JUST DANCE
As part of my end-of-studies internship, I joined the Just Dance team at Ubisoft as a level designer.
Just Dance is a dance game in which the player must follow the movements of a "coach" to learn a choreography and do the highest score. I had the opportunity to work on the 2023 edition which was released on November 22, 2022.
What does it mean to be a level designer on just dance?
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The position is atypical since a “map” is a choreography. On the other hand, the constraints are the same as on any other project as a level designer: transmit intentions and mechanics in a level, ensure the readability of the map, understanding, and adjust the difficulty so that the game is accessible while being challenging.
Each level designer is responsible of the map assigned to him. Here are what we do as a level designer, step by step:
1- Rehearsals
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As Level Designer, we attend the rehearsals of the choreographer and the dancer, accompanied by the directors of the choreographies. Our role is to dance the choreography at least once, to check that the difficulty corresponds to the intentions, and finally to pay attention to the technical details:
For example, the right hand must always be visible since it is with this hand that the player holds the controller so we must ensure that the dancer does not hide it behind his back. We also check that the right hand moves regularly since it is on this that the score will be recorded.
We can also check that the dancer does not start a movement when he has his back to the screen (raise a hand while he is spinning for example), as the player will be with his back to his TV at that moment he will not be able to see it.
These are a lot of details that the LD must pay attention to in order to ensure a fair difficulty, and the readability of the map. The LD makes sure that the choreographie will be playable in the game.
2- Shooting​
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On the day of the shooting, each pole is present (costume, video, LD,...). Our role remains the same as during rehearsals, we observe and check that the dancer performs the choreography correctly, that the right hand is visible, that each movement is readable,...
All poles must validate the socket for it to be accepted.
3- Scoring​
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Once the shooting has been done, the level designer is responsible of the scoring. On software, we “cut” the map: that is to say, we define which movements we will score and on how many beats.
We then tweak the scoring of these movements: we test the map and we modify the parameters of the movements that do not work, then we test again. We can also add data: we “record” ourselves dancing to add our way of doing things to the database.
4- Pictos​
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The last important step concerns the pictograms. They scroll at the bottom of the screen and allow players to anticipate the next moves.
It is the level designer who creates and places the different pictograms on the right beats. For this, I take a screenshot of the pose of the dancer that interests me then I add the different elements on this screen using photoshop (arrows,..). These template pictos are then taken over by a picto designer who uses them to make them beautiful. We check what he produced, we test the map and we ask him to change those that are not clear.
Once the final design has been validated by the LD team, we choose the colors of the pictogram (consistent with those of the coach) as well as the colors of the lyrics that scroll at the bottom of the screen.
Bilan​
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I had the opportunity to be responsible of my own maps (about 7) and I am so happy to see people dance on it.
Being a Level Designer on Just Dance is an atypical and quite unique job. It allows you to touch on several things: the world of dance, scoring, UI, and playtests.
It was quite a unique and enriching experience and I am proud to have been able to work on this project !