Level Design Blog

 This level is part of our Ventures project which is an action-adventure demo focused on combat and puzzle-solving. The story focuses around ties to voodoo magic and the culture that originates from in Haiti, all the way back to Africa. So our demo takes that same journey around the world including multiple locations. This location is within a temple in Africa, as our protagonists look for the clue within. The original "Art Style Guide" for this level some of a temple made of black volcanic stone, partially enveloped in the earth, which consisted of mostly red clay. So I made a Level Design Document to put my thoughts on to paper first:  The Forgotten Hollow LDD   I then took to unreal, and I knew I wanted to definitely blend these elements together, knowing a combination of landscaping and asset pieces would meld together well. So I started with the landscaping first: I then started to add more of the assets and proxy lighting to piece together the full feel of the scene...

 The main things I wanted to change in this level, after consulting more experienced LDs, were the first main combat space, and to "art" the level up in some spaces some more. This is what the main first combat spaces looked like:  The main area was originally split into 2 rooms, and I was advised to combine the 2 and expand the area to allow for more paths. Here's the updated areas with new paths and the rooms halfway combined together. I say halfway, because visually they're very open and next to each other, but the transition to the 2nd half does prevent the player from backtracking. I still need to work on some of the "art" side of this area, and need to playtest the obstacles and spawn points of the enemies etc. The next thing I wanted to change was the "art" side of this level, and I started by changing the table in the main hall area. This is the before, which was very basic: I then tried to push some environmental design, and really add mor...

 So in this last post for my Solo LD project I'll just be giving a quick overview of all the rooms and flow of the level! I've got the step by step below, but have a video walkthrough as well:  https://youtu.be/AY_stzLl7w0 1. The player starts at the site of grace, and walks in towards the boss door. 2. The player then progresses into the tomb. They can then continue into the Grand Gallery (which is a dead-end), or take the stairs into the Common Tombs. 3. The player continues through the common tombs to the Spiked Ceiling Trap room, where the correct path lies underneath the floor.   4. The player will then continue under the spiked trap to the First lever where the Sand Trap is.                                              5. They fall through the trap, and must go through the spiked platform challenge room, to get to the lever on the other s...

In this post I'm showcasing the last changes I made for the final submission of this project. I mentioned that I was almost done with my BPs, but I've still been polishing them right up to the end. I also actually dove for the first time into Widget Blueprints! I made a Win screen to show after the player kills the final boss, and a temporary message once the player has pulled all 3 levers. Like I mentioned in my last post, I also ended up editing both the player's stats, and the enemies. I even got into the Behavior Tree for one of the AIs that I'm using for my boss! It was hard to find at first, but after that I was able to tune the character to my liking! The final fight feels pretty balanced now in my opinion, but we'll have to see what play-testers think. After some feedback on the visual structure of my level, I made some overhaul changes to the way hallways and doors look. I knew I'd likely end up needing to change these, to get rid of the 'boxy' ...

As stated in my proposal I was to have a full initial blockout by this 2nd Checkpoint.  As I predicted in my last post, I've spent a lot of time polishing my BPs to make sure they're fully functional and polished. I even added in a puzzle-esque platforming challenge that requires you to use levers to move platforms around! I was also able to also make the enemy spawner BP akin to an actual souls-like game! So every time you die, the enemies spawn right back where they were. Naturally I had to test the combat for this, and am still working out the kinks on the HP & amount of the enemies. I was able to use Unreal's modeling tools to make a couple of Egyptian hieroglyphs! I definitely feel more comfortable using those tools, and am extremely happy with how they turned out: As a couple of extra addons, I was able to make a hidden wall BP, and was also able to make a 'fog' BP that appears when you pass into the boss arena that locks you in, and keeps other enemies ou...