∴Rumbleverse∴

Overview

    Rumbleverse was a free-to-play Battle Royale Brawler made by Iron Galaxy Studios. The game sought to breathe new life into the fighting game scene and add an innovative new twist on Battle Royales (which usually relied on gunplay) by featuring hand-to-hand combat and over-the-top wrestling moves. I was brought onto the team pre-launch as a Mid Level Designer to help develop and polish the game for release, followed by working on future updates for planned content drops. Some of my first tasks for the game involved adding spawns for item crates, implementing movement tech volumes, and fixing collision bugs throughout the main map setting, Grapital City. The gameplay was designed to break up the melee combat by blending fast navigation and movement mechanics to explore the vibrant neighborhoods, finding powerups for your Rumbler, and stay inside the ever-shrinking ring. I collaborated often with the Environment team and other Designers to help create a fantastical setting that players could use to their advantage when duking it out with 39 other Rumblers! The game itself received critical acclaim, was nominated for several D.I.C.E. awards, and spawned a passionate community of Rumblers. Unfortunately, Rumbleverse was a Live-Service Game, which was taken offline on February 28, 2023. Hopefully, one day, the Rumble will return.

Game Info

Developer: Iron Galaxy
Genre: Brawler/Battle Royale
Publisher: Epic Games
Game Engine: Unreal 4
Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Team Size: Around 90
Release Date:
Aug. 11, 2022
Last Update:
Jan. 31, 2023

 

Tools Used

-Unreal 4 Game Engine
-Unreal 5 Game Engine
-Unreal Game Sync
-Autodesk Maya
-Blender
-Perforce
-Jira Issue Tracker
-Confluence
-Microsoft Office
-Inkscape
-Photoshop

Tasks and Responsibilities

General

  • Placed and refined locations for random Item Containers and unique Item spawns
  • Added Ledge Ups volumes to building/surface edges, Bounce Pads/Cars, Pole Swing Functionality, and other ways to help players have more traversal options during gameplay
  • Added Superstar Splines around the game world to re-enforce traversing that players can use movement mechanics in specific areas
  • Helped set up Bot functionality nodes (jump points, wall climbs, etc.) needed for traversal, staying in the ring, and to reach players
  • Updating existing meshes to have a Destructible variant and implementing them around the world
  • Added environmental storytelling and neighborhood lore references
  • Collaborated with other departments, such as Narrative, Environment, Audio, Programming, and Production to achieve specific neighborhood goals
  • Daily playtests with other team members to provide feedback and help tune gameplay elements with other Designers
  • Created 2D layouts and 3D block outs of updated set pieces and brand-new buildings/locations

Documentation

  • Updating major changes in Design Docs for all of the neighborhoods I was responsible for
  • Creating top down maps of new gameplay additions to help keep track of developments between different versions and updates
  • Tracked solutions for Jira tasks/wrote bug tickets for myself and other departments
  • Helped document lore from various audio clips, environment additions, and in-game updates
  • Writing additional Fan Mail content from characters a player received when leveling up
  • Plan for and eventually refresh returning areas for future updates, focusing on game flow, new mechanics, and changes with items/abilities

Research

  • Researched features, gameplay, and map POIs within other Battle Royales
  • Looking into various Fighting Games to try and master the game’s combat to help influence my design choices and day-to-day work
  • Asked design and art leads about their team’s progress and how I could assist with their current objectives to better involve level design
  • I played the game regularly in my free time when it was live to track additional issues and potentially find bugs to solve at work

My Sub-Levels

    Grapital City (the main map for battling in Rumbleverse) was divided into smaller named locations, usually classified as a “neighborhood,” both internally for sub-level breakup and externally on the in-game map to help players navigate. The same was true after the addition of the 2nd major island, Low Key Key. I was responsible for multiple neighborhoods for several different key patches, often juggling work on multiple future updates during the same period of time, utilizing sublevels to manage differences. The ultimate goal was to get new content on the Level side eventually into the live space and naturally developing the map to grow as mechanics and the meta evolved. Below I will talk about two of the major updates I worked on that made it to the live environment post launch.

– Season 1.5: Mid-Season Update –

    The first major update the game saw after launch was well underway by our team before Rumbleverse went live. Rumblers were treated to new special moves, items, perks, and more. My work helped add many of the new items into the live environment. This included vendor stand placements for the new consumable item, the Mooscles Shake, which helped charge the fame on your Superstar Meter. I also added various new weapons around the map, working on multiple passes for the Golf Club family of weapons, Steel Pipes, and Metal Chairs. Finally, I helped with the addition of various ABS Pose Spots throughout the island, which rewarded players for using emotes on them with additional fame. I worked with other designers to identify and determine which areas and POIs needed to have these spots. On some large buildings, it was just really thematically appropriate, but other areas needed an extra boost for player presence and engagement compared to the surrounding neighborhoods.

– Season 2: Low Key Key –

    The primary feature of this update was to nearly double the map size as the separate island of Low Key Key became part of the level’s over-all footprint. I was responsible for roughly 1/3 of the entire island, with ownership of three of the new neighborhoods, including the Welcome Center, the Rivera Botanica, and Enigma Gardens. Several POIs within each of these locations were areas of focus for my personal work, such as the Entrance Bridge, Jericho’s End of the Road Rentals, the Parking garage, Monorail Station, the Coastal Roads, Boiling Bluff, and the Sea Horn. Unlike the previous island which focused on suburban neighborhoods, apartment complexes, and downtown skyscrapers, Low Key Key featured a blend between resort architecture and organic terrain, such as the costal homes, mountain cliffs, new tree types, and old ruins, which posed interesting design challenges and a unique game feel once we got this update out.

    Another key focus was implementing the new traversal move, the Pole Swing, on both the original map and the new playable space. This was done by manually adding the spline functionality to each Blueprint/mesh, and then swapping it out for each existing tree, flagpole, traffic light, bamboo plant, etc. Each of these gave players new opportunities for faster travel and a powerful defensive option where you can swing and hit opponents using lower priority attacks at the same time. I was also responsible for adding more vendors for Squat’s Chicken and the new Macho Nachos stand around the map. At this point, I also created a design doc on how to update all vendors for future seasons. Lastly, I added and tweaked many natural spawn points for the newly released items, such as the Happy Starfish, Bucket Junior, and the Firm Chancleta across both islands.