Project #03

HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA: SCARY-TALE ADVENTURES

"Faced with fearsome foes and fiendish puzzles, Drac and Mavis must brave their way through and utilize their special abilities to dash, glide and jump through these spook-tacular storybook worlds"

"Hotel Transylvania: Scary-Tale Adventures" is a 3D platform game in which the player plays as their favorite characters from the popular Sony Pictures Animation franchise. The player controls Drac and Mavis as they explore unique worlds inspired by classic tales with their own spooky twist.

I started working on this project shortly before pre-production ended. Once I finished familiarizing myself with the intellectual property (IP), I joined the Hotel Trasylvania development team mainly as a level designer.

My responsibilities involved the design and implementation of 7 levels from start to finish. Originally, each level lasted 30 minutes of gameplay, but was later shortened to 15 minutes. The levels combine platforming sections with riddles and puzzles adapted for children's audiences.

The levels I worked on are listed below:

  • The Sand Thief: Drac travels to the desert to search for the Sandy Thief and acquires the power of telekinesis to move large blocks with his mind.
  • The Treasure Chamber: Drac accesses the desert thieves' lair, and must fight his way through numerous traps and enemies to find the treasure chamber, where he will have to defeat the boss of the story.
  • Time to Bake a Cake: Little Red Mavis heads to the pumpkin field to find the three ingredients she needs to bake Granny a cake.
  • Where is the Hunter?: The Hunter has disappeared in the forest and now Little Red Mavis has to find him. In this level, Mavis acquires the power of hypnosis, which allows her to stun enemies for a short period of time.
  • The Dangerous Swamp: Little Red Mavis needs to find a very rare ingredient in the swamp to cure the Big Bad Wolf's stomach ache.
  • The Jungle and the Moon Temple: Doctor Dracula must go deep into the jungle to find a lost treasure to give to the Emperor for his birthday.
  • The Emperor's Revelation (Part 2): Doctor Dracula must escape from the Emperor's guards trying to find his way out of the palace.

However, my duties not only consisted of planning, drawing and building almost all the functional scenarios where the plot of the game would develop, but I also had to manage the internal economy of the game, write texts and test builds to find and fix bugs.

I consider that experiencing first-hand the limitations and benefits of working with an external IP of these characteristics has been a valuable experience.

Gallery

Coins are used not only as internal currency, but also as a way to guide the player towards certain objectives.

Throughout the game the player will encounter familiar characters from the Hotel Transylvania franchise.

Mavis and Drac can use their powers to, for example, stick to walls and walk on them.

There are sections where Drac and Mavis must defeat waves of enemies with their vampiric abilities to complete the level.

Sometimes the player will need to find a button or lever that will clear the way to their objetive.

Chests are a great incentive to encourage exploration. Some contain large amounts of coins and other collectibles.