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STORY SUMMER

PROJECT BREAKDOWN

Five years have passed since the outbreak of the pandemic which transformed 70% of the world's population into infected people.
Luck is one of the few survivors, ex military, now his job is to try to understand what is behind this pandemic and save humanity. Tex is
the company from which the virus came out.

He plays the role of ex-military Luck Virkey and tries to get hold of the secret file hidden in the Tex building. Inside you will find the answers behind the virus.

Explore the city and reach the palace, but beware of enemies along the way!

  • 3 Weeks (3 hours/day)

  • Created using Unreal Engine 5

  • Focus on Level Design Principles

  • Widget Objectives Blueprint

  • Plugin used:

       -Controller and IA system by: IWALS​

Overview

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Top-Down Map

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Level Flowchart

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Find a way out of the tunnel

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Find a way through the blocked areas and reach the bridge

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Revelation of the city and the building of the Tex

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Cross the bridge and reach the Tex building

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Explore the city and find information on the floor plan of the Tex building

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Find a way to enter the palace, stealth or aggressively

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Get to the second floor

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Colletct the secret file

Escape from the palace

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Reach the shelter

LEVEL DESIGN TECHNIQUES

01. Level Tutorial

This first part is used to learn some of the game's mechanics for the first time. Crouching, jumping and climbing mechanics.

The light at the end of the tunnel highlights and guides the player towards the tunnel exit. Blood and corpses serve to give a sense of danger and alertness to the player.

02. Puzzle Area

To recover the plan of the Tex building, the player will have to enter this locked building. He will notice that there are handholds to climb it. He will have to try to figure out how to reach the very high handhold.

03. Puzzle Solving

In this phase the player learns that to reach the handhold you have to enter the building next door, passing a beam blocking the door, and inside he will find the solution to reach the handhold

04. Borders

A level must have a beginning and an end. There must be one (or more) points where the player cannot continue.
The borders in this case are defined by high rocks/mountains

05. Prefiguration

I used the prefiguration in such a way as to insert an armory within the level, getting here will be optional, due to the alternative roads that lead to the objective.

However, if the player cares about the exploration of the level then he will be rewarded with the discovery of an armory where it will be possible to recover weapons and ammunition in view of the enemies that he will find later

06. Funnel Before Reveal and Tension

To make exploration more interesting I created more alternative routes to reach the bridge, and also to reach the building once you cross the bridge. In this case I tried to create a contrast in the space, making the revelation of the city feel even bigger.

Also, crouching to pass through bushes creates even more tension during exploration and causes the player to be wary of threats.

07. Freedom To Explore

I gave players the freedom to explore the map and various landmarks where they could find rewards and complete secondary objectives. I also added some dead ends to give the impression of a realistic space making it difficult to find the primary path to reach the main objective

08. Storytelling

A method that I used to explain the story to the players, in addition to "written" on the screen explicitly, I also used scenic and visual elements, implicitly, to convey to the players a sense of danger and make them pay attention during the exploration. In this case the players can understand what happened to other people who have tried to explore that area

Combat Encounters

First Encounter

I wanted to show the first enemy in a rather safe environment, giving the player an advantage of being able to watch and hit him from a very high position. The first enemy has no cover, but the player does. The player has multiple ways to kill the enemy. Stealth or aggressive

Docks

Final objective, many enemies present. I designed two ways to reach the building, giving more possibilities to the player to enter and decide how to kill enemies. Either from above the bridge or stealthily/aggressively sneaking into the forest below the bridge

No Man's Land

I had fun creating an adrenaline-pumping combat zone, with many enemies, always at the player's choice if he decides to play stealthily or aggressively, quite large and with numerous cover zones, both for the enemy and for the player.

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Pre-Production

Sketch and Planning

To create the layout of the island I first made some sketches on carts and then I moved on to the storytelling part and the choice of level design mechanics and techniques to add to the level

Gathering References

Before moving on to making the sketches on paper, I took a series of photos and created a collage of images to use as a reference not only for the level but also for the mechanics.

Having wanted to recreate a stealth experience, but also giving the player free space to decide how to complete the level, I was inspired by some of my favorite titles such as Hitman (the entire saga), Uncharted, The Last Of Us and Days Gone

Thank you for reading!

© 2023 by Luca Vitiello. Proudly created with Wix.com

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