Overview
Academic Project
Roles: Level Designer, Encounter Designer, Mission Designer
Genre: Action, Third Person Shooter
Engine: Unreal Engine for Fortnite (UEFN)
Platform: PC, Console
Team size: Solo project
Production length: ~4 Weeks
One Man Army is a third person shooter map made using Unreal Editor for Fornite (a modified version of the Unreal Engine created by Epic Games). In One Man Army the player takes on a criminal gang alone. The player fights their way through five distinct encounters, each involving a different situation and style of combat. The map culminates in a pitched battle against three waves of snipers and rushing enemies.
Design goals:
- Get more experience with level and encounter design.
- Utilize the tools to create a map with a strong engagement curve and emotional impact.
- Incorporate environmental storytelling into my level and encounter design.
What I did:
- Iterated on enemy type, number, and placement to create engaging encounters that follow a difficulty curve.
- Created emotional impact and an engagement curve by varying encounter types and tone.
- Took the level layout from a paper sketch to a finalized level that flows together.
Process
Pre-production
The available weapons and enemies were restricted, so I tested each of them and made a list of which combinations did and did not work together.
I began writing down encounter ideas, building them around interesting combinations I and from making the list.
Sandbox I created to test enemies and items.
The sketch of the level and the final level (removed ceilings)
Prototyping
Using my ideas for encounters as guidance I drew out a layout for the level on paper, then I blocked it out in engine and began prototyping encounters.
I found that the enemy AI was too unpredictable, I mitigated this by using the environment to keep them partially separated so that they wouldn’t swarm the player.
The AI caused many issues with the alleyway ambush encounter, so I replaced it with a smaller garden area that gave me greater control over the AI.
Production
I learned how to use AI movement restricting zones, while this wasn’t perfect using them gave me enough control to create satisfying encounters.
By frequently testing and iterating on the type, number, and placement of enemies and items, I was able to refine the level’s difficulty into a consistent difficulty curve.
I designed each of the five encounters around a different combat experience, adding narrative context to the map and aiding in building a dynamic engagement curve.
Using movement restricting zones (red blocks) to limit AI.
The engagement curve I based my level around.
Polish
To better create a unique play experience and emphasize emotional impact, I chose three different songs to play at strategic points in the level.
Play testers felt that the sniper encounter was too difficult, to fix this I reduced the number of enemies per wave.
To communicate the danger of the snipers and add world details, I added an animated scene demonstrating the lethality of the snipers before the player encounters them.