Art Process PreProduction Blog #2_KFeliz

For my level design assignment, I wanted to mix a few ideas and cultures together but I wasn't sure how. In the beginning, I was having a little trouble figuring out how things were going to mesh together well. I wanted to give my level a sense of spirituality. So, I decided to incorporate a little bit of Hinduism, Buddhism and Paganism. Things that work with the mystics and self-enlightenment.

   So, I decided I wanted to use the Pagan Tree of Life idea into my design as an iconic landmark. I also ended up taking references from World of Warcraft's World Tree in Teldrassil since it was so similar to what I envisioned. After that, I got into a bit into mythology and inspiration from the old God of War games. I remembered how the Titans back then were condemned to eternal punishment by Zeus and I wanted to use a similar idea as such. 

  So, I decided to incorporate a Titan being merged with the Tree of Life, and it was called the Tree of Life since the Titan was being used as a source for power for the surrounding regions. This sparked my memory of the new Norse-themed God of War game, where a character called Mimir was punished by Zeus and had his body merged into a tree. As well as in Game of Thrones, Brynden Rivers, also known as the Three-Eyed Raven. His body was merged into the Weirwood tree that was beyond the wall. So I thought these two sources were a good start for references. 

  But where would this tree be located?? And so I wanted to add it somewhere up in the mountains where it wasn't easily accessible. Come on, its the Tree of Life! So I thought adding it ontop of Machu Picchu, where its civilization is secluded and apart from the rest was a good idea. 

  Now this is where the fun part came in. How was I going to make it a playable level?? Since I wanted to add a spiritual aspect to it, I decided to include the 7 Chakras from Hinduism and Buddhism. Each level is a Chakra which abides by the theme and rule of that specific Chakra. Because the Tree is corrupted, your goal as a player is to cleanse each Chakra through completion in order to cleanse the Tree itself. 

  The player path would be coming in through the village at the bottom, stacking up on supplies and potions then they would encounter a Maze. Im still debating whether to keep it or not. And continue up the path to each Chakra, eventually arriving to the top of the tree where you reside in a castle to cleanse the Crown Chakra (the last one) and lastly seeing the lands as far as the eye can see being restored after your heroic deeds.