As you can see the Level 1 that you start off in has a complete layout! After several iterations of different art styles, level designs and different concepts done for the idea of Soul Valley. I have finally landed on a look that literally brings my imagination to life within the game. I have also added some subtle lighting into the world to help give it a more stylized look and a feel that there is actually sunlight in the forest looking environment. The process to get to this point took years of work and reiterating/cycling through so many different ideas about what soul valley should look like. Here is an image from one of the very first iterations just to show how far the project has come.

The game was very much at first inspired by hollow knight as a lot of metroidvania games nowadays take great inspiration from such a well made masterpiece! This as you can see is a screenshot of what was once our title-less game at the time, only known as Project: Afterlife! About 2 years ago this was where me and my team were in development. I was still figuring out the overall idea and concept of the game. Looking back now and up to this point there are still some elements that remain from here that have transitioned into the current feel of the level today, but still somehow feels unrecognizable at the same time! 

BEFORE SCREEN SHOT 2023:

BEFORE SCREEN SHOT 2024:

NOW SCREEN SHOT 2025:

The real change that occurred that help me reach this level of design was my constant drawing and research on level design and themes. For 2 years I spent many days and nights creating art on my ipad learning new skills and techniques to be myself not only as an artist but as a designer as well. Because when it come to the process of developing a cohesive level design it all has to make sense and needs to look like they belong together in this fictional world I'm trying to create. I often had moments where I would make the bushes purple/blue and leave the main floor grass green. That was very off putting and was even pointed out by my other fellow designers/artist on the project so making sure you follow a color palette is very import if you want assets to look like them belong. Or at the very least that nothing sticks out like a sore thumb!