LITTLE CITIES DIORAMA

Company

nDreams Studio Nearlight

Role

Level Designer

Platform

Apple Arcade

Tenure

Aug 2024 - Dec 2024 Release

Genre

City Builder

Game Engine

Unity

Apple Store

What is Little Cities: Diorama

Classic city building with a cozy colourful twist - reimagined for mixed reality! Relax into a sandbox of endless creative possibilities as Apple Vision Pro seamlessly brings Little Cities into your own world.Embarking on your city creation journey has never been easier, with intuitive gesture controls and extremely satisfying bubble poppin’ UI.De-stress with some low stakes island hopping with a gorgeous range of biomes and environments to explore, all set to a blissed-out soundtrack.Craft your dream islands at home with a bustling blend of shops, industry, housing and all-manner of outlandish attractions, and lean in to see your diorama creations spring to life.

Features

Build cute cities within the comfort of your room
Watch them grow and develop as they get more and more complex
Beware of natural disasters that could hinder your progress
Use hand tracking to control all aspects of the game

Main Contributions

Designing Picturesque Demo Islands for use within the onboarding process
Overhauling existing Controls and Camera functionality to function within Mixed Reality
Creating the onboarding tutorials and all associated assets
Supporting Engineering with Rapid prototyping and iteration
Optimising Art Assets including VFX and Models
Reworking progression system to feel fun and intuitive on each island

Responsibilities

Designing Picturesque Demo Levels

Creating template level for a maximum level city to showcase gameplay at higher progression levels feature all unlockable elements and a perfect start rating.
Creating a sand biome template to allow a quickstart for users to make their dream sandy village and play with the unique desert biome requirements such as sandstorms.
Creating a Grass biome template to allow a quickstart for users to make their dream tropical island. Accompanied with volcano hazards.
Creating a snow biome template to allow a quickstart for users to make their dream winter wonderland complete with avalanches.

Supporting Marketing and Branding Teams

Creating bespoke trailer island templates to be used when recording footage
Communicating with branding and marketing teams to define trailer requirements
Assisting teams in playthroughs and Apple Vision Pro Headset controls to record high quality footage and achieve high quality renders

Documentation and communication

Creating documentation on the functionality of gameplay mechanics
Iterating on proposals to adapt VR based mechanics to Mixed Reality
Documenting processes and workflows in order to map the future workflow of projects
Communicating with Apple stakeholders in feedback meeting and answering questions based on the design direction of the game
Communicating with the original developers Purple Yonder in catchup meetings adressing feedback received

Redesigning gameplay for Mixed Reality

Rebalancing progression to account for the reduced island size and allow for a fun and interactive play session.
Redesigning game controls to improve accessibility and improve compatibility with hand tracking technology.
Playtesting and iterating on changes made via the use of Xcode and Mac Builds
Performing research on existing Apple Vision Pro titles and comparing functionality and implementation of mechanics to find appropriate solutions to Little Cities gameplay

Art and Code Support

Optimising 3d models for Apple vision pro by reducing poly counts.
Optimising code to remove dependencies not used within mixed reality.
Adjustments of Ui colour to improve accessibility.
Providing feedback and reviews with Artist to maintain visual fidelity with the original title.
Providing feedback and check ins with the code team to maintain consistent functionality across all Little Cities titles.
Creating regular builds via Xcode for internal and external playtesting