LORDSFELL Mining Town - Immortals of Aveum
Lordsfell’s Mining Town was once the center of daily life for Lucium’s miners and construction crews. After Sandrakk’s assault, most of the townspeople fled to Greyvail, while those unable to escape in time sealed themselves behind the gates, hoping for rescue. Located along the player’s path to Greyvail, the town now serves as a gameplay-rich space featuring combat encounters, environmental puzzles, and opportunities for exploration. Looming above it all is the Goliath—a massive, ancient structure the miners were actively excavating.
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GAME DESCRIPTION: Immortals of Aveum is a single-player, first-person magic shooter set in the original fantasy universe of Aveum. The story follows Jak, a battlemage who joins an elite order of magic-wielders known as the Immortals to prevent the world from falling into ruin. At the heart of Aveum lies the kingdom of Lucium, a central hub that players revisit throughout the main story and side quests. However, Lucium—and the world around it—is being consumed by The Wound, a massive chasm that swallows entire cities. Both a literal and symbolic force, The Wound represents the world’s unraveling, driven by the devastating effects of the Everwar and the growing instability of magic. As both a narrative and environmental threat, it underscores the urgency of Jak's mission and the high stakes of Aveum’s collapse.
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MY ROLE: As a Senior Environment Artist (Level Art) on Immortals of Aveum, I was responsible for managing the full production of the Lucium Hub, from initial design through to final shipping, under the guidance of Creative Director Bret Robbins and Associate Art Director Julia Litchblau. I collaborated closely with level designers to shape the hub’s layout—balancing composition, gameplay flow, and narrative beats—while leading a team of environment artists tasked with asset creation and set dressing across the region. My specific responsibilities included: Establishing and implementing the terrain and procedural generation systems, creating an artistic style guide for terrain and set dressing to ensure consistency and visual cohesion, composing and set dressing every major point of interest within the hub, and managing the hub’s production timeline, ensuring all work met performance, visual quality, and delivery targets. This role required cross-disciplinary coordination, strong visual storytelling, and a focus on optimizing both the player experience and development efficiency.
This is the dev map we used to identify different areas in Lordsfell. I will use this naming convention for identifying screenshot locations.
Once a bustling hub where dozens of laborers lived, ate, and worked, the Mining Town now stands quiet in the shadow of a recently unearthed Goliath structure, the towering relic looming over the settlement.
Just off the main road lies the gate to the Inner Mining Town, the area where most of the inhabitants once lived and worked. This section served as the central hub for processing shipments arriving from the docks behind the city.
View of the Mining Town from the Front Lines during the project's level design blockout stage. This early layout established key sightlines, traversal paths, and spatial relationships between major points of interest.
Early screenshot showcasing the initial layout of the Mining Town. Originally designed to feel more disorganized and spread out, this early iteration emphasized the town’s makeshift growth and functional layout before later revisions refined its structure
During development, I proposed an alternative layout featuring a more circular design for the Mining Town. This approach improved navigational clarity and allowed for stronger compositional framing, guiding the player’s eye more effectively.
Eventually, we decided to close off the town with a gate to support a stronger narrative—conveying that the remaining civilians had retreated and sealed themselves inside for safety. This change also helped transform the primary path into a battleground.
The gate to Lordsfell’s Inner Mining Town—sealed off to signify where the civilians fled during the assault. Beyond the gate lies a more scrappy yet fortified zone, reflecting the urgency and desperation of their last stand.
Initially, the Mining Town featured a larger number of explorable areas with puzzles and combat challenges. However, due to late cuts, many were removed. This led to the creation of a fortified entrance and many areas only viewable through the vista.
After rounding a natural cliffside, players are introduced to their next activity with a clear, cinematic view of the Goliath and the surrounding construction equipment.
After exiting the Mining Town, players have a choice of direction. They can move from right to left in this image toward the Construction Path, leading to an Arestayan Puzzle, or head straight toward the Goliath Arena for a more combat-focused encounter.
Approaching the Goliath Arena, players are met with a looming, cinematic view of the towering Goliath overhead. The visual scale naturally funnels players into a more confined arena and puzzle space.
This blockout image showcases the original layout of the space as a crossroads, offering three distinct paths: to the Arestayan Puzzle on the left, the now-cut Harrows Zone on the right, or continuing forward toward Greyvail Plaza.
Later in development, we added a puzzle that required the player to complete a combat encounter before constructing a bridge to cross the gap leading toward Greyvail Plaza.
In this final screenshot, you can see that the Harrows Zone and the original path to the Arestayan Puzzle were cut. Instead, the Construction Path now leads directly to the puzzle, allowing us to focus entirely on crafting a visually compelling space.
In this blockout image of the Construction Path, you can see that the initial plan included significantly more surrounding terrain, creating a broader, more open space around the player.
However, we found that the additional terrain wasn’t necessary and ultimately distracted from the intended player direction. It was replaced with the more visually striking Wound which not only enhanced composition but also guided players towards the path
If the player chooses the Construction Path to reach the Arestayan Puzzle, they'll find the activity situated beside a sheer cliffside.
Once the player completes the Arestayan Puzzle, turning back reveals the Goliath still prominently in view—providing a strong visual anchor.