Process

I started with writing down what I wanted for the level. What has happened? How did the player arrive here? What events led the player to visiting this place? Why is the player here?

All of these things were questions I needed answered before I started. I got recommended by a fellow Level Designer about Alex Galuzin called “Preproduction Blueprint – How to plan game enviorments and level designs” which has been the blueprint for my pre-production.

This helps me to get a clearer picture of what it is I want to do and answers questions that needs to be answered.

Blocking out in Engine

So the initial idea was that there would be a riot outside of this facility set in a cyberpunk world and the player would infiltrate this warehouse and find a secret entrance that would lead to an underground facility. After playing through this level I felt I wasn’t really feeling the setting at all. It sounded so much better in pre production than it did in practice so I did the only logical thing I could. Pivot.

Pivot

This led me back to the drawing board where we had an exercise during our third game project. In short we were tasked with coming up with a world, gameplay and role. Then they told us to change the world but keep the gameplay and role. So for me I changed the world, kept the gameplay and slightly adjusted the role. This made so that I can still have the gameplay I want and have a similar enough role to my character so I don’t have to come up with many new things and build of the initial idea.

So with the world changed I can create a better experience while keeping the same gameplay and role as intended from the beginning.

Iteration

During playtests I noticed some behaviors from the players that wasn’t what I wanted. One example was that there wasn’t really anything blocking your path but instead there was an NPC looking out towards the ship. Players immediately went there instead of the intended path so I came with the solution of having a guard walk away from you and close the door behind him. I made so that there are several guards standing there as well making the player turn around and walk away in case they were interested in seeing whats on the other side.

The result became that the guard that closed the door indicated that you cannot pass through there and the guard that comes out from the door walks towards the intended path. I also had this problem where it took a while to understand for players that they should jump the fence and my solution was to remove it and adding dialogue to the guard wondering why no one has still fixed this issue. This also ties in to my goal with the level where the guards you encounter has silly and everyday conversations.

Another problem I had was what I called the “Ladder Problem”. This is when you enter the base you are presented with a ladder as soon as you enter. This made players pretty confused as many of them thought that you are supposed to go up there and it completely destroyed the pace. It also had to justify the hole in the wall because it made zero sense and felt too gamey.

Enter the solution. Two guards being tasked with fixing the watch tower where they talk about everyday topics. After you get passed the guards you see a truck blocking your way, since players thought the long path was pretty boring and lacked variety. So the truck driver had to stop really quick because his bladder was going to explode, which justifies why he had to stop in the middle of your path.