Mechanics
Movement
Player can Dash Jump and Wall Run on Walls
Player Can Glide on the ground to fit into smaller gaps.
Player can Dash Jump and Wall Run on Walls
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The level's Dominant Feature is Movement where we wanted to reward players that have mastered these abilities. By analyzing the Metrics such as Run Speed and Jump Length i could design with them in mind.
Weapons
Missile Launcher can Lock onto enemies, ideal for hunting down Flag Carriers
Sniper excels at long range
Shock Rifle can Flush out enemies behind cover by combining its both abilities
Missile Launcher can Lock onto enemies, ideal for hunting down Flag Carriers
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The weapons can each excel in different situations. By properly analyzing their different abilities I could design the levels with them in mind.
Level Design
The level is Targeted for Mid / Hard-core Audience with experience of Team oriented First-Person Shooters.
It was designed for Capture The Flag, Payload and Team Death Match Game Modes and play styles such as Snipers, Rushers, Tacticians, Campers and is approachable for beginners with its open and simple layout.
Capture the Flag where the players are always directed toward the opposite side by the various paths and where several of the areas can be used both offensively and defensively toward the Flag Area.
Payload where the road goes through the levels Battle Areas, enabling skirmishes with attacking and defending positions throughout.
Team Death Match since several of the areas have usages to multiple directions, where potential enemies can come from in that mode.
Different Key Areas of the Level and High-Level Top Down
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Spawn Area
The Players spawn about 5 seconds from the Flag, this is to counter the Low Re-spawn Time the game has, so it's not too easy to defend the flag.
Can easily be Modified into Team Death Match or Payload modes by adding Additional Doors at the Exits.
If the flag is taken, a catch-up mechanic will be enabled in the form of a Door above the spawn that opens which can be used to get to the Flag Area much quicker. Players also receive a Homing Seeking Missile Launcher which can lock on to Escaping Flag Carriers.
Has Multiple ways out of the Spawn into the Flag Area to negate Camping.
Some paths give quicker route to Vantage Points or to the Main Side Path.
The Flag Area
The Platform can be the Flag or Payload goal.
Attackers has to expose themselves in order to Pick it Up, which triggers the defending teams Catch-Up Mechanic.
Several positions such as the Sniper Tower and nearby Roof Tops can be used offensively and defensively to the area.
Defenders have several Paths to choose from such as a Skill based Risk Reward Flank Path to the Left, a fast but Exposed straight into the action in the middle, or the Main Path which presents possible strategies on its way.
Attackers can also use the paths, such as the safe but Slowest Path through the shelter to the Main Path, exposed but Fast through the Middle, or both Safe and Fast to the Left but is more Risky as it Requires more skill, if the player fail they are left exposed in the Central Battle Area with the flag.
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The Sniper Tower
The Sniper Tower has both Strengths and Weaknesses, but can offer strategies to both attackers and defenders
Outlooks the Central Battle Area, Enemy Sniper Tower and Middle.
The Small Hole can be used as an escape path if flanked from behind, it will however leave the player exposed instead.
Can also be used to quickly move into an offensive position in the Center to cover escaping flag carriers.
Weak to a nearby High-Flank Path if the players get close.
Close Grenade Launchers can lob in grenades from underneath by using the Window Roof.
If sniper is pushed back, they get exposed to the nearby Roof Top, thus encouraging coordinated attacks. Attackers can also do a skill based crouch slide from the roof through the window.
Enemies from the High Flank Path can get behind the tower and flank the sniper, then use the tower against the defenders themselves and their flag area through the open back window.
The Shelter
Successful Attackers on the Main Path gets rewarded with an Easy Access into the Defenders Shelters and its Roof Top.
Inside they can Heal and wait for reinforcements and coordinate a Final Push with their team since they're close to the flag.
Easy to Defend from the inside, but can also be defended / attacked into from the Flag Area using the Bio Rifle to cover holes or shoot glide balls in.
The Bio Rifle can also be used to cover the middle effectively at the same time.
The Roof Overlooks the Main Side Path, Central Battle Area and Flag area and can thus defend / attack all of them.
Players can however easily get flushed out from its small covers by Grenade Launchers or Shock Rifles which there are ammo of on the Main Side Path.
The Main Side Path
If attackers push to the other side of the enemies Main Side Path they are rewarded with an additional favorable flank position near the flag.
Defending players can also use this position to fall back to if the front line is lost and cover the side path with snipers.
Neon Signs are used to block vision so players can't shoot across the level to easily.
Between the teams Main paths are a Building (The one with Purple Lights) that holds great strategic value.
Whichever team that has control over it can stream in players from their Side Path to the enemies easier, bypassing the Central Battle Area altogether and making the push toward the flag quicker and more tactical.
This in coordination with players attacking on the High Flank Path on the other side of the level is key to successful tactical play.
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The Central Battle Area
Almost all paths lead through the Central and is where the pacing of the level is the highest.
The very center has a Jump Pad leading up to a exposed position with HP pick-ups.
Can be a Powerful Position for successful attackers where a Sniper can attack into the flag area or Cover Escaping Flag Carriers.
Several of the levels weapons have usages in this area such as the Sniper from long Distance, Grenade and Shock Rifles from Medium Distance and the Flak Gun in close quarters.
Has a High Risk-Reward Flank path that is exposed to the Central that goes from one team side to the other.
Requires Wall Running and Dash skills, if the player fails they will be left exposed, but if they success they will have a favorable position behind the Sniper Tower and close to the Flag.
Can also be used as an escape path for Flag Carriers.
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Ideation
Art
When we discussed the theme we talked about the usual themes that usually comes up, where Cyberpunk was one of them.
But we didn't just want to do cyberpunk since it's so common, so we brainstormed what we could mix it with and came up with the Victorian structure style and decided to a City Center setting.
Inspirations for the Theme
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Design Research
I started off by researching other First-Person Shooters for inspirations, especially those that featured Capture The Flag Game Mode since that was the primary mode we where designing for.
I analyzed Spawns, Attack/Defend paths from Flag Areas, the time it took to reach the Flag from spawn etc. Inspirations can be seen on the Spawn, Sniper and Central Battle Areas.
Documented the Metrics of the game such as Run Speed, Jump Height and Size of the player.
Measured and documented the scales of existing maps and used them when designing my own since we had tested them with the class so I had a reference to how it was to play with that scale.
Listed the games Weapons and Components and what their features was so it was easy to look up and get an overview of everything I had to work with.
In the middle of the course we got an assignment where we got to analyze a part of a level, i choose Watchpoint Gibraltar from Overwatch.
I identified several things they used to guide the player such as landmarks, pipes used as leading lines, lighting on the road and doors etc.
It can be Downloaded Here
Inspirations for the Spawn and multiple ways out of it
Inspirations for the Centre
How you can use a window to lob grenades in. Having the sniper tower be weak to nearby teleporters.
Inspirations for the Spawn and multiple ways out of it
Inspirations for the Design
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Level Analysis - Overwatch - Watchpoint Gibraltar. Download Here
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The several different sketches I made of the level. It was to big to make in one white board so had to make several
The several different sketches I made of the level. It was to big to make in one white board so had to make several
High-Level Sketch
When I started Sketching I used a small white board so I could quickly re-iterate on ideas.
I gathered many ideas and concepts about the level and wanted to design it with Payload and Team Death Match game modes in mind. I usually re-do it in Photoshop if time lets me.
I really took my time and didn't want to jump into the engine to quick to run the risk of loosing time if large changes had to be made.
All of the White Board Sketches of the Different Areas
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White Box
When I started blocking out I did half of the level first carefully and to save time.
Then duplicated it all under a parent which i put in a different folder, then mirrored it so the other side clicked exactly in the center and was an exact replica.
When updating the level I only did it for one side then re-did the process, and it worked for a long time since it was so light weight until the last weeks when the real art came in, so I saved a lot of time on that.
The initial block out where i made half of the level.
Second Iteration where I duplicated the half
Second Iteration where I duplicated the half
The initial block out where i made half of the level.
Early Block-out of Areas
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