Nick Speedie
Level Designer
Installation 01
Installation 01 is an upcoming (Fan created) First-Person Shooter based on the "Halo" series and currently is being developed under "Soon Studios" for Microsoft Windows, Linux and macOS within Unreal Engine 5.
The teams aims is to create a new Halo experience as a tribute to the series using a combination of what we believe to be the best parts of the classic Halo games notably in reference to both Halo 2 & Halo 3's experience whilst including elements from every title.
RUINS
What was my role on this project:
I am the Level Designer on this map, it is currently still a work-in-progress and planned to be a launch map for Installation01. This is the first Installation01 map I have worked on.
Concept:
Overgrown, human Town/City Environment with ruins and remnants from the war
Goals:
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Create a Symmetrical Level Layout to create a fair starting ground for both Teams
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Designed to fit CTF (Capture The Flag) once the mode is created
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Allow for a room of Player expression in regards to movement both for Newer and Experienced Players (Spring Jumping and Ramp Jumps etc) to create a fun Player experience without a big skill ceiling difference dominating the map as I want this to be more of a Social (Casual) map.
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Fill the void of what maps are missing, that being (Symmetrical and Objective based maps mainly)
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Encourage the use of Sandbox items we currently have (Shotgun / Sniper) whilst accommodating both by creating a Playspace which allows this without one being completely irrelevant. Allowing both styles of Players to feel included
Design Philosophy
As previously mentioned in my goals, I set out to do a few things one of which being encouraging the use of sandbox items more-so our Shotgun and Sniper Rifle. To achieve this was quite a challenge initially, mainly containing sightlines and ensuring both of these playstyles were accommodated for whilst not feeling too dominant.
Prior To Joining I01:
Before joining the i01 Team here, they had me do a Small Level Design Test using 'Halo: Infinite' Forge Mode to create a '2v2 Map' similar to what I would be doing here to ensure I could match or atleast understand what makes a Halo map feel like a Halo map.
After submitting my final map blockout iteration for them, we organised a time to playtest it briefly and discussed feedback of my map which was incredibly valuable and I've never had this much level of feedback before from University.
Some points included the general map flow (It is hard for example to quickly navigate between each of the lanes on my map and essentially feels all very isolated from one another). This, I completely agree with and hadn't noticed myself until it was pointed out and confused a little on how to solve the issue, I asked if they would be able to edit it for me showing how they would do it and or approach this problem alongside how to not replicate this issue the next time and I couldn't be more thankful.
Above is some gameplay of the map before any changes but after hearing that feedback, it's very aparent there is a issue with the map flow. I had somewhat noticed it beforehand but my way of compensating for this was to create much more open sightlines for the Players to utilise giving them more visibility on the map so they can see one another but from the Playtests it showed the adverse effect.
They mentioned it being hard to find other Players which was surprising as I had wanted to create these open sightlines in order to counteract this. I ended up finding a solution after asking them how they would approach this particular issue and how it can be avoided in the future.
The solution we came to was to open up the entire wall above the Slow opening 'Forerunner Door' in the middle of the map as this allowed more open sightlines to make it easier to spot Players whilst also improving the flow of the map as Players can now more easily navigate from each lane much better as opposed to going a much longer route through their base.