Project Overview
This project was intended to improve my skills and learn new ways to prototype my levels inside Unreal Engine 4. Also, it made me learn more stuff about UE and blockout packages.
I wanted to create a level which ends right where it starts, giving two different gameplay experiences because of the different strategic points and possible strategies. I thought that an airport could fit this type of experience and the frenzy aesthetic I wanted.
Genre: TPS
Platform: PC/Console
Engine : Unreal Engine
Plugins: SuperGrid Starter Pack, Blocking Starter Pack
If you want a more detailed explanation of the design process behind this level, here is a pdf LDD
Narrative Brief
The Division received an anonymous information which talks about a Boeing full of supplies inside a countryside airport . This place is full of True Sons which want the property of these supplies, but the people at the White House are starving. Go get those, and return here safe.
Level Preproduction
The level is divided in four main parts, and the player fights and moves across two different heights.
I studied different airport layouts and then I made some sketches on paper sheets which then were transferred on Adobe Illustrator, to have a clearer vision of the final level layout.
One important goal of the level was to find a way to make the player fight within an area that was already visited during the mission, like the real game does.
Main Areas
Hallway
Corridor
Airstrip
Software: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator
Level Flow and Gameplay Beats
The level is divided in four different macro events which take place in three different parts of the same environment: the hallway, the corridor and the airstrip.
The player will face up to four different waves of enemies for each ecounter.
The last waves will have one boss which will fight with all the other minor enemies, through different waves, until the player manages to defeat him.
There are three main events in which the player is able to re-stock the ammo, being sure to have all the ways to overcome the enemies.
Enemies and Strategies
The enemies encounters are divided in waves and the difficulty of the fights increases with the progression of the level, according to its flow and pacing.
There are four types of enemies:
Assault
Thrower
Tank
Boss
You can find a better description inside the Level Design document.
3D Implementation
The 3D implementation was made by following the metrics which helped to easily compare the 2D sketch with the tridimensional visualization.
Plugins were very useful to achieve a good result in a short amount of time, thanks to the clear grid and the premade blockout assets, which seemed to be crafted right for this project.
Plugins used: SuperGrid Starter Pack, Blocking Starter Pack
Level Flow and Pacing
The level is characterized by different level of intensity. In between those spikes there are more relaxed moments which consist of pure exploration and looting or the re-stock of the player's ammo.