The level that have created with the Hat In Time Modding Tools, including an asset filled Unreal Engine 3 suite was a level design challenge I created for myself and others. It was designed with the purpose of being a mid-to-high skill level speed course for those who have played a good amount of A Hat in Time.
The level features a small linear environment purely focused on precision platforming and speed. The core focus of this level is to create a gauntlet of timed platforming challenges similar to the Train Rush level found in the Dead Bird Studios world of the base game. The goal with this level was to make a visually beautiful exterior level with some of the game’s iconic Time Rift visuals and other variable pieces, utilizing all of the assets the game has to offer.
With this being the second level I had created using the Unreal Engine 3 Hat in Time suite, and the first level published to the Steam Workshop. I was able to create, playtest, and publish this level in a reasonable amount of time.
The whole process of whiteboxing and mapping went relatively smooth. After the level got published, some concerns of performance were brought up by the players that played the initial release of the level. Those performance issues were addressed in a future update, which changed the way certain pieces of the level are rendered. This way, the level would only be rendered into sections nearby the player.
Overall, This level challenged me in a few ways, and allowed me to gain some valuable experience working in a proprietary, yet outdated game engine, due to this level editor being a modified version of Unreal Engine 3.
