Nick Speedie
Level Designer
Carrowmore
(Action-RPG Level)
This project was designed to be similar to games such as Skyrim / Dragon Age. Functions as a 3rd Person game with the player being tasked to clear out said dungeon. Contains 2 abilities but would like to expand upon that but currently is a proof of concept, features enemy AI with a couple different attacks that were both fully implemented by me and different mechanics such as Double Jumping and a Stamina Bar.
Got offered by my Lecturer to showcase this to the current 1st Year Game Design students doing Level Design as an example of what to do which was amazing ^_^
Grade Achieved: 87%
LINK TO DOWNLOAD (Game & Document)
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1utUGC2-aZd15oIu1vQzmv1Z3wTMCgauy?usp=sharing
Link to Gameplay Video
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Spawn) Early Blockout
Final Blockout -> Final Environment Pass
Thought Process:
As this would be the players first introduction to everything, I tried to give them some room to work with hence the open environment to explore
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No initial threats to worry about giving the player the freedom of choice to begin any sort of engagement as soon as they feel prepared
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Colour-coded Teleporters intentionally placed to quickly and effectively show the player where each one leads to giving them a sense of direction without being directly told to go somewhere as to not "Handhold / Spoonfeed" the Player. I believe it helps with Player satisfaction since it feels more rewarding to figure out these things yourself as opposed to being directed.
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I intentionally aimed the Player to spawn facing where the eventual end goal point would be (The stone pillar coming down revealing a path) alongside leading a singluar ramp towards it both giving the subtle impression that it maybe could lead somewhere to the Player or that there is more here without directly telling them which I feel worked effectively as Players' inevitabely end up following what looks like a "path" just like they would outside.
(Blockout to Final)
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Goal:
My Goal here in this section was to make it as easy and intuitive to navigate as possible without prompting them to go somewhere specifically with UI elements like a marker etc as it really goes against my design vision for the game.
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How?
To overcome this hurdle I looked at some other games I had been playing (Mainly Souls likes such as Remnant: From The Ashes ) and some others at the time then looked at how they would "lead" the Player without directly prompting them to go somewhere. The main obvious one that stuck with me was the idea of using the Environment and Lighting especially so this is what I did. Each entrance is Lit brightly up against the much darker environment making them really stand out instantly to the Player making them subconsciously want to investigate what is there, essentially luring the Player without DIRECTLY telling them to go somewhere.
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Why?
I did this intentionally to try and draw the Players attention towards it indirectly without promptly telling them to go there. I did this for both the Left Path and the High-up Room in the Top-Right and the not so instantly obvious Locked path Forward.
and I used this to try draw they attention.
I feel this worked really well and with a first glance the Player can instantly see a few potential places of interest without spending too long figuring out where to go really easing the Player experience to a degree simply through the lighting alone.
Lead-up to "Boss" Encounter - Design Choices:
With a boss already planned in mind, I wanted to make it significant and obvious to the player at a first look there's something ahead.
So with some inspiration in regards to the environment from a couple games I had played around the time, Remnant: From The Ashes and Elden Ring I looked at how they approached their encounters and tried incorporating that into mine.
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First being the grand, overpowering feeling of it all with the statues ontop, with the natural lighting peering through onto the main setpiece really highlighting them more while being the first thing the player draws their eyes to.
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With the sense of scale, I wanted to tell through the environment something big is ahead.
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Lastly, I opted for a slightly longer walk-up to the encounter to give the player time to think beforehand about the tools they have at their disposal and by indirectly making the Player use them along the way such as their Secondary Right-Click projectile to refresh them that they have it and introducing to the Player that the environment can be interacted with / destructible as to gain access, the Player needs to clear a Debris of rocks.
Gallery Overview
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