Context

The goal of the project was to create a complete level for a fictional TPS adventure game set in a fantasy world.

The main constraint was to use a basic character capable of moving, jumping, and shooting arrows. In terms of available features, I had access to a swordsman enemy that approaches and attacks the player, an archer enemy that remains stationary while shooting at the player, and a basic kill zone.

My roles

As the sole Level Designer on the project, I created the entire level, going through research, paper design, blockout 3D, and playtesting.

I also created the level's story, which I communicated through environmental storytelling.

I personally scripted the game's 3Cs, gameplay mechanics, and Scriptable Events using Blueprints in Unreal Engine.

Level Design

Overview

Top View

Level Flowchart

1) Mushroom vista

2) Small mushrooms parcours

3) Poisonous mushrooms

4) Open space combat

5) Big mushrooms parcours

6) Watchtower run

7) Mushrooms heads combat

8) Earthquake run

9) Explosion vista

Storytelling

Big Mushroom Discovery

The player enters the village, infested by mushrooms, and discovers a massive mushroom. Despite being far away, it appears enormous.

I wanted to create a striking first impression that would leave the player with many questions: Why is there such a massive mushroom? What caused the infestation? Where did all the villagers go?

Poisinous Mushrooms

The player discovers a hun with a bandit who approaches to attack, but accidentally triggers a poisonous mushroom, whose gas kills him instantly.

As the player moves forward, they trigger other mushrooms. that activate when approached, and that their pink poisonous cloud kills instantly.

From this, the player can deduct that the villagers have all disappeared because of the infestation.

Growing Mushroom

As the player progresses through the village, they encounter more and more mushrooms.

The player witnesses a large mushroom growing rapidly, causing a nearby house to collapse.

It shows how quickly the infestation was able to spread across such a large area, while also explaining why the surrounding houses are damaged. 

Discovery of Dynamite

At the roots of the giant mushroom, the player discover a pile of dynamite barrels. They realizes that someone wants to destroy the giant mushroom. They also understand that the source of the infestation may be this giant mushroom, which is spreading its spores and infecting the surrounding.

Big Mushroom Explosion

After some time, the dynamite explodes, causing a powerful earthquake that causes the player to fall underground.

Big Mushroom Falling

The player reaches a 3th vista overlooking the giant mushroom. Suddenly, it explodes one final time and collapses. The village's infestation is finally over.

Level Design Techniques

Big Mushroom Vista:

1) The vista catches the player's attention. The giant mushroom also serves as a landmark that is constantly visible on screen. It foreshadows a futur location.

2) A forest of mushrooms foreshadows the futur location.

3) I decided to place the vista on a cliff to make the scene feel more dramatic, and to allow the player to see part of the village, which is a non-playable area.

4) On the right, the path continues, blocked by the small mushrooms. It is a small jumping tutorial, which will be useful in the next platforming section.

5) Part of the upcoming platforming section can be seen.

Watchtower Run:

1) A watchtower with an archer enemy who cannot be killed. The fire makes the watchtower directly noticeable.

2) The light from the fire casts shadows from the mushroom head, indicating the safe zones to take cover. However, it is not actually the fire that creates shadows, but a unique light source attached to each mushroom, accurately matching the archer's field of view.

3) Arrow models are placed on the ground, indicating the archer presence and surrounding the shadow safe zones that are not hit by the arrows.

4) The poisonous mushroom gas prevents the player from exploiting the archer's blind spots.

5) The fence at the beginning of the arena allows the player to safely see the entire section.

Foreshadowing Enemies:

1) Introduction to the swordsman enemy behind a fence. They do not detect the player. This allows the player to visualize the enemy before encountering them in combat.

2) In the corridor there is a fence that allows to see the enemies standing before engage the fight. The player cannot shoot them through the fence and must go down.

3) An archer enemy is behind the fence and continuously shoots at the player, but the fence blocks the arrows. This allows the player to understand the archer enemy before encountering them in a combat.

4) Before entering the arena, the fence shows the player the location and number of enemies.

Player Guidance:

In order to guide and influence the player's attention at required moments, I used several techniques:

• Paths with 90° turns force the player to look toward. This allows me to influence the player's horizontal field of view.

• Slopes and downward paths force the player to look more up or down. This allows me to influence the player's vertical field of view.

• Lights attract the player's attention and help guide them.

Watch sequence

Watch sequence

Scripting

Game's Mecanics Prototyping:

I prototyped several game mechanics using Unreal Engine Blueprints in order to realize more accurate playtests and show my game's intentions.

I scripted:

• The player's complete 3Cs (Camera, Character, Controls)

• The swordsman enemy

• The archer enemy

• The arrow and shooting logic

• The poisonous mushroom

Scriptable Events:

In order to represent my narrative intentions, I also scripted the different events throughout the level, which contribute to the environmental storytelling.

These involved trigger boxes, additional logics, changes to the transform of objects, screen shakes, VFX, etc.

These events are important to help create a dynamic pacing, evoke emotions, and tell the story.

Production

Research of situations:

First, I find the level's theme: "A village overrun by mushrooms, with a giant mushroom at its center".

I started researching ideas for interesting gameplay situations, going through several iterations and blockouts in Unreal Engine. With the 3Cs scripted, I was able to test the experience of each situation and determine whether it matched my intentions, in terms of story and gameplay.

The goal was to prototype and test quickly by creating small gameplay situations to be then combined into larger situations.

I combined several small situations to create larger blockouts, each with its own theme, gameplay, and challenge.

I divided these situations into 3 types: Platforming, Combat, and Mini-Boss.

Final Situations:

Level Flowchart:

I then designed the game's flowchart. I wanted to explain the story visually rather than through dialogue or text, so I came up with different possible cutscenes (scripted events).

Tension Graph:

1) Placing the complete gameplay situations (platforming, combat, mini-boss) at predetermined distances.

2) Filling the gaps with the other situations (pauses and cutscenes).

3) Creating a scheme of a top-down layout of the entire map.

4) Completing the blockout using the layout while respecting the measurements.

5) Finalizing the blockout by adding terrains, colors, trigger boxes, environment assets, and lighting.

Blockout:

I thought about the pacing and intensity of the level.

• The platforming and combat situations add challenge and difficulty.

• The pauses gave the player a break provide the environmental storytelling.

• The cutscenes introduce new features (enemies, mushrooms) or tell the story. These cutscenes could be intense, but not challenging.

I wanted to create a rhythm with progressively increasing tension and difficulty, while varying the combat, platforming, pauses, and cutscenes.

Walkthrough

Ralif Tazutdinov

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raliftazut@gmail.com