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Development Time: 2 weeks Tools Used: Unreal Engine Role on Project: Level Design, solo development Date of Development: August 2023 Cinematic Portal Level Design
Initial Design
This is a level design project that I completed to conceptualize using
in game cinematics and atmosphere to tell a story instead of using
dialogue. The concept for this project was to use level design to tell
the narrative through player interactions and real time events that
happen as the player progresses through the level.
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Blockout
The concept for this level was an abandoned space station that the player
wakes up on and as they explore into the station they realize that there’s something
happening on the station with them.
As the player explores through the space station I strategically used triggers and VFX props throughout the level to play out the story of the space station in front of the player.
As the player explores through the space station I strategically used triggers and VFX props throughout the level to play out the story of the space station in front of the player.
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Design Elements
Here is a timelapse of my inital blockout for the level. The idea behind this level was
to have a level that told a story without any dialogue. Through the use of cutscenes and ambient
effects to create a hostle feeling environment.
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Here is a quick setup of some simple door mechanics to set up
the correct speed and animation of doors to give the player a proper
reveal of the space station. The goal was to have each door open in a way to give
the player a sense of suspense as they progressed through the station.
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This video is to show setting up the level blueprints for the
basics of the cinematics that the level would follow. The blueprints
were created to allow me to use the sequencer to set up the cinematic
elements of the level using triggers. That way I could decide how and
when the player expereinced the story, that way if the player wanted to
examine part of the level it would not affect the pacing I wanted them
to experience.
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Post-Mortem
This project taught me a lot and was able to achieve a lot in the short amount of time working on it. Telling a story
though methods other than dialogue was an interesting challenge, one that I had taken on with my
gameboy development projects as well. However with this project I was able to use more props and visual effects
due to the higher limitations of the hardware and engine. So it was challenging to achieve the atmosphere I was going for.
The biggest take away for me is how all the parts came together to make a cohesive product.
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