Hey everyone! I’m Mod Shiba, a Game Artist working on RuneScape. I joined the team in 2024 and have been working alongside the Character, Environment and UI teams, dabbling in a little bit of everything.
Early this year I was assigned to the environment team to work on my first feature environment project for Eclipse of the Heart, Tumeken's Sliding Puzzle Rooms.
Working on the puzzle rooms has been a fantastic introduction to the Environment Team and a great opportunity to fully immerse myself in MapEditor, our in-house tool for crafting the iconic environments of RuneScape. This project offered plenty to be inspired by, along with a fair share of challenges to conquer. I've been genuinely excited throughout the development process, knowing that players will soon step into and explore something built by my hands. It's been a blast overall, and I’m really looking forward to hearing what you think. Hope you enjoy tackling the puzzles as much as I enjoyed building them!
Riddle me this, What are the Puzzle Rooms?
So first up there will be some spoilers ahead, if you haven't dove into Eclipse of the Heart yet please read ahead at your own caution, you have been warned!
Upon entering you will encounter three unique puzzle rooms, trials designed to test the player’s wit and determination, proving whether they are truly worthy of reaching Tumeken’s final resting place.
Below is the initial concept art created by Mod Fox which shows the puzzle rooms set within a dark and empty space. The only signs of the outside world being the trickling streams of water, sunbeams illuminating the ground and sand that has blown in and settled undisturbed for many years. The puzzle rooms are an embodiment of Tumeken's consciousness, and they serve as a test to the player. YOU will be the first one to enter them, to explore the crumbling ruins and master each puzzle using your wisdom and tenacity before you can progress to the next stage.
Brick by Brick - Building the Environment
Creating a Whitebox is generally the first step when building new environments in the game. It serves as the initial translation of a 2D concept into a functional 3D space, offering the first glimpse of how the environment will take shape. Using basic geometry and height maps you start to build an environment which resembles the concept in its basic form. It can look a little funky at times with cubes replacing the majority of a space. But it is an important first step in production as walking around this basic environment in game helps you get an idea of how it feels and what areas you should improve upon. Maybe the space is too small so let’s make it bigger, or some areas might not be imposing enough.
How the camera behaves within the environment is also another leading factor that can change how a space is created. Does the camera clip through a wall and obscure the player's view from one angle, and how much can the player see within the camera’s constraints. Too much or not enough? Elements will shift a lot during this process, but once you have laid down a good foundation you are ready to move onto the next step.
Each puzzle room is built on one map square, so my first challenge was making sure the floor space I reserved for the puzzles was large enough. Mod Zura created the layout of each puzzle which I translated onto the maps grid, but at this point we had no idea if the puzzles would need to change later after play testing. Planning the puzzles to be made in a way that future edits wouldn’t take up valuable time or affect other key elements worked a charm as we did end up revising a couple puzzles to make everything more challenging.
So, once the Whitebox is approved next up is the Greybox! It is time to flesh out the environment and put some meat on its bare bones. Whitebox assets will now be replaced with polished final models, floor materials and refining the height maps. During this process you can start to add a lot more detail to the environment and breathe life into the space. The Greybox stage is ideal to start applying a loose lighting setup to the scenes as it can help massively with understanding how the area may look in its final form and what elements you need to focus on. The colours, shadows, asset placement, areas of interest and where the players focus will ultimately want to be. These all help in guiding the environment to its final stage giving the biggest impact to the players overall experience.
A lot of assets already existed within the game which we wanted to reuse. Reuse is a smart and less expensive way to create new environments and assets. Not only does it make environment creation faster but also keeps the game looking uniform throughout. A lot of the larger assets within the puzzle rooms were taken from a kit built specifically for the Temple of Isolation.
The top and left images are taken from the Temple of Isolation to show where the initial assets were used and how specific parts of the kit have been reused within the puzzle rooms.
The puzzles and gate were some of the standout features in the initial concept art that needed a few newly crafted elements to work within these environments. The gates displaying Tumeken's symbol lie in wait for the player to unlock them. While the plinths display symbols of the other gods and must be moved to the correct spot to achieve your goal. Figuring out the time costing for asset creation in advance requires a good understanding of what we already have available and how that could be utilized.
More complex kit bashing often requires smart thinking to know how to put everything together to create the result you are looking for. Recolouring or applying new textures can instantly add a fresh feel to an existing model, as well as bringing together parts from different kits to create something entirely new altogether.
A very simple example of this would be something like the plinth created for the puzzles. It was originally kit bashed from a moonstone conduit where we kept the base and reused the red toned trim sheet. Applying a darker stone material to replace the yellow and finishing off the top with a shiny new golden tile. You only start to notice these things when you put them side by side, but I wonder how much asset reuse you guys have spotted throughout the game or thought, hmm, this looks familiar.
Setting the stage - Set Dressing
Once you have fleshed out the environment with all your main components and the Greybox is basically done. It’s time to clutter!
Filling environments with all sorts of items, trinkets and décor is what takes each one to the next level. You can tell a whole other story within an environment based on a few little items positioned in a perfect spot. Or just simply build more onto what is already there to really sell the space and push the environment to the next level. From lush forests to bustling towns and cities. Each location can hold an abundance of visually stunning and hidden treasures.
With our current environments and graphical reworks, we really try to push locations to be the best they can. Some of our environment artists also use this as an opportunity to add unique little easter eggs hidden amongst their environments (skeletons come to mind) which we know players love to uncover!
Set dressing the puzzle rooms was a little more challenging to locate what we could include since they are located within a space which has never been visited by humans until now. Sand piles, rubble, broken pillars, maybe a few bats flying past. The desert theme being a dry and unforgiving place already restricted what we could and couldn’t use within the environments. Each puzzle room has been set dressed a little uniquely from one another. As you progress towards the final puzzle and tomb the rooms progressively become less ruined and a little grander as you navigate through the labyrinth of Tumeken's Psyche.
The tomb room is different from the rest of the environments since it is depicted as the resting place for Tumeken. Scattered around are numerous vestiges illuminated by the soft flicker of candles and a ray of sunlight streaming down from above. Decorating this room with different pots, vases, artifacts and candles was an enjoyable change of pace. The additions bring a feeling of importance and wonder to the tomb and add a somewhat warm touch compared to the dark and empty rooms that came before.
Shining a spotlight - Lighting and Mood
Early on we knew lighting would play a very important role in the creation of these rooms. Ultimately, we really wanted to add an element of the unknown.
The initial Concept art was brighter and a little more inviting overall but leaving large portions of the environment shrouded in darkness draws the players focus to the puzzle and gate. Yet hidden amongst the darkness nesting bats lurk and old fabrics flutter. The pops of orange and blue light give you glimpses of what is around, but not the whole picture. It really helps emphasize on the vastness of the space the rooms reside within. What lies beyond those rocks? And how far down does the water fall into the cavernous space below...
Speaking of water, the streams that fall around the sides of the puzzle rooms have been mentioned to reference a specific river goddess, oh I wonder who that could be?
Putting it all together - Tomb Room
The 3rd puzzle room is a lot more special than the previous two as it also contains the tomb at the end. Once you step into the room and face the two giant braziers at the entrance to Tumeken's Tomb you know this is the final puzzle to beat!
In the early stages of Whiteboxing the tomb room initially started out a little small, but we soon realized we wanted the sarcophagus on a raised platform and pushed towards the back of the room. Not only would this allow players more walking space at the front, but bring a lot more focus towards the sarcophagus and its importance within the room. The stairs that rise upwards to the tomb help elevate the importance of the area, a more intricate gate for this last trial only seemed fitting to really sell the space and all its grandeur.
The Sarcophagus illuminated by a single sunbeam is probably one of my favourite things about the tomb room as well. It is only fitting that Tumeken is being graced by the light!
To finish this off I also have an extra bonus peek at Tumeken's Sarcophagus concepted by Mod Fox. The Sarcophagus incorporates some really unique design work and draws elements from Tumeken's design and animal aspect. This stunning concept was recreated in 3D by Mod Blkwitch and is an absolute feast for the eyes!
Signing out
Well, there you have it. I hope you enjoyed reading through this first look into how the puzzle rooms were crafted for the Eclipse of the Heart questline. While I may be off, working on other projects within the Character and UI teams, I look forward to creating another environment for you guys to explore soon.