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About:
Four-player co-op multiplayer first-person shooter set in the Walking Dead universe. On this project I had the opportunity of collaborating with all kinds of diciplines in order to go from ideas and paper to actual gameplay. I primarily worked on three levels; "Join or Die", "Open Season" and "On The Run". |
Specification:
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Join or Die
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Open Season
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On The Run
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Join or Die
Responsibilities:
About:
For this level I had the sole responsibility of designing the finale of the game that plays out at the Lincoln Memorial. I wanted to create a level that really encouraged stealth while still having a nice build up in difficulty and intensity. Dealing with the flat landscape of the national mall, the location where the monument is at I had to take some artistic freedom and add some more height variations to make the gameplay a bit more meaningful. I justified the added terrain as fortifications to keep the zombies out of the stronghold. This gave the stronghold at Lincoln Memorial more character and a unique look whilst also making a fun gameplay layout.
- Paper design.
- Level blockout.
- Combat layout.
- Events, puzzles and general scripting implementation.
- General maintenance.
About:
For this level I had the sole responsibility of designing the finale of the game that plays out at the Lincoln Memorial. I wanted to create a level that really encouraged stealth while still having a nice build up in difficulty and intensity. Dealing with the flat landscape of the national mall, the location where the monument is at I had to take some artistic freedom and add some more height variations to make the gameplay a bit more meaningful. I justified the added terrain as fortifications to keep the zombies out of the stronghold. This gave the stronghold at Lincoln Memorial more character and a unique look whilst also making a fun gameplay layout.
Please note: The greybox comparisons below does not have enemy placements visibile. Enemies can be seen in the detailed walkthrough further down.
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Use of landmarks: Introducing the monument and framing it often was important to have a clear goal for the player to walk towards. Due to the scale of the level and to prevent the players to become lost or disoriented I tried utilizing the waypoints the best as I could. This I would do by making sure that either the Lincoln Monument or the Washington Monument was in view at as many locations as possible. These two would act as beacons to keep the player oriented in the level. |
Detailed walkthrough:
The players starts off in a more CQC oriented part of the level that plays out in zombie infested tunnels.
The players starts off in a more CQC oriented part of the level that plays out in zombie infested tunnels.
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Whilst in the tunnel the players must power up segments of the tunnel using backup generators that can be found. This while having to deal with the zombie threat. An example below is a corridor that further down is completely crowded with zombies blocking the players path. The players could chose to try and kill them off or find an alternative route. One alternative route is to find a way into a crawl space beneath the horde and sneak past it seeing the zombies above you.
Inside the room is a hatch to a crawl space.
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Inside the room is a hatch to a crawl space.
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Crawl space leading past the zombie horde.
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Upon surfacing the players get a view of Lincoln Memorial, the enemy stronghold. However to get there they have to navigate an outpost that's partially overrun by zombies. Once they have gotten out from the outpost (of which two possible exits exist) they'll reach the road surrounding the Lincoln Memorial Stronghold where the main villain Hurst resides.
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There are two possible entrances to the Lincoln Memorial stronghold. One on the side and one on the back. Depending on the paths the players has taken or what they chose to do based of the current randomization (in terms of enemy placement, resources etc.) different entrances can be preffered during the playthrough. Making their way towards an entrance the player needs to be on the lookout so that they are not spotted by the snipers and spotlights positioned on the walls of the camp. This while avoiding the zombies that surround the camp. |
Please note: Enemies disabled in the slideshow below.
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The players can utalize the vehicles as cover from the threats as well as a secret path. A pipe that leads to a tunnel segment that acts as some protection from the snipers and spotlights above. This area also has the possibility of having some good loot that's up for grabs. |
When the players has gotten inside they'll have to fight or sneak their way through the stronghold until they reach the monument where Hurst can be found. The only thing in the players path is heavily armed soldiers and checkpoints that needs a key to be found by one of the guards to progress deeper into the stronghold.
The more loud the players has been during their playthrough the more battle ready the enemies will be. They'll stand ready behind covers, have different patrols etc. Whils't the arenas are fun for combat I still wanted to leave room for stealth or giving the players opportunity to turn the tide. There are possibilities to sabotage the fortifications the enemies has setup to keep the zombies outside (which could be used as a distraction to help turn the tide in combat or simply to give a window of opportunity to sneak past a group.) For instance the players could sneak into one of the guard posts and using a switch to open up the large main gate at the back of the camp, shooting locks on smaller gates letting zombies make their way into the stronghold causing a ruckus.
Below is another example of a neat distraction can be found in a shooting range where a couple of soldiers hangout testing their aim on a few zombies brought from nearby locked containers. The players can shoot out locks from these to give another opportunity for the players.
Below is another example of a neat distraction can be found in a shooting range where a couple of soldiers hangout testing their aim on a few zombies brought from nearby locked containers. The players can shoot out locks from these to give another opportunity for the players.
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Shooting the locks releases the zombies.
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Once the players has reached the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial they'll have to do a little hacking puzzle in order to unlock a final gate before being able to kill Hurst. If the players has been loud during their playthrough Hurst will be hiding in a safe room inside the monument which needs to be brute forced while waves of enemies storm the monument. If the players has been good at keeping a low profile (Horde Level) then Hurst (the main villain and target) will be in the open unaware of that the players has made their way inside their stronghold which makes for an easy kill.
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Horde Level: How loud or stealthy the players has been during their playthrough is measured through the horde level gauge found in the upper middle of the screen. The higher the level the more zombies populate the level. It also allows us to custom script events depending on the current level during the playthrough. |
When Hurst is killed the players can call for an extraction. This draws more enemies to the monument and once their escape vehicle has arrived in the back they can make their escape.
Open Season
Responsibilities:
Objective:
Find a way into the department store, locate Reina (leader for "The Family" faction) and extract her.
About:
This level plays out mid-way through the story in a mall and is where the players finds and captures the leader of "The Family" and also get introduced to the "Brigade" (both are opposing faction for the players).
For this level I also had the sole responsibility in designing it. Here I really wanted to push the height variations as much as I could while also bread-crumbing with story and challenges. To achieve that I had the players walking the same path as the "Brigade" (the main enemy faction) took to get to "The Family" (another enemy faction in the game.) The players would have to fight members from both "The Family" and the "Brigade" that had turned into walkers. Thus not knowing exactly what had happened and what was waiting for them further ahead.
- Level blockout.
- Combat layout.
- Events, puzzles and general scripting implementation.
- General maintenance.
Objective:
Find a way into the department store, locate Reina (leader for "The Family" faction) and extract her.
About:
This level plays out mid-way through the story in a mall and is where the players finds and captures the leader of "The Family" and also get introduced to the "Brigade" (both are opposing faction for the players).
For this level I also had the sole responsibility in designing it. Here I really wanted to push the height variations as much as I could while also bread-crumbing with story and challenges. To achieve that I had the players walking the same path as the "Brigade" (the main enemy faction) took to get to "The Family" (another enemy faction in the game.) The players would have to fight members from both "The Family" and the "Brigade" that had turned into walkers. Thus not knowing exactly what had happened and what was waiting for them further ahead.
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When the players reach the first main hall of the mall they get to fight humans (brigade) on the second floor balconies. After that they need to traverse down to the ground floor which is zombie infested. Smaller gates can be opened by the players to let zombies up from the ground floor to cause a distraction and ease the difficulty dealing with the humans above. In the main hall they also must repair a generator on the bottom floor to progress through the mall (powering up shutters). |
To make the level more re-playable I made three different routes that the players could end up having. The first route goes through a Library. The second route goes through another section of the main hall. The third route goes through the same section where the players gets there through a hardware store at the bottom floor and must first fight some zombies before being able to deal with the humans above.
I also designed the layout so that the players loop in and out of human and zombie areas respectively. This to make sure that the players get more varied combat throughout the mall to keep everything fresh.
I also designed the layout so that the players loop in and out of human and zombie areas respectively. This to make sure that the players get more varied combat throughout the mall to keep everything fresh.
The Library path.
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The path through another section of the mall.
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The path through the hardware store.
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Upon finding Reina they have to rescue her from being executed. The players are put in a position where they can easily setup an ambush from the surrounding balcony above. Once Reina is freed from the hostage takers they'll have to make their way out of the zombie infested storage area in the back to call for extraction.
On The Run
Responsibilities:
There are four different missions for this level:
About the general level:
This particular level was the only one I didn't initiate. I only finalized it by taking over the responsibility for the level at a later stage. When I got my hands of it most of the art was already in place however I still had room to tweak and change some as well as having full freedom in making objectives and combat encounters. In this level we tried pushing replay-ability further with the help of a few new design choices. This level had a near 360 approach for the players. This also came with random entrance points with different tool requirements for the players. We also implemented randomized player spawn locations as well as randomized weather conditions.
*Horde meter is a system that adds more zombies into the level depending on how much noise the players generate while playing (gunshots, traps etc.)
- Combat layout.
- Events, puzzles and general script implementation.
- General maintenance.
There are four different missions for this level:
- Story: In a camp located at a gas station the players need to find information on how they can get to Patterson.
- Scavenge: The players need to raid a camp located at a gas station to get some fuel. While using the fuel pumps they need to keep a loud rusty generator running (which can break down randomly with a loud bang increasing the horde meter*). If that would happen it needs to be repaired in order to get more fuel). The more fuel they decide to get the more zombies will be drawn within the walls of the camp.
- Rescue: The players need to infiltrate and rescue a survivor located in the camp.
- Assassination: The player will have to infiltrate and kill a high value target from the brigade.
About the general level:
This particular level was the only one I didn't initiate. I only finalized it by taking over the responsibility for the level at a later stage. When I got my hands of it most of the art was already in place however I still had room to tweak and change some as well as having full freedom in making objectives and combat encounters. In this level we tried pushing replay-ability further with the help of a few new design choices. This level had a near 360 approach for the players. This also came with random entrance points with different tool requirements for the players. We also implemented randomized player spawn locations as well as randomized weather conditions.
*Horde meter is a system that adds more zombies into the level depending on how much noise the players generate while playing (gunshots, traps etc.)
