Blog #13
Deep Diving into my latest LD project
This blog will be a bit different, really deep diving into my current level design. I plan to use some of these sections in my upcoming level page for this project. Without further ado, lets dive in.
Narrative Intro Allowance (Boat Ride):
The purpose of this section is to allow room for narrative within the level. While there are some clear issues (namely the fact that the camera attached to the player lags behind the sequenced boat) I like the opportunity for storytelling and worldbuilding that this section of the level presents. It begins with the main character, “Agent Shadow” waking up aboard a ship he has stowed away into the city on. Since this city is controlled by the enemy there was no direct approach and this is the best way in without being detected. The ship will travel through the city past the docks where the player is supposed to meet his escape boat once he has completed his mission.
This section of the level is created with a sequencer on a proxy model boat. The voiceover is AI (it sucks but I’m no voice actor and trust me you would rather here this than me lol). The voice recording was some simple narrative I wrote and is timed to the arrival of the boat. It plays on a trigger box sequence that is overlapping the player when the game begins causing an auto-fire functionality. The reason it is not on event begin play in the level blueprint is that when the player dies throughout the level the level is reset which was causing it to play on repeat every death lol. This was my adaptation to that problem.
Swimming Section (first abilities):
Once the boat arrives to the destination the camera takes control of the character and pans to the sewer entrance indicating to the player that he is supposed to enter the open sewer. Next to it is a closed sewer hopefully indicating to the player that one of these is open. Once the player dives in they are greeted with a prompt that Left Alt will allow them to dive into the water. This prompt was made with a widget and a trigger box which fires the widget in screen space as long as the character is overlapping the trigger. For those exploratory players they will notice a separate water section hidden behind some bars that they will be able to access later.
Upon swimming into the sewer cave the player will notice machinery (animated with timelines) and a green light in the distance next to a spinning fan. The green light has the same widget UI as before but calls an E to Interact widget. The fan controls when interacted with call a custom event in the fan blueprint that stops the timeline. Once the player squeezes through the now stopped fans they are in the first combat zone.
First Combat Encounters (Water Control Room)
As the player emerges from the water they are greeted with two armed guards working in the water control room. These guards are spawned with a trigger box that also spawns a UI widget indicating the player can use Q to access their gun and inventory. The guards should not automatically sense the player and stealthily sneaking up on the guards is an option for combat, but the intended combat pattern is to use your silenced pistol or rifle to engage them from across the room. Both guards are set on patrol routes with wait timers facing away from the player so that the player can have an easy start to the combat sections of the level and can play stealth.
Once the player has dispatched both guards they can proceed upstairs where another guard is patrolling the hallway. This patrol is also facing away allowing for a true stealth takedown with melee. Finally the player can proceed upstairs to take out the final guard in this section patrolling the offices.
Second Combat Encounters (Water Treatment Facility Outside)
The water treatment facilities outside section is primarily on a walkway. This area has four guards and stealth is no longer an option. The player can utilize a sniper that they could have acquired in the offices or they can keep their rifle and fight at medium range. Boxes offer half cover on the walk way, but if the player wants full cover they can play from the doorway leading back to the offices. Eventually the player will be forced out onto the walkway to deal with the 2-3 guards further out blocking the golden path.
Once all of the guards have been dealt with another control panel set stops spinning water fans and allows the player to dive into another section of the water plant. This area consists of two water treatment pods and is a very tight and enclosed combat space. To access the second room with the guards the player must interact with a gate door that requires multiple E button presses. The player is given their first grenades here which they can utilize to quickly clear out the tighter combat area before diving into the third and final swimming section (the section the player could see earlier from the first swimming section but could not access).
Energy Plant Firefight (Nuclear Energy Plant)
The nuclear energy plant allows the player their first real tough combat challenge and their first puzzle challenge. Upon entering the player will here alarms going off and all 6 of the guards in this area will begin firing at the player. This is a very challenging combat encounter. To help a sniper is placed in the start of the area behind cover. This sniper will give the player a chance to pick off the far enemies, but they will quickly be rushed by the closer guards so they need to be prepared to swap between their pistol and the rifle for close quarters combat. This area is intended to be very challenging and not for the weak of heart. You are expected to die. Because of that the respawn is just a few feet away from the challenge. Bare in mind the enemies in this room have varying weapons. The long range enemies have snipers. The closer enemies have rifles. This is a real challenge. In my opinion that’s what makes the game fun. Playtesting across 6 fellow FIEAians has shown a range of 2-10 deaths with varying skilled players.
Once the six enemies here are eliminated their is a checkpoint in the energy plant before the office. This checkpoint once reached will not enable the enemies spawning before, but does spawn two separate enemies in the office area. In front of the checkpoint is a locked door with a red light which forces the player to proceed into the offices to open the door. The guards in the office are typically pretty easy and should not really be a challenge after the previous firefight. Once the player gets to the top room of the office there a few goodies like a Desert Eagle they can acquire. The button in the room will disable the alarm, open the door, trigger a directed camera sequence showing the open door, and spawn an enemy in between the player and the next room. After clearing the last enemy the player may proceed up the elevator.
Traversal and Sniping (Bell Tower and Guard Wall)
The first obstacle in this area presents a challenge the player has not yet been faced with, ledge climbing. The player can approach the wall and grapple onto the overhang to move from one side to the other. Once their a widget prompt explains the controls for jumping down and pulling out your rope. The rope allows the player to swing from one side of the bell tower to the other. Once across the player will have access to a sniper and a long hallway of guards. Time to get your revenge for that brutal nuclear powerplant firefight.
After taking the guards out in this are you can either proceed directly to the elevator in front of you or climb up the ledge to get a nice vista of the city or the water plant depending on which side you want to look at. Both routes lead to where the elevator would have taken you so no reason to go back down.
Guard Tower and First Mini-Boss Fight
The guard tower here consists of four floors. The mess hall, the locker room, the dorms, and the gym. Fight your way through and get to the top of the tower. This section is honestly not my favorite and one I plan to rework soon. It’s a little stagnant and doesn’t offer a lot of varied gameplay compared to the previous sections. It needs some work. It’s a top priority to improve the gameplay here. It may be a case of just removing this entirely, although that seems potentially a little drastic after the work I put into it. But then again the level is already pretty long and this may just be bloat at this point.
The top of the guard tower is a different story though. I love this and want to work on it more.
Three words: Badass. Helicopter. Fight.
Also when you’re done with that you can like zipline across the map or whatever… but also badass helicopter fight.
Retrieve the Data Drive and Face the Final Boss
Once you zipline to the central building enter a maintenance elevator and head up. It’s time to face Bowser… or general Draven. Same thing. Big Bad Guy. (but also he is just a normal enemy because I can’t alter the individual health of an enemy without learning C++ because this pack was made for geniuses and I am not a genius)
Anyways kill that totally boss-like guy and retrieve the data drive. This will start a cutscene sequence where you jump out a window and parachute to the boat you saw on the docks earlier when you started the game (yay foreshadowing!!!). Anyways good job. You did it. You’re a game in my books if you beat this level. It was fun to make. I have a lot of work to do. Okay that’s all. Good bye. xoxo
