overview
Samsara is a game of cycles that fuses Buddhist themes with souls-like gameplay in a tight and replayable action-adventure RPG. In Buddhism, Samsara is the cycle of death and rebirth to which all life is bound. Your ultimate goal is to escape from this cyclic existence - to escape Samsara.
In the intermediate state between this life and the next, await strange and terrifying visions that reveal to you the true nature of reality: impermanence. Are you enlightened enough to recognise the true nature of reality and reach Nirvana?
In the dying recesses of your mind, endlessly pressured by an imagined world that seeks to destroy you, will you learn what it takes to reach Nirvana, or will you be trapped forever, born again into endless suffering?
My Role
For Samsara, I designed a lore rich quest set in the dessert continent of Aparagodaniya. The quest follows the tales of a Old Lady, unknown to the player, is actually Kamadhenu, a divine rich creature central to the continent’s ecosystem.
I was responsible for the quests narrative design, integrating the mysterious Buddhist elements to deepen the world build and the immersion. In Addition to the narrative, I designed and prototyped the boss encounter that concludes the quest, this includes:
Designing the boss mechanics to align with narrative themes and challenge pacing.
Prototype Combat Flow and player interactions within the encounter.
Blocking out the boss arena to support a dynamic movement, and emphasize the climactic stakes of the confrontation.
This work brought together narrative, systems and level design into a polished, cohesive experience.
Outcome
Genre - Action Adventure RPG
Engine - Unreal 5
Studio - Infinity27
Development Time - 3 Months
Role - Graduate Games Intern
Narrative
Quest Overview - A Voice in the Wind
Goals
Quest Hook
Narrative Structure
The Quest I designed centers around Kamadhenu, a mystical wish granting Cow whose presence is vital for the balance of the continent Aparagodaniya - a once lush land that has turned to desert. The player journeys across the region, meeting apparitions of a “Old Lady” who appears to be in distress, that reveal the truth behind why Aparagodaniya is no longer lush and green.
Create an Narrative Arc that enriches the worlds themes, while giving the player a emotion drive.
Tie gameplay progression into narrative beats (Exploration - Revelation - Confrontation - Rescue)
Integrate lore into level design and overall pacing.
The quest begins when the player encounters the apparition of an elderly women, a mysterious figure who appears to be lying down in distress. She initiates a cryptic conversation initially quizzing the player, and revealing small fragments of lore about the surrounding area before quickly becoming fatigued. In her vulnerability, she requests a “Bilva Fruit” a limited healing fruit the player may have.
If the player decides to assist her, they apparition appears twice more throughout the level, each time following a similar pattern: offering insight into the environment, consistently hinting at a deeper truth, and requesting more “Bilva Fruit” These moments serve as both narrative breadcrumbs and opportunities for emotional investment.
This three part encounter builds a slow reveal:
Mystery - Who is this lady? Why does she appear near player safe spaces?
Truth - The player can choose to help her, investing precious resources in a harsh environment, for no clear reward.
Revelation - After the third offering, the apparition reveals her true identity.
She is Kamadhenu, the wish granting Cow, who is trapped deep within the Fortress, within Amarsana Arena. Using the last of her strength to create apparitions of herself in a alternate form to request aid. A visual vista that has been looming in the background of their journey.
This structure transforms a simple fetch mechanic into a quest that emphasizes compassion, discovery and foreshadowing. Amarsana Fortress, once just a bit of scenery, suddenly becomes the quest’s emotional and narrative focal point.
Outcome
The apparitions not only anchors the continent’s lore but also establishes Kamadhenu as a central figure around what the land relies upon. These moments set up the final boss encounter as both a climax and a potential personal rescue mission giving narrative weight to the gameplay that follows.
Boss encounter
Overview
The above quest culminates in a boss encounter where the imprisoned Kamadhenu stands passively bound positioned right in the centre of the players peripheral vision. She is cowering on a ledge, where a fierce combat encounter is unfolding. A violent clash between the fierce Asura, and the noble and divine Deva - backing up the friction between them explored in “The Voice in the Wind” quest.
Unlike a traditional souls-like boss, this encounter gives the player the choice whether to save Kamadhenu or not as well as the choice between engaging or disengaging from the battle itself, focusing on traversal, problem solving and selective engagement.
To provide a unique puzzle / challenge boss encounter, that uses the exploration mechanics (Traps, pushable columns, climbing etc…) in a interesting way to check the players mastery of these mechanics.
To design a boss fight that ties into “A Voice in the Wind”
To have choices within “A Voice in the Wind” affect the penultimate encounter.
To provide an emotionally resonant choice, rather than a conventional kill the boss moment.
Goals
Encounter Structure
The boss fight is structured into 3 different phases, in an attempt to mirror the three earlier encounters with apparitions - with who the player now knows is Kamadhenu.
Phase 1 - Entering Amarsana Arena
Upon entering the Arena, the player witnesses the fierce ongoing battle between the Asura and the Deva.
Kamadhenu is visible, but unreachable at a glance, stranded upon a platform between the two towers.
This phase establishes a intimidating set piece while subtly direction the players attention to the two opposing towers flanking the arena.
Phase 2 - Trial of the Towers
The left tower focuses on climbing and traversal, featuring unstable architecture, environmental hazards and “Indiana Jones” Style moving platforms.
The right tower focuses on fierce combat, aggressive and alert enemies to fight in a very tight and unstable environment. This is intended to represent courage and the burden of intervention.
Each tower leads to the platform where Kamadhenu is stranded, and allows the player the chance, if they are quick enough, to save her.
Phase 3 - Kamadhenu
Once the platform has been reached, the player has the chance to defeat the Asura and the Deva to save Kamadhenu, even though the player is dealing large amounts of damage to both the Asura and Deva, they remain hell bent on attacking each other and Kamadhenu in their rage.
Design Goals
Challenge Expectations of a souls like boss encounter by suggesting that rescue over violence.
Use spatial design to communicate hidden meanings.
Encourage player choice and agency on how they engage with the encounter.
Reinforce narrative themes of compassion, duality and intervention.
Level Design Process
The boss encounter and the arena were developed through a narrative first - iteration driven workflow. My goal was to ensure that every aspect of the experience, from the traversal to the visual composition - supported the emotional weight of Kamadhenu’s peril.
Massing for Scale and Flow
I began massing out the arena space in engine to establish the scale and the major sightlines, ensuring the Amarsana Arena was visible from all the important places throughout the level. This early step allowed me to understand the size of the space that I had, and allowed me to make the decision to enlarge the space I was originally given.
Paper Sketching with Narrative Anchors
I moved to paper to sketch out multiple layout options, keeping the narrative and thematic framing in mind. Each design was built around one of the design pillars of Samsara which is to create interconnected spaces, which is reflected in the chosen design.
Digital Sketching and Refinement
From there, I refined the best options into digital sketches using Dungeon Scrawl which allowed me to keep a consistent scale. This also helped communicate the structure clearly (Critical Path, Loot etc…) to collaborators and identify potential pain points.
Detailed Blockout
I then proceeded to build a fully explorable blockout of the Arena and the two towers. This stage focused on pacing, player guidance and spacial story telling, ensuring that the environment supported both the narrative and story beats.
Playtesting and Iteration
I conducted multiple rounds of informal and structured playtesting, focusing on player decision making, path clarity and pacing. Feedback led to several refinements, including trap placement alterations, enemy amount reduced and better signalling of interactive elements.
Handoff to Enviroment Artists
Once the blockout was polished and functional, I worked closely with environment artists to hand of the space for set dressing and visual polish, providing documentation and visual references to preserve the intent through to the final pass.
Prototyped Mechanics
To bring the Kamadhenu boss encounter in Samsara to life, it was necessary to prototype a set of mechanics that diverged from the standard player-centric combat paradigm. This encounter was envisioned not as a traditional boss battle, but as a dynamic event in which the player is not the central focus of combat. Instead, the drama unfolds between two powerful NPC factions—the Deva and the Asura—locked in a battle that the player must strategically navigate.
Samsara uses the Ascent Combat Framework (ACF) as the foundation of its combat system. While ACF provides robust support for AI combat, it is primarily built around player-centric engagements. However, it also includes a teams system, which theoretically allows AI to distinguish between allies and enemies based on team assignments.
To achieve the desired encounter behavior, I prototyped the following:
Team Structure:
Player: Team 1
Standard Enemies: Team 2
Neutral/Friendly NPCs: Team 3
Deva and Asura: Team 4 and Team 5 (hostile to each other and to the player)
AI Configuration:
Each AI actor (Deva and Asura) was assigned to a unique team.
Their hostility settings were configured to treat each other as enemies, enabling them to engage in autonomous combat with each other while ignoring the player unless provoked.
This in theory would allow the desired functionality.
