interface is an essential tool for leading players through the world of Hex Chronicles. In my role as UI Designer, it is my job to create logical wireframes and polished UI designs that improve the user experience in general. My goal is to build an interface that allows players to fully immerse themselves in the combat, making sure all the relevant information is presented clearly which helps the players plan their combat strategies, and doesn't overwhelm the player with a lot of information taking their focus away from the combat.