Adventure

Post Mortem

My first level design experience in Unreal Engine was with a team of five: Curtis Harbin, Austin McGee, Timothy Ruth, Herbert Jerald (HJ) Sado, and Sarah Zapata. We have one month to create our own levels and another month to combine them into one massive adventure. Our creative vision had limitations to the map size, thematic elements, mechanics, etc. The goal of the mission was to understand the different phases that go into level design. The following are what went right and what went wrong with this Adventure project.

What Went Right

Team Playtesting

Because we're able to freely playtest each other's levels, I got a quicker and more effective response from my teammates regarding my level, and vice versa. For example, one of my teammates pointed out that the crooked light on the front porch of my Abandoned Mansion caught their attention. I told them that that was my intent. The second transition is filled with hidden rooms underneath the fallen debris, so the crooked light is a reminder to check out the Abandoned Mansion once the rest of the fallen debris has been checked out.

Treasure Door

During my design overhaul of the Abandoned Mansion, I decided to add a door between the player and the treasure room. It'd be weird if there was a treasure room with nothing stopping someone from entering it. I made sure to add a door key somewhere before the player encounters the door, so that the player can easily turn around, go back the way they came and find the key hiding underneath the slope that they just walked on.

Basement Lights

After the design overhaul of the Abandoned Mansion, I had the opportunity to use less lights in my level. The only lights that I ended up using were for the basement and treasure room. I added one light above each chest of gold, and one light at the end of each corner of the basement. The basement was very dark but the lights were bright enough to be seen when turning around. In case the player got lost, I added two lights side-by-side to show that its getting closer to the end of my level.

Blockmesh vs Assets

For every piece of blockmesh, I had to make the decision of either changing its material, or replacing it with a final asset from the Marketplace. Some blockmesh were easy to change materials with, such as walls and floors, but most other blockmesh were complicated enough to require final assets. I was lucky to find free assets for my plane and Abandoned Mansion furniture/décor.

Isolation Theme

I was able to embrace the theme of an abandoned mansion. I added various ruined furniture and décor throughout the first floor of the mansion. The second transition is an entire platform that's been destroyed by a mysterious force.

What Went Wrong

Plane Blockmesh

It took a long time for me to complete my plane blockmesh. My biggest mistake was turning the entire plane (all of the passenger seats, wings, cylinders, etc.) into one static mesh. What I should've done before turning it into one static mesh was make smaller static meshes. That would make the plane a modular build, where I can easily stack pieces on top of each other, rather than permanently stick them together. Fortunately, I was able to find a free asset of a commercial airplane on the marketplace, so I didn't need to use my blockmesh any longer.

Hedge Maze Texture

The hedges of the hedge maze was the final blockmesh that needed its texture replaced. Otherwise, it's supergrid texture would stand out from the realistic assets. I searched far and wide for realistic grass textures on the Marketplace, or assets of hedges. I eventually figured out how to make hedges using the foliage/brush tool. I realized that adding too much would put strain on the performance. I talked about the issue with one of my teammates, and they agreed that I should just add a grassy texture. It'll look like the hedge maze has been unkempt for a long time, and that's because the entire island has been isolated for some time.

Design Overhaul

The first iteration of my abandoned mansion had a lot of issues. For one, it was 4 levels of emptiness. There was little to nothing to interact with throughout each floor. The only things that the player had to look forward to were jumping down holes, and climbing up ledges. The final iteration of my mansion still has those elements, but I cut down the mansion's floors in half and provided a slope for the player to walk down rather than a hole to jump into. I also filled the first floor with ruined furniture to look at on their way down to the basement.

Fire

I wanted to add some fire to the campfires at the start of my level, but I knew that adding more fire particles meant more performance. The whole point of a campfire is to be on fire. I ended up only adding fire particles around the plane, since it crashed onto the island.

The Void

The higher that the player goes up the hill before the Hedge Maze, the more likely they'll turn around and see nothing but the empty void behind the plane and campfire. The hilltop is so high that I didn't want to add too many rocks around the map just to obstruct the player's view of the other side.

Conclusion

I learned how to use source control via Perforce, and this was my first major experience with designing a level in a game engine. I would usually spend my free time programming a game before ever designing a single level for it. I didn't expect my first level to turn out as good as it did in a game engine that I rarely use. For my first iteration I was only proud of the start of my level. For the final iteration, I'm proud of what I did with each part of my level.