Level Design

Overview

This is the development of my level each week and any playtesting feedback that caused changes in the level, and at the end a reflection over the level and the development process.

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Week 1 - Starting the level

I started with getting the metric gym set up so I can get an understanding of what the player is capable of like jump distances, climb heights and door / window sizes, etc.

I also started the block out of the level, I started getting a basic idea of the building sizes and the size of the road in the level as that is the first place the player is. I then blocked out the area where the player enters the second segment of the level and added some details like cover and cars in the street for stealthing around enemies at the start of the game.

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Week 2 - Looking at combat & adding detail

I started this week with beginning the building that the player enters and where majority of the combat encounters are in.

I made the first floor and a staircase up to the next floor where the first combat encounter occurs and when the player gets their first weapon.

I then made the next section of the building that is a combination of different floors of the building, this is a longer combat segment that introduces new weapons and enemy types.

After that I decided to add some more definition to the buildings so it was more clear that its what they were. I created 2 different types of buildings to break up the environment and add some variation to the level.

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Week 3 - Level streaming and & blocking out the next area

During this week I looked at setting up level streaming for props like cover and enemies to improve performance in the level, I also went through and worked more on the building the player goes in, I then decided to block out the areas for the next part of the level to be able to see the rest of the level scope and make sure the rest of the level works together.

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Week 4 - playtesting & making changes

This week we did some playtesting and I found some key things I needed to change in my level to improve the experience for the player but overall my level seems to be going in the right direction.

I learned from my feedback that players found the first combat encounter was very static, the enemies were just waiting for the player and the cover didn't fit into the environment so I made it that the enemies walk into the area from the side when the player enters the room and moved around the cover and add some additional props to try and make it fit more.

I also found from feedback that the area before you enter the building is lacking any definition as to what the area is, so I added some props and tried to fill the space and communicate to the player visually that it is a construction yard area for the building.

When I got home from class my level wasn't showing in the editor and was giving an error code for invalid file, after some digging I found that the file was corrupted and I thought I had lost all my progress, but after searching all my files related to the project I found a auto save that was only a few hours of work behind so I lucky don't have to re do entire chunks of the map. The area I lost was the rooftop section of the map that occurs after the building so I had to rebuild it as best to memory as I could and even managed to improve it in some places.

I also looked into creating the first scripted events that the player witnesses, for the first one its at the start of the level where the player sees trucks going inside a checkpoint entrance while some guards are patrolling around.

The second scripted event is where the player is entering the 3rd area and has to jump across a gap between boards connecting the building from area 2 and the building at the start of area 3, as the player lands from the jump the previous board falls down which gates the player from returning to area 2 and forcing them to move forward.

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Week 5

This week I started by setting up the next combat area for the rooftops, this is the bigger of the different combat scenes and I wanted to make it feel more alive and complicated for the player by combining different enemy types, cover and factors like patrolling so the player has to think before jumping into combat.

I also found an issue where some of the enemies in the second combat area were not moving or being activated properly, this was an easy fix I just had to reset what AI is activated in the AI activation blueprint which seemed to work. I also went through and made some enemies move around and patrol in the environment so it feels more alive and that the enemies aren't just waiting for the player.

There was also another playtesting session where I found an issue with the new construction area I filled with props last week. People found a way to use the containers and pallets to jump onto the truck and walk along to where the player is suppose to go instead of looking around and finding the moveable container that the player is suppose to use.

I also got the base of the blockout finished so now the last area of the map is completed and now it's just adjusting and detail and creating the rest of the scripted events

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Week 6

This week I found it very productive and it came with some changes that I think has put the level in a better direction.

The first thing I did is create a intro cutscene to the level this is mainly to provide an intro to the level and play, I had an issue where the player character would still appear when the cutscene was playing but I found that I was just referencing the wrong thing to hide so I never really had major issues with it.

The highlight this week was I had a couple people playtest my session and and I learned some really important things. Firstly through observation and player feedback I found that the first area the player comes across is too open, players would often struggle with direction and knowing where to go so I cut a area out of the map to make it more linear and also added some more cover and props to try communicate to the player that they need to stealth and this is where to go.

The second major change is that from player feedback, the majority of people said that my combat encounters where too bland and instead of my original design of having a pace that changed, it mainly stayed the same throughout the building section. Also some hallways in the building were not wide enough causing clipping the camera which was taking away that fluid feel of the player seamless walking through the building, also having the different rooms the player can explore wasn't needed as every player skipped over them without taking away from their experience so I decided to block the door ways.

These different issues I found made me redesign entire chunks of this part of the level. I first redid the floor the player explores when they first enter the building, making the hall wider and adding some angled walls to make the room shape fall into the next area, I also thought while redesigning that it would be the perfect time to add some detail to the building so I did a detail pass and added a small narrative event that introduces the first gun.

The next area didn't need any major redesign, I did do a detail pass on this area so that at the end the building would be complete equally. I also made a small puzzle where the player has to find a key hidden in some props to unlock the door into the next area.

The next area has been changed the most being completely striped of combat and turned into a puzzle. The player must first unlock a door and then use a moveable container found in the room to climb up to find a vent system that they navigate into the next area.

The next area is a bit different with bringing back combat with some added difficultly, there is a more open space in this area and a second level this combat encounter is to test the player more than the last encounter.

This redesign took most of the week as I looked more into different techniques and ways to change up the level feel.

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Week 7

This week started with a playtesting session, I got to observe people play the new design for the building and it it clearly flowed way better than before and feedback from the players showed that it changed the flow of the game. I did however learn from talking to players that some mechanics were a little repetitive like the finding a key to unlock the door and the moving a container to help jump up.

Due to this repetitiveness I decided to create a scripted event where the floor falls away subverting the players expectations where they have to get the key to unlocked. When the player tries to get the key the scripted event occurs and they then have to walk through a room and hallway that leads up to the next area that they originally were trying to get to.

I also found that some areas at the beginning of the level lacked detail that the player needed to understand that they needed to sneak past the enemies at the start and more narrative direction so the player can understand the story more, so I decided to add very basic voice lines for the player and the opening cutscene, in future I might add more throughout the level if it fits the theme and the gameplay.

I also found from watching people playtest that I wasn't introducing the mechanic of breaking crates to access something, so when players came to needing to find a key they were looking for anything they could break so I added a small puzzle before the player enters the building that introduces this mechanic.

I also finished of the military checkpoint that can be seen out the side of the building and created a scripted event of the trucks going past and out the other side.

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Week 8

This week I started preparing as for next week I'll be unable to do any work due to it nearly being Christmas and I have a part time job to work so I spent this week trying to get smaller issues and things that need changed in the areas I already considered done.

I started with changing the starting view for the player by changing some building heights and making one building that has collapsed over and is leaning on another building, this adds more atmosphere and communicating to the player that the world is falling apart and that the buildings are unstable which will help lean into a section of the game later on.

I added some checkpoints before each combat encounter as last week during playtesting for the first time someone died and I realised I completely forgot to add checkpoints.

I created a light that focused and highlighted on this edge as some players where also struggling to figure out where they were meant to go.

I also changed this scripted event so where it makes the board fall away completely to really hammer in that the player can't go back, but when the event runs it doesn't fully complete and I couldn't figure out why so I'm leaving it for now.

I found that players were not seeing the helicopter that appears when they leave the building so I lowered it and also increased the intensity of the light so that its more focused and noticeable.

I also found some areas that the player is able to get out of map so I used some fencing to bar them from escaping.

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Week 9

It is now after Christmas 2 weeks later and I have the final parts of the game to finish and some last voice lines for the level.

I started by changing the combat encounter on the first roof, I added some height to change the landscape and how the player might approach the encounter. I also added some props to fill the environment and make it fit the rest of the level.

I then worked on the cutscene for the major event where a helicopter crashes into a building and causes it to fall onto the area the player is in and they have to go through a running section and escape. This section falls into 2 separate events, the first is where the helicopter crashes and the second is when the buildings actually fall.

I then made the running area that the player runs through when the buildings are falling, I added some props and 2 enemies with a voice line to beef up the area and tension when escaping.

I then worked on the final area where the player jumps to and finds the communications room. For this area I decided to have a combat encounter on the roof where the player lands instead of the building itself and added a higher point where enemies shoot down from. The final area mostly kept to the original plan and I added some props in this area although I did struggle with knowing what to do here to add some complexity here but I didn't want to add too much as its the ending where the player is suppose to be winding down.

I then created the final cutscene that occurs when the player reaches the end.

I finished off with adding some voice lines and making sure the level played well and that's all the time I had to work on it.

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Reflection

Overall I think it came out looking better than I hoped, The atmosphere and environment was definitely something I'm most proud of and creating some voice lines for enemies and the player was pretty fun to do even if they aren't great. The combat could probably of been done and planned better but works well within the level, If I could of changed anything during the development it would've been more combat design as I knew this was a weak point in my level from the beginning. I think the story could of also used more clarification into what the player is doing. The level itself has changed a lot from the original design from learning a lot over the time of development and I think it altogether achieves what it was meant to as a level.