Pivot Of Light
Nov 2025-Personal Level Demo
Genres: Third Player, Action, Adventure
Level Length: ~15 mins
Game Play Through (No Sound12:33 )
SOFTWARE: UE5, Project Graph
In my level and game design work, I draw directly from everyday experiences to
inspire gameplay, enemy systems, and spatial design. The Pivot of Light is the project
that best represents this approach. The idea originated when I was searching for
a new apartment and discovered how building orientation affects sunlight. This
realization formed the foundation for a mechanic where enemies slow down under
light, and a mechanism that allows the player to rotate the light direction and entire
game level, utilizing tools like a flashlight or camera flash to deal with enemies.
Many of these features had no available templates or tutorials. As a programmer, I broke
each concept down into its simplest technical requirements and rebuilt them using only engine-native tools—such as simplifying light detection into cone and directional traces.
This project taught me how to abstract complex ideas into achievable systems, and how meaningful inspirations from daily life can evolve into a unique game experience.
BUILDING PROCESS
INSPERATION
-Game Play
The first inspiration came when I was looking for a new apartment. I visited numerous buildings, and many had an attractive price to me, but I gave up because they received very little sunlight due to the buildings' orientation.
What if buildings could rotate? After conducting research, the architecture of Villa Girasole drew my attention; it is actually a building that rotates to ensure optimal light conditions. The discovery provided me with a game level idea based on the layout of the building's L-shape and its rotation pivot.
After the initial gymnasium, I abandoned the idea of rotating the map as the primary method of controlling the sun, as rotating all the assets at once is extremely expensive in terms of performance. However, the L shape remains interesting because rotating it creates two endpoints that can link to separate locations. I chose one end as the level's exit.
-Combat Design
The enemy system is built around light and shadow: enemies slow down when exposed to light and are faster in shade. The player can rotate the sun to manipulate shadows, creating safe zones and using this ability to solve puzzles. For indoor spaces, I introduced a flashlight or spotlight mechanic to slow enemies down, which naturally made batteries the best fit for collectibles.
The second major inspiration came when I struggled to find an appropriate way to defeat enemies. As the game progressed and more enemies appeared, traditional weapons—such as guns—felt out of theme. The solution emerged unexpectedly when I was testing my film camera, which fired the flash in my roommate's face. After the apology (and his anger), I realized how intense vintage camera flashes are. The slow charging and sudden burst of light made it a perfect fit, ultimately becoming the game's unique, deadly weapon.
PREPARATION
-Prototypeing In Gymnasium
In the gymnasium, I prototype the core systems, including player movement, blockout assets, basic AI that detects and follows the player, and interaction mechanisms implemented through interfaces. The main challenge came from designing the light-detection system. In theory, accurate light tracing requires low-level access to the rendering pipeline. Still, by abstracting the requirement and simplifying the problem, I was able to replicate the effect using only basic line-trace nodes and package the logic into a reusable scene component.
- Core Function For Cone Detection
- Core Function For Sun Light Detection
- Eencapsulate into Scene Component
- Overall view of compact code & functions for the Rotator, Flashlight, Camera Flash
Think from first principles, flashlight, spotlight, and camera flash are the same: a cone-shaped area. I just need a function that first records all detectable actors within that cone area and, using a line trace between the light source and each actor, determines whether the ray reaches them. For sunlight, the process is even simpler—by using the direction of the directional light actor, I trace from a point in the sky toward the actor's position and check whether anything blocks the path. Eventually, I packaged these functions into scene components that can be attached to any actor that needs them.
PREPARATION
- Goal & Layout
START Status
END Status
The player reactivates generators to power the central axis, rotate the structure, and connect the tunnel exit. Restoring power also opens gates and activates lights that support exploration. Progressively, there will be stronger and more abundant enemies that appear throughout the level.
-- Basic Level Layout
- Environmental Storytelling
The background story first happened at the lab on the 2nd floor of the central control building, monsters broke out and turned all the people into monsters.
The military responded by destroying the bridge connecting the rotating island to the mainland and began using missiles to eliminate all life at the facility to prevent further outbreaks. That causes roads to get blocked and chaotic. Some people who were not affected tried to save themselves but failed because the generator shut down.
The player, having been knocked unconscious in one of the explosions, wakes up to find that the tunnel side exit is still intact—but escaping requires reactivating all the generators and activating the central axis on a journey with all the colleagues that are now monsters.
LEVEL FLOW CHAT
- This is the Level Flow Chat of the Game. The Player starts a Lab Office node, and the final node would be the Exit.
Level Flow Chat In PDF