Level Layout
The design process behind the town level was very different to Famine’s level - instead of starting with a much more rigid level design, I started by using our level tools to designate an organic blob of as the playspace before placing assets into the scene in order to create the paths that players would travel through the level.
The initial area marked as the playspace.
The level was meant to be much more open than Famine’s level, with a final goad of reaching a ‘goal zone’, and featured multiple paths the player could choose to venture down to reach their destination. For example, at the start of the level, the most obvious path is to travel straight down the central road, but the player can instead choose to travel through a side garden, triggering an encounter with fewer enemies, along with accompanying dialogue.
The paths the player can take.
The town level was significantly smaller than Famine’s level, and while Famine’s level also had a split path, the player is very clearly shown the two separate paths. The town level on the other hand, had a goal of feeling more open while having branching paths to provide a sense of player exploration and choice in a significantly more limited space.
Level Creation
The town level was also created on a significantly reduced time and art budget with tight turnarounds, with the first greybox of the level being produced over just two days, with the rest of the level finalised, including dialogue and set dressing, later that week. In order to make the tight deadlines, I made use of existing assets in ways they were not initially planned for. This included repurposing paving stones as rubble, upside-down piles of planks as bridges and pulling assets originally intended for the menu scene in to dress the scene.
Some assets used to dress the level were used in ways they weren’t originally planned for.