LogInJon Hickenbottom shared a look at the early level design for Svartalfheim's Nidavellir port.
As October rolls on, we continue with Blocktober, and today, we offer you a behind-the-scenes look at the Nidavellir port in Svartalfheim, the first big area and one of the Nine Realms you can visit in God of War Ragnarok.
Santa Monica Studio's Senior Level Designer Jon Hickenbottom gave a glimpse of what the location looked like before it was fully realized, showing how it evolved from basic concepts and rough layouts into a detailed living environment, emphasizing the immense teamwork required to bring these complex spaces to life:
Another of Jon's colleagues, Rajul Ramchandani, joined Blocktober with insights into the Train Align minigame, which was inspired by the feeling of being spotted while parallel parking.
The game was designed so the player could choose to agree or disagree with Atreus' directions while still keeping a time limit. The solution involved having the train start and end in the same spot, ensuring a consistent number of moves for the player, with the camera angle reflecting this. Despite this limitation, it was possible to create unique game states for each visit to the alignment locations:
Previously, we showcased one of the upcoming levels in the post-apocalyptic survival game Forever Skies, what Apex Legends had on its maps when they were full of blocky shapes instead of points of interest, and a behind-the-scenes look at Cyberpunk 2077's gig called The Man Who Killed Jason Foreman.
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