Battle for Azeroth: Stormsong Valley - Level Design
Level Design on World of Warcraft is a highly collaborative process where we work with 3D environment artists, 3D prop artists, quest designers, dungeon artists, and other level designers in order to put together a fully realized world for players to explore. As Level Designers, we are responsible for dictating zone flow, sculpting the terrain, painting down terrain texture and color, building villages and other points of interest, and hand placing 3D art assets to fill the world, making it feel vibrant and alive.
I worked on a few specific POIs in Stormsong Valley, namely Mildenhall Meadery, The Jeweled Coast, Eckhart Lodge, and their surrounding wilderness areas.
Additional Level Design
Collin Gilbert
https://www.artstation.com/sboulian
Environment Art Support
Tina Wang
Nick Murano
https://www.artstation.com/pixelbutterfly
https://www.artstation.com/meldyran
The entrance to Stormsong from Tiragarde Sound was built up as a border checkpoint filled with guard posts and inspection points.
I was in charge of crafting the "beauty shot" that players would see as they entered the zone for the first time.
The rolling hills of Stormsong Valley.
My first POI was the Mildenhall Meadery.
The meadery has been overrun by strange honey elementals and it's up to the player to get to the bottom of this sticky situation.
Just outside of the meadery is the honey bee field, although lately the bees have gotten quite a bit larger than normal.
This tree was built by Tina Wang and the honey kit by Marie Lazar, both members of the Environment team.
An overview of the roads that flow from the meadery to the honey field and beyond.
At the top of the hills behind the meadery lies a camp filled with angry Highland Maulers.
A small patch of coast just beyond the meadery.
In the heart of the valley is the Eckhart Lodge, a place for hunters to gather.
Some of the hills outside of the hunting lodge.
A fishing pond that sits in the shadow of Stormsong Valley's tallest peak.
A small home with a lush garden for folks to stop and rest a while on their long journeys.
Paths leading up into the hills where more dangerous foes hide past the mountain pass.
A small vignette atop one of Stormsong's mountains filled with lush flower fields.
The entrance to the Jeweled Coast where friendly Tortollans have set up camp.
Unfortunately the Tortollans are not the only ones who have taken up residence in the Jeweled Coast and the Venture Co. gets to what it does best - destroying the local wildlife.
A peaceful shot of the coast.