About

As the Lead Designer, I was responsible for designing the Hideout and all of its systems, such as the multiple stores, customization options, and the mission selection map.

The design challenge was to create a space that was efficient enough to prevent the player from having to navigate too far between points of interest, but also include a bigger space for inexperienced players to practice with the player kit before tackling levels with a higher difficulty rating.

Alma Station

This is the station where the player can spend gold coins to buy Basic Cosmetic Skins for Valah and AYO, as well as interact with Alma, an NPC who will have insight about the current status of Core City and how the player's actions are changing it.

This store's economy was balanced to allow the player to purchase at least one full set of Basic Cosmetic Skins for Valah (Jacket, Shirt, Shorts, Skirt, and Sneakers) after completing a single level, where all of the available coins were collected.

Early in development, every store was consolidated in a single "Scrap Station", but as the game's mechanic and narrative evolved, NPCs were put in charge of selling the different things from the original Scrap Station, providing them with a physical space in the Hideout to inject their personality and style into each of their stations.

Above: Early design document for the "scrap station"

Graffiti Station

As the graffiti artist of the RKGK crew, this is Valah's own station, and is where the player can use gold coins to purchase new graffiti designs and paint color palettes.

As with all other stations, new graffiti designs and color palettes are unlocked as the player progresses through the chapters, and at the same time, AYO, as an NPC, provides insight about Valah's and RKGK's past exploits.

At some point during development, the idea of being able to switch graffiti designs on the fly via "quick selection slots" was implemented and tested, but ultimately discarded because the overall speed and flow of the moment-to-moment gameplay was too fast for players to deal with switching graffiti in the middle of combat or platforming.

Above: Early design document for the "Graffiti Station" with the mechanic of "Quick Selection Slots"

Muro Station

In this station, the player can interact with the NPC Muro, who provides dialogue regarding the history of Core City, as well as using the special "Ghost" currency to purchase Premium Cosmetic Skins and 3D Graffiti designs.

Unlike with all other stations, this store's economy was balanced around the maximum number of Ghosts that the player can find in the game, with the goal being to reward players who thoroughly explore each level to find all the secrets.

Early in development, with a bigger scope, larger open-ended levels in mind, Ghosts were named "Thermoplastics," and the idea was for the player to collect them to craft "3D printed" character upgrades that would help them find and improve their playstyle.

Above: Early design documents for the "3D Printing Station" and the character upgrade progression, and economy.

As development progressed, and the number of levels decreased, the idea of having a lot of character upgrades fell out of scope for the project, therefore, a rework was done to tighten up the upgrades available for purchase to preserve a sense of meaningful progression, without the now excessive number of options.

Above: A reworked version of the "3D Printing Station" document adjusted for a tighter scope.

Eventually, through focus group play-testing and publisher feedback, it was made clear that a purely cosmetic-based progression system was significantly more engaging than a character upgrade-based one; therefore, the focus of the Thermoplastic as a special resource shifted towards acquiring "premium" cosmetics.

Above: A document drafting initial ideas and references to change the focus of Thermoplastics from character upgrades to cosmetics.

Futuro Station

While Rakugaki was never intended as a rhythm game, developing a musical style that matched the fast-paced gameplay and colorful aesthetics was always at the core of the game's identity.

That's where this station comes in, allowing players to listen and even set their favorite tunes from the OST as the background music for the Hideout, as well as interacting with the NPC Futuro, who is constantly cheering on Valah and boosting the crew's morale.

Given that the "Jukebox" system was conceived for the project before the NPC system, it was originally designed as a "media player" to be accessed by interacting with a computer in the Hideout known at the time as the Jukebox Station. 

Above: Early design document for the "Jukebox station"

Wardrobe Station

This is where all purchased cosmetics, graffiti designs, and paint color palettes are stored for quick and easy access, without having to navigate to and browse each store multiple times.

As an added feature to encourage player expression, this station allows players to mix and match the different parts of Valah's outfit with individual basic or premium cosmetic skins.

Early versions of the Wardrobe Station didn't include the Premium Cosmetic Skins, nor Graffiti designs, given that, at the time, each had their own store and equipment stations. 

Above: Early design document for the "Wardrobe" system.

Black Book Station

The Black Book Station is a "codex" for the player to review information about all aspects of the game, from the lore of enemies and NPCs to replaying cutscenes and dialogs.

Additionally, this station has the added functionality of informing the player about missed dialogs, Ghosts, and levels.

The Black Book Station evolved from a "Trophy Room" that was designed and implemented in earlier versions of the game to showcase the over-the-top 3D graffiti as the player painted them in new levels. 

Above: Early design document for the "Trophy Room"

NPCs

Around the mid-point in development, there was a heavier focus on creating a complex and compelling narrative with a rich and detailed backstory that would provide depth and scale to the world of Rakugaki.

This focus was the catalyst for creating an NPC system that could serve as a tool for narrative development, lore delivery, and with the added benefit of splitting the then all-in-one "Scrap Station" into smaller stores that could focus in a single item category each, making them more intuitive and less crammed with information and sub-menus.

As development progressed and focus shifted from narrative complexity to game-feel, tighter mechanics, and a unique visual identity, the NPC system was steadily and significantly simplified; however, the core design features of the system can still be found  in the final version of the game.

Playthrough

Gallery