Corentin Bouchain
Game Designer
Project Everest
Pitch
This project was carried out during my second year. It consisted of creating an open world with the controller of the Unity 3D game kit, on a randomly chosen theme. Ours was “Everest”.
I will present to you part of the level design carried out in this project.
We implemented Kevin Lynch's method of space organization, as well as creating a level design that is intended to be non-linear.
My participation on the gameplay bricks up to the section plan was secondary, I mainly worked on what comes next, space management.
We hadn't done a Block-Out at the time, but I plan to do it soon.
In an open-world Action-RPG, the player will have to free the relics of a supernatural mountain called Everest. During this ascent with multiple challenges, the multiple possibilities brought by the magic of the stones of Everest will allow you to face monsters and enigmas, as well as to discover a mountain with a thousand and one facets.
Game Genre: Exploration, Puzzle
Number of players: Solo game
Support: PC
Engine: Unity
GDD LINK (french only)
Level Design - Level 3, Temple
Gameplay and waterfall model
The waterfall diagram is a methodology that allows us to create a common thread and decompose the player's learning.
Here are our gameplay bricks. We wanted to make a game that focused more on exploration and puzzle solving.
This particular level challenges the player's ability to observe their environment, move around and move objects to the right places.
Waterfall diagram
At first, the waterfall diagram looked like this.
We wanted to make a synthesis of every learning of the player, but we realized that it was too much complex according to the flow at this moment of the game, so we changed it.
This second waterfall diagram is much more closer to the player's skills at this point of the game. We used it to separate each gameplay's part into a room that will challenge the player on a specific learning.
We already know in advance how much enigma we should make.
Intent workflow
The Intent Workflow is a methodology that allows us to set game intentions on a level.
1: The player can only access this level after exploring 2 previous areas , where he will use an item from each of these areas to open the door.
2: Here the player learns how objects and colored pressure plates work.
3: Here, we challenge the player's ability to collect items on moving platforms, and then put them back in order.
4: We then add a notion of order and hint.
5: Added running and verticality for the platforming dimension.
Map
Here is the result in a layout map. Each corridor and spaced are defined according to the player size.
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Spatial management, line of sight, positive and negative spaces.
Space management is a methodology for creating curiosity in the player, which can be used to build their path in a non-linear environment.
From a distance, this is how the level looked: the rooms were all rectangular, and empty of any obstacles that could hinder the player's vision. It was quite uninteresting, and my job was to create negative and positive spaces in the level, to make it more interesting to traverse.
This concept allows us to see that the staircase is highlighted , but that the room also has 2 negative spaces on the right and left. This makes the player want to look right and left , but also to climb the stairs to see what happens next.
We used pillars and alcoves to hide things from the player as much as possible, creating spaces where the player would only see certain elements at certain times, to control what information he sees, what he doesn't see, and what he will see.
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The first point of view (at the entrance of the level) allows us to see the same thing as in our concept, namely the entrance with the two negative spaces . This will push the player to go up the stairs, and he will then have a point of view on 2 places: a part of the level on his left, and a staircase going up. This staircase will first be blocked by a door, but that the player will recognize : he has already had this kind of puzzle (in a previous level), so he knows that the room on the left will naturally allow him to open the door.
When he enters, his gaze will be separated into 3 with the pillars, and it will be slightly widened with the beehive angles . This allows us to hide one of the mechanisms from him, while showing him part of the other two .
Once this level is done, he will have a large corridor allowing him to see only a small part of the large environment that awaits him, his gaze widening as he advances.
And finally, the different pillars serve to hide elements from the players, notably the two alcoves, as well as to slightly cut off the right and left of their field of vision with pillars stuck to the walls.
Here's another situation we had planned, where the player would be in the middle of the rooms, having his viewing angles in front and behind him.
At first he would see a little higher than the stairs, indicating to him that the temple continues upward, revealing more and more of its architecture as it goes.
In the first part, he is shown the entirety of the bottom of the level that was once hidden with the pillars; allowing the player to feel like they are discovering something , and not being overwhelmed with information when entering the room.
In the second area, his gaze towards the exit is hidden by a pillar: but he guesses it with the rest of his field of vision, and he can also see the alcoves.
In the last area, his field of vision allows him to see the exit, but also the entire level if he turns : this is the final area of level 3.
And finally, this situation allows to show the player's field of vision in game situations.
In the first, he sees what is happening in front of him, but has no access to the information in front of him, he has that on his side. This will force the player to focus on what he has in front of him, but also ask him to make an effort to memorize what he would have seen in the other two places.
In the second area, the middle pillar cuts off the player's field of vision, which can obstruct their view of a clue/platform when they are supposed to turn around.
And finally, the player in the third zone will lose part of his field of vision with the pillars at the beginning, orienting him towards the center of the level so that he can take a global view. These pillars also serve to hinder his vision when he is in the left part of this zone, as much on his vision of the alcoves as on the elements deposited in the level.