Introduction
Summary
2024
-
Individual solo project spanning 4 weeks working 70%
-
Focus on building the combat spaces and enemy placements
-
Advanced locomotion system template used
This project was made with a focus on using modular pieces to create larger environments to encourage exploring and player choise.
the level takes place in an old civilization between the mountains in a jungle where hostile forces are trying to uncover an old treasure from the giant watchtower these people built.
treasure of the tower
A third person adventure experience
Page 1
3
#
Pages
7
Issue
Playthrough video with commentary
OVERVIEW
Page 2
tension graph
flowchart
1. find a way to the tower
7. Turn on power at Ruined village
LEVEL FLOW
4. The cave
5. tower reveal
3. First enemy encounter
2. tower foreshadowing
6. world open up
8. turn on power AT outpost
9. take tower elevator
Start
End
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
The valley
The outpost
Cave
Broken vllage
The Tower
topdown
Valley
Cave
Tower
Ruined village
Large outpost
Tower
Tension
Rock breaks
Tower reveal
Elevator
Page 3
The tower is used as a big landmark visible from almost everywhere. The player can use it to understand where they are and reorientate their mental map.
Design techniques
Player guidance
Landmark
Sticking out
The valley sections use a linear structure that has a singular easy path to follow.
The structure of the rest of the level is very non-linear therefore need to use the landmark and other points of interest to guide the player.
To make it easier for the player to find and navigate to Objective huge bridges and several powerlines lead from the tower to the main power switches.
Among the ruins there are enemy outpost that create a Contrast in the environment taking more interest and alarming the player of enemy presence. the cave section also uses a similar technique with a wooden structure as a contrast to the cave walls.
Page 4
The valley
the center piece and the main objective of the map the tower is very important.
There is a small combat section where the player is surprised by the enemy presence at the tower.
At the first visit the player must get past the enemy to enter the tower from a broken piece of the wall and open the main door of the tower.
during the second visit after turning on power they will have to use the elevator to climb the tower.
The tower
The first area is set in a valley between the mountains with large rivers.
this area is used as an introduction to game mechanics and teaches the player how to vault, climb, crouch, use the torch, make stealth takedowns and pick up items.
To complete this section the player has to use what they learn to overcome obstacles and jump into the cave.
The outpost
The ruined village is situated on top of a huge waterfall, being hard to get up to the player must find a way to climb up to this location.
The main village area is crowded in enemies in different buildings and heights, most of them keeping watch over the middle area.
to clear this area the player must find a way to eliminate all enemies watching over the middle area before starting the generator.
Areas
The cave
The ruined village
The outpost is the most heavily fortified position on the map with walls and mountains surrounding the area.
the player can take several paths that provides different advantages and disadvantages with one path providing the player with a sniper and high ground.
The clear condition of this area is to get to the generator at the main building and start it.
This area is a large inside area with three paths granting different advantages and disadvantages.
as the first and most linear combat segment I made it intentionally hard, this was made to encourage the player to explore and find other options to defeat the enemy rather than go in unprepared.
to clear this combat area the player must choose an approach. they will have to either eliminate or sneak past the enemy to reach the wooden structure.
surrounding areas
The Waterfall ruins is situated at the top of a smaller waterfall in between the main outpost and the ruined village. This location has a few enemies and is guarding the small bridge that leads towards the ruined village.
the broken bridge pass is one of the paths leading up to the ruined village. here the player can get up on the mountain using the broken pieces of the bridge to climb on.
Page 5
Different oppertunities
Open Combat
My intent with this level was to create an open experience to encourage different playstyles such as exploration, stealth and fast paced action. I wanted to allow all these playstyles to be viable and able complete the main objectives turning on the towers power.
To achieve this design philosophy i made the level a large area with several paths to choose from also giving the player the freedom to complete the objectives in any order they choose and by any means they want.
To encorage the player to explore and find different options i have intentionally made the most obvious path the hardest and hiding loot and weapons of the beaten path
Player choice
I wanted to make the combat sections open as the rest of the world. I wanted to encourage different playstyles and a strategic approach to every combat space.
different areas will favor different playstyles where stealth is more viable in the ruined village and exploring to find the sniper rifle in the outpost will give another advantage.
The design encourages the player to explore different playstyles to overcome the challenges provided by the points of interests.
Page 6
Clear vision
Being the second project of my main portfolio projects i took what i learned from the first one to improve upon my process in this project.
From the start I knew i wanted to make a very non-linear large world with a tower in the middle connecting it together. I already had a good perception in my head of how I would want it to look.
When I started my pre production I quickly got my vison on paper and collected several reference pictures to get a mood of what I wanted to create.
Reflections
I really enjoyed designing this project with the limitations i had on me, trying to complete my original vision by trying to find effective ways to design such as using modular pieces.
this was one of my largest projects i have ever done and i had very limited time to do it. thanks to my modular design and creation of props I made it possible. I will carry over this process to my future project due to how effective it was.
Due to my time limitations i did have to work a bit from home since i really wanted to finish my original vision even when people said i should leave it. The result was good but it made me tired and is something i would like to avoid when possible.
Thank you for reading
Modular design
Process
My last project used unique assets for most buildings and environments which took some time. To make a larger environment while using less time i decided to use modular kits I designed to save time.
I made several pieces for the mountains and environments that i reused to build the whole world. I also Made full buildings that were reusable for all enemy faction outpost buildings and a full modular kit for the ruined village with a set measurementof 2x4 meters pieces that i could use to build the village.
Constructing
Creating this map i started with a base layout t based upon my paper design.
After that I started to create basic cubic layouts for the points of interests like the valley, tower and ruined village
after that i created props and modular pieces like the mountains, trees and buildings
and for last i populated and tested the complete design for the environment
The process started slow and got faster the more elements I added where the last point of intrest took less than two days to fully polish
