Description
A 3rd person stealth action experience with focus on level design and combat encounters/spaces.
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Enemy encounters has been placed in a way that guides the player forward. As you progress through the level, every enemy encounter is a new mark towards the next area and one step closer to the end goal. While securing an area from the enemy, the tension rises as you are constantly looking over your shoulder to not be detected.
Specifications
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5 weeks at half time
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Created using Unreal Engine 5
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Template created by me
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All mechanics created by me
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AI created by me
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Static meshes created by me
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All scripts and sequences created by me
Credits
About the level
For this piece, I wanted to create a stealth based action
experience based on a real location in the world.
The focus of this piece is the combat between the player and the AI.
With the player mechanics and the AI in mind, this meant that
the experience had to be kept at a smaller scope with many
enemy encounters to keep the player engaged.
Goals
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Create intense combat scenarios while keeping player engagement
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Focus on combat encounters and combat spaces, as well as the flow of the level
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Scripting balanced player mechanics and functional AI
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Create an environment with clear readability on how to progress using prop placement and AI
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AI placement and AI patrols
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Overview
This piece puts you in the role as an expert in the disposal business. You are sent by your cartel to take out the drug king pin of the opposite cartel and sink their cargo ship.
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I chose to work with inspiration from a real location because I wanted to challenge myself in the sense of working within limits of space planning and how much I can compress a location without losing its identity.
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I wanted the experience to take place at a ship harbor because I've never done this before and turn it into combat spaces, so I had to compress the space a whole lot. I chose the specific narrative for this experience to be rivalry between drug cartels because I wanted to derive from the "everyone is a hero"-archetype and place the player as a part of an evil organization.
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The goal of this piece was to design interesting combat spaces that gives both the player and the enemy an upper hand depending on placement, time and choices. This is very much highlighted if the player is utilizing stealth, take out enemies at the right time and place or if the player is using brute force with the loud rifle.
Combat spaces
Combat space guidance
The main focus of this piece is the combat spaces. Not just the combat spaces itself, but how to guide the player through different combat spaces and how to change the pace in each space, as well.
The first combat space that the player will encounter.
The second combat space that the player will encounter.
The last combat space that the player will encounter.
The first combat space that the player will encounter.
The bungalos
The first combat space that the player will encounter. A cramped space with minimal enemy encounters on patrols. This space eases the player in to stealth take downs.
Main entrance
The second combat space that the player will encounter. A semi-open space with enemies placed in a way that encourages rifle combat. This space lets the player know when the rifle is most suitable.
Harbor bay
The fourth combat space that the player will encounter.
This space requires fast enemy take downs, either with rifle or fast stealth kills. It is encouraged to use stealth to not alert the enemies on the boat, but both ways work if the player is up for a challenge.
The cargo boat
The last combat space that the player will encounter.
This space encourages stealth, unless the enemy has been alerted at the harbor bay. The player could go full rifle mode here, but stealth would be the ideal choice for this combat space with the drug king pin in mind.
Scripting
Toggle between 1,2 and 3 to switch weapons.
This script showcases the function for equipping weapons.
This script showcases the logic for equipping and stowing the pistol.
Toggle between 1,2 and 3 to switch weapons.
Player weapon switch
To make the experience more immersive, I gave the player weapon options that affects the enemy in different ways. It helps a bit with the pacing in the game, as well.
Weapon reload
The option to reload at any given time with an actual subtraction from the reserve ammo to the magazine sells the experience even more. It gives the player a sense of freedom over their weapons.
Player character fires rifle and reloads.
This script showcases the logic for firing weapons.
This script showcases the logic for reloading weapons.
Player character fires rifle and reloads.
Player character taking down an enemy stealthy.
This script showcases the logic for stealth take down.
This macro showcases the logic for stealth take down in detail.
Player character taking down an enemy stealthy.
Stealth take down
The option to perform a stealth take down on an enemy is not a crucial feature, but an appreciated one. It gives the player an out to proceed if their ammo is depleted or to save bullets if their ammo is low.
Enemy reload
This feature is purely for selling the immersion that the enemy is just like you; using their weapons with limitations and giving the player an opportunity to retaliate.
Enemy reloading a weapon and continues firing.
This script showcases the logic for when the enemy reloads its weapon.
This script showcases the logic for when the enemy fires the pistol.
Enemy reloading a weapon and continues firing.
Enemy switching from rifle to pistol when the rifle ammo is empty.
This script showcases the logic for when the enemy equips and stows the rifle.
This script showcases the logic for when the enemy equips and stows the pistol.
Enemy switching from rifle to pistol when the rifle ammo is empty.
Enemy weapon switch
Similar to enemy reload. Its a feature that gives the player an impression that they are just like you. When enemies switch weapons like you, they feel more human and sells the immersion even more.
Process
Inspo from a real location
Since I wanted to create this piece based on a real location in the world, I scoured Google Maps for an interesting place that could work for an interesting level. I settled for Victoria Shipyards in Canada and begun a rough sketch where I compressed the buildings and the playable space to a manageable size.
Paper design
For this piece, I tried to draw my overview on a tablet to better get a vision of the layout. I must say that this method was new to me, but I managed to get a compressed version of Victoria Shipyards out of it that worked as a pillar for my rough blockout.
Flowchart
I created a flowchart that I used as a pillar for my creation in the beginning. Although the experience had to be altered a bit from my original flowchart, the outcome remains more or less the same.
Setting inspiration
I decided to gather more inspiration for my piece. I felt that I needed a feeling for ship sizes, big container cranes and container yards to really bring out that feeling of an old ship container harbor.
Blockout to final
Working with inspiration from a real location was both challenging and a lot of fun. When I began my blockout, I went overboard with the size of the level and ended up with a level that was too big as I tried to reflect the size of the actual location I drew inspiration from. After I received feedback from play testing, I compressed the level to a size that was easier to manage. I feel like I should've stayed in the blockout phase a bit longer to really get a better grip of the size before committing to my design too early.
Closing thoughts
What went well
The overall setting of the piece got very much highlighted; a damp and overused harbor in a Half-Life 1 style that is consistent.
I am also pretty happy with the combat spaces since they are not just a favor to the player, but for the enemy as well. With the combat spaces that I designed, the enemy can flank from every possible angle if the player takes cover, resulting in the player being forced to fall back and plan the next move.
Surely, the enemy can easily be killed by a shot to the head, but this relies on accuracy and precision. With this is mind, the overall experience of this level can be perceived as either easy or hard depending on the player.
Take aways
First, I want to talk about the scope and size of this level. I made the grave mistake of following the approximate size of the real life location, which didn't quite work out very well. This meant that I had to re-design the whole level in a short time period, but still within my planning.
Unfortunately, this resulted in other things getting scrapped, left behind or not being fully iterated towards the final iteration, such as the AI not being fully functional, some UI elements not working properly and late development testing got pushed to the side.
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Second, I want to talk about planning for failure. What I mean by this is that even though everything work out smoothly, there is always room for unexpected errors and flaws in both the design or scripts. I must say that I didn't plan for failure in this piece, which resulted in harsh turns of events, like the final part where the player must take out the drug king pin. This event could have been way harder than it actually is to really emphasize the difficulty of the final show-down. In its current state, it's way too easy.
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Although, the end result isn't too bad, I will still take these learning curves with me in the future.