Sand-Clogged Gears

Overview

Narrative:

An unnamed bounty hunter receives intel from his usual spot at a bar in Candra Oasis, where he's directed to Governor Adron as his next target. The issue is, enforcers have started cracking down on criminal activity and are on his tale before he can get his gear from his stash. He must maneuver the oasis town and abandoned temple scrapyard before obtaining his gear and heading off to the Governor's fortress, dealing with enforcers before being put face-to-face with Governor Adron.

Third Person Action-Adventure
Solo Project: Level Design
Dev time: 5 Weeks
Unreal Engine 5.6
Meshes modeled in-engine
Packs Used:
- Adventure Game Locomotion System by Jakub W

Key Responsibilities:

Ideated on and designed level concept and layout.
Incorporated key blueprints to help. with level flow, gating, and developing sequences for exciting pacing.
Created block mesh assets using editor tools and materials for structures, set dressing props, and key mood/environment setting props in the level.

Key Design Goals:

Design two different types of gameplay spaces, where initially the player has to play with stealth and movement opportunities, and then the player is able to engage in more combat scenarios as they obtain suitable weapons to deal with them properly.
Spaces should try to steadily introduce combat through smaller gameplay scenarios that ramp as the level plays out
The gameplay intentions above should be established through a three-act structure that convey somewhat distinct visuals and feel that still fit within the overall theming
Incorporate cinematics and get familiar with camera sequences to have an exciting middle and end.

Concepting, References, POIs, and Initial Map

References:

I started by referencing environments from Star Wars, Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and some real life locations to get a feel for the oasis locale. I needed to find ways to make the environement make sense, which helped inform my process for developing the map. My initial version of the map had more emphasis on the canyon aspect of the desert oasis, but eventually I found that the canyon didn't workvery well an established locale, so it led me to come up with the temple that was converted into a scrapyard to help serve as a focal point and a prominent POI for the player to work towards.

Layout Concerns:

Some of the initial concerns with the theoretical were focused on whether the initial flow coming out of the bar would make sense since the original layout had the player wind around a corner in a very roundabout way which wasn't conducive for naturally leading the player to a central POI and the natrual direction the player wanted to move in, which was addressed in my final layout.

Metrics Gym:

The metrics gym allowed me to get a gauage for the sizing of the spaces vertically and whether the scaling of the original layout made sense. I found that the metrics gym made me realize that I was going to need more verticality than initially intended, and the horizontal layouts of the original map were too tight for the amount of horizontal distance the gameplay pack allowed for.

Initial Blockout Process

I started by sticking pretty closely to my original planned layout, but quickly found that the canyon section wasn't working very well. The concerns about the flow were real, so I had to go back to the drawing board to figure out how to address it. For now, I focused on just setting the scene with the oasis one step at a time, working with placeholder enemy assets that didn't actually work. At this point, the town didn't have a lot of narrative implications, and it was fairly lifeless, especially in the bar, but I was focusing on looking at the Star Wars references to define the intended shape language for the buildings, the canyon backdrop, and the colors found in the materials and lighting of the world.

Unnatural Pathing:

As mentioned before, the key issue that informed all of my future design decisions had to do with the unnatural twists and turns found in the canyon portion, so I decided to streamline it and make the path feel much more forward-moving than it did before, since it was a very roundabout way to get the player to go where I wanted them to. I also, at this stage, tried to incorporate multiple paths, but I later realized this was because I wasn't using enough leading lines and conveyance to naturally turn the player in the direction I was intending.

Unnatural Gameplay Flow:

By this point in the blockout phase, I was struggling to introduce the weak enemies in a natural way as I had initially intended, since I found that having them walking on random canyon paths didn't make a lot of sense for the environment and overall world narrative.

Blockout Iterations

The issues I found in the initial blockout had to be addressed by restructuring part of the level to have a more distinct looks, narrative, and it ended up serving as a strong set piece. I ended up being able to use this set piece as a framing device which also allowed me to severely cut down on the canyon part of the level and just had it be a short section to have the player interact with more of the movement mechanics before getting into the scrap yard. The scrap yard also served as an effective way to introduce simple pistol combat easily, as I had the player deal with combat in simplistic scenarios that ramp up just to introduce them before having to deal with the more difficult enemies. This allowed me to lead into the gear-up portion I had planned and the fortress further ahead.

Environmental Storytelling and Liveliness

As part of the iteration process, I also found that the bar needed more liveliness and that the oasis was poorly justified at the initial blockout stage.

Liveliness and Narrative in the Bar:

To remedy these issues, I incorporated a VIP section into half of the bar's booths and also some rounded tables to fill out the empty middle section, as well as adding in some placeholder models to help fill out the bar in a way that helped combat the initial symmetry that made the space feel unnatural.

Town Environmental Storytelling:

The oasis water is placed in a desert setting which implies that the water is a precious resource. To convey this and better justify the space, I added pipes coming out of the water running into the ground so that we can see that the water is actually pumping into the town, I added a bridge, a water tower, and boats in the water. These were added to imply that the water tower and boats serve as cleaners to ensure the water is pure, and the bridge would allow the citizens to actually cross the town in a convenient manner, but the bridge is also curved to allow the boats to travel underneath.

Rooftop Detail:

One pain point I had noticed is that the rooftops had doorways that led out onto them but they didn't actually have anything on them, and a particular rooftop being barren led to confusion as to where the player was intended to go, so I dressed the rooftop with a tarp to convey how the citizens protect themselves from the head, but also a set of lounge chairs to help justify the space.

Leading Lines, POIs

I placed significant emphasis on having stronger POIs and incorporating leading lines to lead the player in the intended directions. When placed against negative space, these techniques worked to help guide the environment, and when accompanied with sequences that I will speak on in a later section, the spaces worked to guide the player in the desired direction, especially when certain spaces had a large scale for the sake of setting the intended mood without having to use unnatural walling techniques.

Combat/Gameplay Pacing

I used gameplay in the initial part of the game as a way to gate the player, and also introduce them to the threat they will come across later. At this point, players shouldn't be able to deal with enforcer enemies with just their pistols, and these enemies are givene explicitly higher damage weapons than the enforcers seen later so that the player can really feel their threat at the start. However, in order to introduce combat at a smaller scale, players CAN deal with raider enemies, which also tie into the narative of the player trying to reach their gear hut. By doing this, and introducing more raider enemies and ones in different positions to learn to deal with, the player is transitioned into combat. After they reach the fortress, they are able to deal with enforcer enemies and the final boss encounter.

Boss Encounter

Instead of having "phases", the boss encounter becomes more interesting through the fact that enforcer enemies are spawned based on how far into the fortress the player progresses, allowing for challenge and an opportunity to overwhelm the player if they don't deal with them before heading to the boss. The boss deals significantly more damage than the player, and they have a much higher health bar than any other enemy, it serves to be the narrative peak of the entire experience.

Exciting Moments/Trigger Sequences

For this level, I wanted to focus on having cinematic encounters, so I added in several sequences that play based on a trigger that give encounters a more intentional feel. When the player reaches halfway through the town, the ships and enforcers arrive, forcing the player the quickly change their strategy. I also incorporated a section where enemies walk around the corner in the fortress as the play walks up originally planning to deal with things "quietly", putting the player in threatenign encounters where they have to quickly try to use cover.

I also added in two camera sequences as it was something I hadn't tried using much in previous projects, so the player travels to the fortress by ship and exits the fortress in the ship, and the control is given over to a camera montage. These moments help the level feel more complete and like it has a more solid beginning, middle and end.

Both these sequences were made with blueprints, and I also used blueprints to create a dialogue trigger, a teleport trigger for when the player falls off the map, and an automatic door open vertically trigger.

Take Your Train Ticket and Stop in one of the Portfolio Stations above

Sand-Clogged Gears

Overview

Key Responsibilities:

Key Design Goals:

Full Walkthrough

Level Map

Design Process

Concepting, References, POIs, and Initial Map

Initial Blockout Process

Blockout Iterations

Environmental Storytelling and Liveliness

Leading Lines, POIs

Combat/Gameplay Pacing

Boss Encounter

Exciting Moments/Trigger Sequences

Take Your Train Ticket and Stop in one of the Portfolio Stations above

Sand-Clogged Gears

Overview

Key Responsibilities:

Key Design Goals:

Full Walkthrough

Level Map

Design Process

Concepting, References, POIs, and Initial Map

Initial Blockout Process

Blockout Iterations

Environmental Storytelling and Liveliness

Leading Lines, POIs

Combat/Gameplay Pacing

Boss Encounter

Exciting Moments/Trigger Sequences

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