Project V
January 2023 - August 2023
Individual, University honours project
My roles: Level designer, game designer
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Inspirations: Elden Ring, The Witcher 3, Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen
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Genres: Fantasy, Exploration, Action RPG
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Platforms: PC & Consoles
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Engine: Unreal Engine 4.26.2
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Tools: Unreal Engine 4, Blender, Trello, GitHub, Microsoft Office tools, Adobe Photoshop
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Team size: Solo
Pre-production
This project's brief was to learn and implement "Techniques used in modern level design by professionals, using paths, point of interest (POIs), spatial rewards and denail". A lot of research for this university project went into reading and watching GDC videos.
My main resources were "An Architectural Approach to Level Design" by Chris Totten, "The art of Game Design" by Jesse Schell, "A Practical Guide to Level Design" by Bauer, and "The image of the city" by Lynch.
Initially, the project's scope was too ambitious for the amount of time I had to develop the project (on top of the research I had to conduct, the time-frame, and project write-up). I wanted to create and entire medieval city inspired by Gran Soren from Dragon's Dogma, a forest surrounding it, and an underground dungeon.
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I sketched out several maps for each area and POI, but after asking for some advice I scaled down the project significantly. Due to time constraints, I ended up laying out scaled down versions of what I sketched into Unreal Engine as blockouts.
Blockout
Thanks to the research I conducted, I was able to create several areas and spaces where I hid treasure chests, and with the use of POIs, spatial denial and rewards.
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My favorite spatial reward to implement was the vista at the top of the cathedral building.
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In my playtests, most people engaged and reacted positively with the exploration of the level. They were able to navigate to a side path and re-enter the golden path with ease.
The path lead from the East side to the West side of the map, starting from the town and ending to an ancient tower.
On the north side of the map there is a POI in which the player can find a chest and a vista of an ancient being half-buried in the side of a hill.
On the south side, there is a temple. This area was designed to up the tension of the level, and introduce stealth and combat mechanics.
Inside the dungeon, I've used spatial denial techniques like choke points and obtuse angles to create tension and obscure vision where enemies might be.
I've also used the layered wall technique, to show a secret chest behind some bars unreachable until the player hit a specific button further into the temple.
The tower is the final location of the level and the player's objective.
The tower is surrounded by a wall, and it has three possible entry points, the ones depicted on the left (black circle) and right (light blue circle) are the stealth entry options. The one in the middle (red), is the way that invites direct confrontation with the enemies. The player is supposed to make their way into the tower, and the main objective is completed.
Scripting
I made three blueprints to create interactivity in the level. One of them is a Blueprint which allows the player to unlock the barred doors inside the ancient temple. Once they walk up to the switch, it will activate, and the door will disappear. For this to work, I created two Blueprint actors: a switch and door Blueprint actors. The final Blueprint I created served as a simple ladder logic that would teleport the player on top of it when approaching its base.
Final thoughts
Project V was an invaluable experiment that allowed me to understand deeper concepts and techniques utilised by level designers and architects. The freedom to create a game world that specifically catered to player exploration was gratifying, especially during playtests in which I could see my efforts pay off.
My goals were met, and my research questions were answered. Some problems arose along the way, and I have discussed the ways I could have tackled them. I am grateful I have been given the chance to learn and explore different methodologies employed by professional level designers.
With more time and effort, Project V could flourish into a fully developed demo to display the different topics I have researched, and more. It is thanks to this project that I have now been able to work on my current project, Tales of Solarity, with more ease and knoweldge.
Screenshots
