Level Design Research

Level: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle - Sukhothai

The level is set in a jungle in Thailand as an ancient temple now overgrown by the surrounding forest clearly not maintained for centuries, with the temple holding the map to the artifact that Indiana and Voss is looking for, using this low level worldbuilding, they create different puzzles and events to fill the environment to create an immersive experience, for example: the first puzzle the player comes across in the level fits into the environment and story of the world, being based on a game and puzzle from a previous level making the design of these temples feel similar and connected as it's the same people that created them. The second puzzle demonstrates to the player how old and worn the temple is with the original path of the cavern destroyed with Indiana needing to parkour across leech infested water to reach the other side, this fits in with the design of the environment being old and abandoned for centuries.

The level also uses small details to enrich the level adding more immersion and history to the area, for example: The first area that really shows this is some remains seen praying to a huge statue with carvings found after completing the first puzzle, this drives in that the people that built these temples are religious and devoted to their cause which fits into the story that the game is trying to convey about this figures and further, this also adds to the age of these structures and when someone last enter them as they were heavily decomposed. Another small detail is that the entire temple is covered in thick vegetation with roots from trees breaking through the walls and moss filling the cracks of most floors, this fills the atmosphere of the environment and really makes it clear that these structures have been untouched for centuries and entire ecosystems have adapted to its presence and in some areas completely over taking the original structure.