Fortress in The Woods
The level takes place in the world of Hyrule, where the player is tasked to find missing key fragments to enter a Yiga clan fortress. The goal for this particular project was to create an open space that allowed the player to explore through intention and visual interest, while simultaneously keeping pacing moving and encouraging environmental puzzling.
Role: Level Design
Duration: 2 Weeks
Tools Used: Unreal Engine 4
Genre: Action Adventure
The initial block-out process came from taking a space relative size to the introduction space for Zelda Breath of The Wild. I knew I wanted 3 focal points that could be viewed from a central point in the level, this gave me the opportunity to introduce narrative which could act as a hint to give meaning exploration and flow of the space. I really wanted to establish a hierarchy of locations to visit and even though it was semi-open, in a way where you could visit any area in any order, i crafted it in a way that helped guide it to do so. I used enemy encounters to gate locations that funneled the player to avoid areas until they got better upgrades, I also used environmental noise and space to encourage exploration and solve environmental puzzles.
The initial block-out process came from taking a space relative size to the introduction space for Zelda Breath of The Wild. I knew I wanted 3 focal points that could be viewed from a central point in the level, this gave me the opportunity to introduce narrative which could act as a hint to give meaning exploration and flow of the space. I really wanted to establish a hierarchy of locations to visit and even though it was semi-open, in a way where you could visit any area in any order, i crafted it in a way that helped guide it to do so. I used enemy encounters to gate locations that funneled the player to avoid areas until they got better upgrades, I also used environmental noise and space to encourage exploration and solve environmental puzzles.
Area 1: The encampment near the waterfall.
This area is the intended path for the player's pathing. The area introduces weaker enemies and a larger open space for the player to fight and draw out this combat encounter. This was really a testing zone to draw enemies out and provide the player with a strategy of combat within this level.
Area 2: The mushroom forest is meant to be a break in the combat encounters, though this area does provide some combat, it’s not focused and is more of a space that the player is incentivized to explore and solve environmental puzzles.
Area 3: The Treetops, was another combat beat I wanted the player to feel like they were taking on a decently sized challenge. The idea was a traversal of platforms and a ladder much larger than the first encounter. This challenged the player to fight within constraints, where free-roaming was no longer encouraged but fighting became methodical. This was also an opportunity to give the player a “demi-boss” at the top of the tree base and reward them with the upgrades needed to kill the stronger enemies guarding the final area.
Area 4: the fortress, is the final destination for the level. It is gated by two keys which must be collected before entering the space. It appears massive and acts as a landmark in every direction to reiterate that this is where you must end up. I wanted to create a juxtaposition in the landscape that served as separate to the current natural landscape, I also decided putting a bridge outwards would draw the player to the next location once they get through the fortress. On top of the fortress is a light emanating upwards to let the player know something mystical and dangerous lies within that fortress.
The learnings from this project evolved from scalability and that population of space. The playful nature of taking forms and building them up gave me a new perspective on giving an area an “aliveness” quality. This project specifically is one i’m extremely proud of and believe it was a breakthrough for me in terms of the design process.
On another note, a pretty important lesson i’ve taken away from this level design exercise is the flow of subspaces and the importance of visual absences to orientate the player’s curiosity to get them thinking outside of the norm. Many puzzles and hidden items where specifically implemented with this idea in mind.
The challenges presented for this game were the following.
1. More concealed areas to emphasize the juxtaposition in open to tight areas for this “open world” exercise.
2. Taking more time to develop each sub-area with intention and variety.
The goals of this project were to embellish the illusion of an open-world area and create environmental puzzles to push the player’s curiosity. I believe I managed to fulfill this objective. However, given more time I think I would have 100 percent fulfilled the desired improvements.