Level Design Development Log 1: Blockout Prototype

Level Design Development Log 1: Blockout Prototype

Level Explanation:

In this first development log, the focus will be on the blockout of the level discussing the principles of level design which were implemented. The intended gameplay of the level will also be touched upon as it isn’t fully implemented into the level at this stage and some of the blueprints that bring functionality to the level will be shown.

These images show the early ideas for the level design. While most of this design didn’t get used for the actual level blockout it still informed the general ideas for the level design. The primary things taken from this design are: the main lobby being cylindrical in nature, the four different areas inside the building although they are simpler in the blockout, the garden area with the part at the back and the forest start for the level though it is more complex in the blockout.

Exterior Level:

The first part of the level is the exterior section. This section is intended as a tutorial for the base mechanics included in the level. Although the mechanics aren’t too complex, the introductory part of the level was still dedicated to introducing the player to them so that the player would be familiar with the mechanics later in the level. The player starts at the entrance to the forest path with a basic barrier and ‘car’ behind them to insinuate that they drove to this location.

Ahead of the player are three lampposts leading the player along the intended direction as well as more direct path signified by the brown blockout material. Game Maker’s Toolkit (2015) made an excellent point in a video about the design choices used by Naughty Dog called ‘Why Nathan Drake Doesn’t Need a Compass’ where they state that “light is the most common and arguably effective way of guiding the player” which is why the lampposts are used to lead the player at first as there is no other source of light coming from a location the player can go to.

Along the path, the player will also catch a glimpse of a lit up tower that gives the player a visual for what they are heading towards. This is an example of a weenie which Game Maker’s Toolkit (2015) also mentions in the video as being a “navigational aid” which is exactly the reason it is included as it is visible from multiple points in the forest area allowing the player to orientate themselves within the game environment.

As the player follows this path, the crouching mechanic is introduced as there is a fallen tree in the player’s path that can only be crouched under to proceed. To inform the player of this mechanic a UI prompt is shown when the player is close to the fallen tree trunk which also tells the player which button is associated with crouching.

The player then passes the last lamppost before coming across a small shack that is emanating light. This is to draw the player in as the shack contains an necessary item for the player to obtain. This is a flashlight as the player needs this throughout the level to navigate dark areas.

As the player goes to leave the shack, they are prompted with the button to activate the flashlight to inform the player of the button to use this mechanic. The path from this point onwards is navigated using this flashlight but there is nothing to stop the player from continuing onwards past the shack without the flashlight yet. When the level is further developed the player will be stopped from continuing if they decide to ignore the shack perhaps by using an invisible wall and UI message that says something along the lines of ‘The path ahead is too dark to continue along’.

Although there are no more lampposts to guide the player, the tower weenie is still visible to affirm the player that the brown path is still the right way to go. In this blockout, the tower has an emissive material applied to parts of it to make it always visible. This is merely a placeholder for now as it signifies the role the tower has before it is implemented properly.

As this is still the blockout phase, most of the environment is simple and designated using colour however when it comes to the forest the foliage tools were experimented with. Usage of the trees allowed the limited environment to be hidden as well as making the world feel a little more believable. However, there is an issue with the skybox that ruins the immersion a little bit so it will have to be adjusted as the level is further developed.

Interior Level:

Entering the mansion opens the level blockout to the exploration aspect of the blockout. The player is free to explore most of this interior environment after they find a key for the doors as they are all locked but one. This was so the player would be informed of what the next goal is within the level as the key the player is looking for is placed in a position that also highlights a statue as it is very clearly lit up.

Near the key, the player also comes across a unique point of interest which is some kind of pedestal for what looks like three similar items. This is how the player is going to be able to access the statue at the bottom of the garden area.

The statue is inaccessible to the player at first as there is a water section at the bottom of the garden. As the player places the items within the pedestal a path is made for the player. For the player to find these items they must explore the other parts of the level.

Obtaining the key allows the player to explore the dining area, bedroom/office area or the guest rooms area. Each of these areas can be explored in any order as they don’t directly link to each other. However, some key items required for other areas may be spread between these areas to make the level feel more non-linear. The player can also enter the living area hallway but all this achieves is informing the player that the living room cannot be entered at this moment.

The ‘key’ items in the level are currently designated as such by making them yellow. Barclay (2016) writes about how consistency “can give the player familiar elements to help them more quickly understand any new environments” which is why this effect will be kept within the level in some form as the player will know that the item is something that is needed to progress in the game in some way.

The dining area and kitchen includes one of the main challenges of the level. Completing this challenge will reward the player with a relief which is one of the items needed for the pedestal. The relief can be grabbed in the freezer but as the player takes it the wall behind them is supposed to start closing in as they take it. In this blockout that functionality has not yet been added but it will be a way the player can die within the level.

The solution for this puzzle involves the fireplace located in the dining area. As the player enters the area the fireplace is not lit. To light the fireplace the player has to find the lighter item located in the main lobby for now. This allows the player to interact with the fireplace.

The next part of the solution is to find something that could replace the relief. This takes the form of a plastic board in the kitchen that can be heated so that it will melt into the grooves of the freezer mechanism. After picking up the board the player can interact with the fire again to heat it up and then they can replace the actual relief.

The hallway in the bedroom/office area seems to offer the player a choice but only one of the doors can be accessed at this point. The other door serves as the way back after the puzzle in this area is solved but it also serves the purpose of making the level seem a little less linear.

The left path leads to the bedroom. The bedroom puzzle is quite simple as the player is intended to find a button that opens a secret path to the office because the other is blocked in some way. The actual challenge of this area is that the player must organise some books in the correct order which then reveals a secret compartment behind a bookshelf. This is not implemented yet but when it is it the order will be hinted at with some environmental storytelling perhaps in the form of a drawing that the player can find elsewhere in the level.

To leave this area, the player can unblock the office door as it was blocked by a chair. This saves the player a minor inconvenience of having to go back through the vent.

The guest rooms area is also currently unfinished in terms of functionality. The area consists of four similar rooms and a single room at the end that has another one of the reliefs inside a safe. The player is supposed to figure out a code by exploring the four other rooms to use on the safe.

After all three reliefs have been retrieved by the player they can now be placed in the pedestal. This causes a pathway to appear over the water part of the garden to allow the player to get to the statue highlighted when the player first enters the mansion. Under the statue the player finds a crest encrusted in ice. This iced crest can be melted using the fireplace which then allows the player to enter the living room as this was the item required to enter the living room.

A red emissive arrow is on the wall of the hallway leading to the living room. This is because there is a perception issue with video games that can make it difficult to recognise a turn in a hallway. The solution is relatively simple as Alex/TychoBolt (2020) puts it “it boils down to is basically just giving hints of that the hallway continues” which is what I have achieved by using the arrow. The final room of the level has no functionality at the moment but it will consist of finding an item and placing it where it should be to end the game.

Blueprints:

Door:

The door blueprint is relatively simple in how it functions. To be able to interact with the door, the player must be within a box collision that is a part of the door blueprint. This is because a boolean variable called ‘Can Interact’ is only true when the player is in this collision. A text widget is also added to the player’s screen and removed based on whether the player is in the box collision or not. This is how the interactions work for mostly every blueprint in the level as it was a solution to stop the player from being able to interact with objects when they are nowhere near them. When the player is able to interact with the door and does so a custom event known as ‘DoorToggle’ is called.

This custom event is what actually controls the actual animation of the door using timelines within the blueprint. These timelines make it so that the door actually moves to the rotation it should be at instead of just snapping there instantly. The actual functionality of the door rotating is controlled by the SetRelativeRotation blocks which get the value from a lerp. The lerp has the open and closed values in put into it as A and B and it uses the timeline to determine the point between these that it should be at which then gets input into the Yaw Rotation value of SetRelativeRotation. A delay is then used that matches the length of the timeline to set a boolean to true or false dependent on what state the door is in.

Fireplace:

The fireplace is a little more complex as it has multiple functions within the level. To keep track of which function it is supposed to do multiple booleans are used to keep track of the player’s progress. For example, the plastic board can only be heated if the player has already fulfilled the first function (lighting the fire) and if the plastic board has been obtained. Most of the booleans are located within the gamemode blueprint to allow all the blueprints to access these variables as it is very easy to cast to the gamemode blueprint. The functions of the fire mainly just change these booleans to allow other blueprints to be interacted with within the level except for the first function which also toggles the visibility of the fire particle system element of the blueprint.

The rest of the blueprint is a lot of repetitive functionality managing the UI prompts which I already explained in the door blueprint. The reason there is a lot more here is that the different functions have to be taken into account for the prompt that shows up. There is some changes that can be made to make it a little less complex but it will mostly remain the same in the final version of the level.

References:

Alex/TychoBolt (2020) Level Design In Pursuit of Better Levels. Available online: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fAlf2MwEFTwePwzbP3try1H0aYa9kpVBHPBkyIq-caY/edit [Accessed 12/04/22].

Barclay, M. (2016) My Level Design Guidelines. Michael Barclay – Level Designer. 13 May. Available online: http://www.mikebarclay.co.uk/my-level-design-guidelines/ [Accessed 12/04/22].

Game Maker’s Toolkit (2015) Why Nathan Drake Doesn’t Need a Compass [Video]. Available online: https://youtu.be/k70_jvVOcG0 [Accessed 12/04/22].