In Candle Knight, wield your flame against menacing creatures and solve puzzles inside surreal paintings as you explore a mysterious castle.
Available on PC, Xbox One/S/X, PS4/5 - Developed in Unreal Engine 4.
Role | 2019-2023 | Creative director. Lead systems, level & combat designer. Assisted in environment design, music & audio.
Accolades
Design Pillars
Dynamic difficulty system that allows players to make themselves more vulnerable in exchange for greater power and speed.
Naturalistic level design, utilizing the furniture and objects of an enchanted castle that is inhabited by tiny creatures.
Solved Challenges
Note: I was promoted to Creative Director mid-development while remaining in charge of systems and levels.
Changing direction
To present a new vision for our team, I created the Ignis system as a standout core mechanic and redesigned all levels from scratch.
Candle Knight was originally a metroidvania. After extensive playtesting, Hector (world's best producer!) and I agreed it needed a stronger gameplay hook, and we decided to scale it down into a more manageable action platformer.
A castleful of guiding stars
While designing each level, I led environmental artists (the talented Selene and Angie) and set visual landmarks, events, and cameras to guide player exploration and decorate arenas for combat encounters.
Guillermo (a great lighting artist) and I communicated constantly to illuminate crucial points along the game's golden path.
Releasing titans
I designed and directed 4 multi-phased boss fights with unique scripted sequences and complex behaviour trees.
The Clockwork King is a standout. Players must climb a spiral of scaffolding around him to start the battle, where they can hide inside magical paintings to confuse him and strike from behind.
Tight balance
I planned an engaging difficulty curve, using the value of upgradeable player HP units as a baseline to scale all other combat-related statistics.
As the damage taken by the player is constantly being modified by the Ignis system, I wrote a reference sheet to carefully balance the attacks of enemies as the game progresses.
Blazing combat
I sped up multiple animations in-engine to propose a new rhythm for battles and allowed players to attack while moving. I continuously adjusted vfx and hitboxes to make actions more readable.
Before, testers often reported that attacks felt slow or clunky. Our lead animator (the amazing Mario) and I began working more closely for greater results.
Formidable, inexpensive foes
I designed 5 magical orbs that shoot different kinds of projectiles. They fit perfectly with the game's aesthetics and can easily be distinguished by their color.
This allowed us to create varied ranged encounters without requiring more fully articulated creatures, which would have strained our art team.
Deep Dives
