What is Onkan?
2022
Onkan is an Aztec puzzle game where the player takes control of an Aztec priest to explore a temple and its underworld. In order to prevent the sun from going out, the priest must navigate 18 floors and solve increasingly difficult puzzles as they descend the temple to retrieve an ancient dagger.
In order to solve each floor, players must guide a range of sacrifices to specific alters and sacrifice them to appease the gods. Doing so activates various pieces that may clear the player’s path. Death is unforgiving in this game and sacrifices must be made if you want to be the next sun.
My role as the Project Lead, Game Designer, and Level Designer
I led a small dev team during my final year in school in creating a prototype that included 4 of the 8 levels. The project began with our instructors creating groups of 5 students mixed between the game design program and the concept art program. Our team consisted of 2 designers and 3 concept artists. Our goal was to come up with an idea for a game jam based on the prompt “Sacrifices Must Be Made”. I was inspired by a peer I was helping out who wanted to work on Aztec-themed props, leading me to pitch the idea to the team.
With the help of the team and a programmer I had worked with over the summer, we created a pitch and a demo of the game within a day or two. I pitched the game to our instructors in front of the class and was one of the few groups to be greenlit to continue the project.
The game’s design was simple: collect sacrifices and bring them to altars in order to activate puzzle elements. There was the added challenge of staying on the path, as falling would kill the player. Additionally, traps and enemies were designed for the game but never added to the prototype.
The story in Onkan was inspired by the Aztec creation myth of the 5 suns. I did a lot of research for this project and reached out to various museums in the US and Mexico to ensure I was creating something respectful. In addition, I consulted with a professor at the college who had studied the Aztecs and their language.
Each of the 18 levels was themed to one of the prominent gods involved in the creation myth of the five suns. Each god was unique and had its own themes that were incorporated into the design of the level and its puzzle, the sacrifices present in the level, and the props and colours used in the level. To help drive the story, a narrative designer was brought on to draft quips for each sacrifice in the level, and I created sky boxes as a sequential visual narrative aid.
Level Design Breakdown
I designed seven of the eight levels that were intended for the prototype and implemented all eight levels into Unity, but only 4 made it in. The levels were designed around the theme of the Aztec creation myth of the five suns, with the beginning of the myth being the top floor and the end being the lowest floor. The idea to have a temple pyramid was immediate, and the game taking place inside the pyramid was a creative decision the team decided on. I began by researching Aztec pyramids and realized they had concord and claimed many Mayan pyramids. I played around with pyramids created solely by the Aztecs but took inspiration from the Mayans.
I chose to go with a nine-step pyramid that would be above ground and an inverted nine-step that would be below ground. This corresponded with 18 points and 18 prominent gods in the creation story to design around. Additionally, I saw a clear midpoint in the creation story with the Aztec gods of the underworld and saw this as a great way to blend the overworld with the underworld. Mictecacihuatl, the goddess of death, oversaw the bones in the human world while her husband Mictlantecuhtli oversaw the souls of the underworld Mictlan. This also fits well as the Aztecs saw the lowest point of Mictlan being the northernmost point.
Research and documentation were done throughout the project. Even as I was designing each level, I spent time doing additional research. To make it easier for myself, I created a grid system in 3ds Max measured to fit real-world pyramid dimensions and used a 2-high cube reference for creating assets, props and characters for the game.
Once each level was designed, I created a brief for each level and each asset for the concept team. These concepts were then added to a brief I created for the 3D team. Once the assets were created, I built the level prefabs in Unity and replaced any blockouts I may have had in there.
The first level was created to reflect the god and goddess who began creation, Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl. I took the themes of duality and balance and created a symmetrical level that had the player use altars on the left for puzzle elements on the right and vice versa.
Onkan was pretty unforgiving and so I wanted the player to spend a reasonable amount of time in this level to practice.
To fit the theme, I used male and female villager sacrifices. Bridges were used as a puzzle element to represent the unity of male and female and doors were used to represent entry into the world of Onkan. Lastly, I created a sky box to represent the void these gods lived in and the creation myths beginning.
The next level was themed to Ometeotl, a non-binary god that was created when Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl merged to become one. I continued the theme of balance and symmetry but added verticality to signify unity.
In this level, the player had to balance out the pillars and stairs. A generic Citizen was used for this level to represent the non-binary nature of Ometeotl. In addition, pillars were used as a puzzle element to reflect the idea of how Ometeotl holds up the universe. Lastly, I created a sky box to represent the 13th heaven and the next chapter of the creation story.
The third level was themed to the god Xipe Totec, who represented the Aztecs two seasons and was known as the flayed god. He was known to have flayed himself to feed his people. I represented that by adding a falling tile element the would be flayed from the top level to fill in the lower level.
Themes of agriculture were added to reflect the dry and wet season with pillars imprinted with corn and farmer sacrifices. The goal of this level was to “flay” the floor tiles and “nourish” a new path to “grow” the corn pillars. I created a sky box that added a red nebula to the 13th heaven sky representing Xipe Totec’s colour red, and his birth.
Level four was themed to the god Quetzalcoatl and included themes of serpents and air. Stairs and air elevator puzzle elements were used to reflect air and elevation. Quetzal feathers were imprinted on pillars that had to be raised upright. Themes of snakes were used in the altars and the layout of the level when seen from above.
I designed the players path to simulate the movement and characteristics of a snake. Additionally, Quetzalcoatl was known for disliking human sacrifice, so I created costumed sacrifices representing various animals sacred to the Aztecs. The sky box I created for this level added a white nebula to the previous sky, representing Quetzalcoatl's shade of white and his birth.
As levels grew larger, I went back to symmetry to allow the player less confusion and easier navigation, though puzzles remained un-symmetrical. Level six was designed around the god Tezcatlipoca, who was known as the smoking mirror.
Themes of smoke and obsidian mirrors were put into this level and players would have had to navigate the level by avoiding false floors. In the center of the level would have been a large structure reflecting Tezcatlipoca’s mirror that would have needed to be levelled out to descend to the next floor. Warriors were used as sacrifices for this level to reflect Tezcatlipoca’s many conflicts, and I created a sky box that added a black nebula to represent his shade of black and his birth.
Level seven was themed to the first woman Oxomoco. She and her husband represented the calendar. This level had the player create the Aztec calendar by activating calendar blocks representing one of the twenty days in the proper order. Sacrifices would have guided the player with riddles of the order.
To lessen the level’s overwhelming look, sacrifices were placed at thicker points along the path with relative information to that corner of the level. Various female sacrifices were placed in this level representing Oxomoco as the first woman. I created a sky box reflecting the first sun by building upon the last sky box and placing a small sun or a “half sun”.
The last level I finished for Onkan was themed to the first man Cipactonal who was the husband to Oxomoco. Having learned of the creation of the calendar in the previous level, this level guided the player in putting together the proper date of the Aztec festival Teteo Eco, or “Arrival of the Gods”.
By activating the proper sequence of days, the player would have created a path to the exit. Various male sacrifices were placed in the level representing Cipactonal as the first man, and I had made a skybox telling the next chapter of the creation story with a slightly larger sun.
This project taught me a lot about level design, game design and producing a project. One of the most important takeaways from this project was the importance of tutorial levels.
Onkan was a fast-paced game jam-style project that I was being graded on based on my presenting and pitching abilities. After this project, I have made sure that the games I make have proper tutorial levels. In addition, due to the nature of the class, I wasn’t able to document the levels as thoroughly as I would normally do. Fortunately, I was solely responsible for the implementation of the level in the engine.
