top of page
Presentation2.png

The Host of Seraphim
Role: Level Designer | Environment Artist
Project developed during Master’s Degree in Game Design

Inspired by the haunting and ethereal track The Host of Seraphim by Dead Can Dance, this two-week solo project challenged me to design a visually striking and emotionally immersive environment. My focus was on level design and environmental storytelling, using mood and atmosphere as key design pillars.

Project Goals:

To create a dark, otherworldly setting that visually echoes the emotional tone of the music—invoking isolation, beauty, and mystery within a playable open-world space.

Key Responsibilities & Tools:

  • Level Layout Design: Planned level flow and structure using hand-drawn sketches and environmental design references.

  • Landscape Creation: Utilised World Creator 3 to generate height maps, which were then imported into Unreal Engine 4 for terrain sculpting and world building.

  • Whiteboxing & Navigation: Established spatial structure and basic geometry to define player navigation and interaction zones.

  • Lighting & Mood: Implemented a fully dynamic lighting system with post-processing to enhance the atmosphere and visual tone.

  • Environment Art: Placed assets, adjusted terrain, and used UE4 sculpting tools to create believable yet surreal landscapes.

  • Level Streaming: Set up optimised level streaming for performance in an open-world setting.

  • Audio Implementation: Integrated audio based on physical materials to enhance immersion.

Features:

  • Open-world exploration with seamless transitions

  • Heightmap-based terrain using World Creator 3

  • Fully dynamic, optimised lighting and post-processing

  • Atmospheric particle effects and layered environmental storytelling

  • Optimised terrain and foliage placement

  • Audio cues linked to physical surfaces for added immersion

This project was developed as part of a one-week Ludum Dare game jam, with the theme centered around music. Our chosen track was The Host of Seraphim by Dead Can Dance, which inspired a deeply atmospheric and emotionally-driven experience.

I was responsible for level design, lighting, and environmental art, using World Creator to generate terrain and importing it into Unreal Engine 4 for world-building, sculpting, and mood setting.

The focus was on capturing the haunting tone of the music through visual storytelling and environmental design.

Tools Used:

  • World Creator 3

  • Unreal Engine 4 (UE4)

To explore the full design process, you can read the documentation here:

Trailer and Screenshots

Capture1.png
SCENE.PNG
Darkness.PNG
Rockface.PNG
bottom of page