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Dread Rally

Track 2 - Satellite Graveyard

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Role:

Lead Level Designer

Platform:

Windows PC

Duration:

5 months (WIP)

Engine:

Unity

Team Size:

15​

Overview

Dread Rally is an arcade racing game where the player can drift, boost, jump and do tricks. For this project my job was to design the second track, Satellite Graveyard, which takes place on Mars. My responsibilities included:

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  • Built and iterated on track layouts through greyboxing, playtesting, and feedback-driven revision

  • Designed track flow to balance speed and difficulty across skill levels

  • Crafted risk/reward decision points through alternate lines, shortcuts, and hazard placement

  • Designed set-piece moments to build atmosphere and a sense of place

  • Iterated on corner geometry, surfaces, and obstacle placement based on playtesting feedback

  • Collaborated with programmers to ensure consistent and competitive AI racer behavior

Early Design and Concepting

  • ​Created a level design document to communicate to team the track's intended player experience and asset requirements

  • Sketched the layout with notes about placement of required features and encounters I want players to drive through

After creating the initial sketch I went in engine and imported the layout map to start greyboxing​:

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  • Blocked out straight aways, jumps, and turns

  • Established general scale of the track and time per lap

  • Used verticality to create opportunities to perform tricks while in the air

Greybox Iteration

Making A Worthwhile Shortcut

Montage displaying different iterations of this shortcut.

Goal

  • Players wanted ways to skip ahead and overtake opponents

Concepting

  • Added initial shortcut

  • Too little advantage to bother taking

1st Pass

  • Increased height to require jump timing; skipped more track

  • Fun, but felt too easy

2nd Pass

  • Experimented with shortcut layout

  • Read as the main road; still no challenge

Final Pass

  • Added gap between main track and shortcut

  • Players felt a real risk/reward trade-off

Focusing on Flow

Section 3 Before

Section 3 After

  • My initial idea was to make players choose between 4 different routes when going through this section.

  • However, I found that players would just stick to the left side and either go under or over.

  • I chose to simplify the section into a lower and upper segment

  • The upper platform was harder to reach but offered more airtime to perform tricks

  • The lower platform was safer but has oil puddles that could cause the player to crash

Section 4 Before

Section 4 After

  • The only interesting element was having a ramp on a hill​

  • Players complained about having to slow down to take the turn

  • Overall pretty linear

  • Now has 3 routes within this section

  • Shortcut requires the player to spend nitro on jumping with risk of falling out of bounds

  • ​Got rid of the hill in favor of having more straight aways so players can build speed before finish line

What I Learned

Track Flythrough

Here's what I learned from this project:

  • Build modular track pieces to speed up the greybox stage

  • Have frequent playtest sessions to find what works and what doesn't

  • SIGNS AND ARROWS EVERYWHERE, players need to know where to go at all times

  • Have moments where the player can see the upcoming turns of the track

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