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Operation: Venom Strike

A First Person Action Shooter

Sound on!

Introduction

This level design piece explores the complexity and contrast between stealth gameplay and fast-paced combat combined with verticality. From hiding from enemies to huge explosions, the tension is rising. The level features a complete player experience from start to end with scripted events, functional AI, shooting, world building and much more.
Project details
  • Developed over: 4 weeks half-time
  • Engine: Unreal Engine
  • Blender
  • Template: 
    - Low Poly Shooter Pack by Infima Games
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Want to test the level by yourself? Download the game!
Overview_Full_Final.jpg

Overview

PRE-PRODUCTION

Early scetches
I began with rough sketches centered on altering the tension curve to create diverse gameplay experiences emphasizing stealth and fast-paced shooting.

These sketches served as templates for subsequent blockouts and underwent iterations during further development.
Player and AI gym
While designing maps, I experimented with the template's capabilities, setting metrics for player movement and height.

Significant time was dedicated to enhancing AI movement, spawning, behavior, and optimization before prototyping the gameplay.
Tension curve
ACT I
ACT II
ACT III
Inspiration and reference
After evaluating the template, I decided that Far Cry and the old Modern Warfare games were fitting reference games. I did a short playthrough of both games and took screenshots of memorable level design moments.
ACT I
ACT II
Blocking out
With the story outlined, sketches, player metrics, and a solid grasp of AI behavior, I began blocking out areas according to the sketches. 

Starting with broad strokes, I focused on scale while working in an open space to organically craft the essential features in a first pass.
ACT III

ACT I : Escape the school

Overview_Stealth_Updated_FInal.jpg
Synopsis
The first act prioritizes familiarizing the player with controls, AI behavior, and the level's objective. It emphasizes slow, cautious stealth gameplay to allow players to explore the environment and its possibilities. Set in a repurposed school turned prison, this act highlights the cruelty and inhumanity of the evil dictator.
Navigating the player
Player agency is crucial in stealth level design, ensuring players have the tools to choose their path.

Techniques like framing, stealth kills, composition, and negative space help guide players without overwhelming them with choice paralysis.
Prospect vs Refuge
Stealth gameplay hinges on players feeling vulnerable unless they have a sense of where enemies are located. Offering refuge allows players to move more freely, but if the prospect is too high, they may become overconfident.
Player goals
I offer multiple sightlines of the statue to guide players to the end goal.

To establishing the mid-term goal, I use negative space, contrast, and composition, aiding players in planning their route to the exit.
Event
After the player escapes the school, I aim to ease tension and increase movement with a brief stretch of running. Just as players think they've safely escaped, I introduce a new event: a car approaches from behind, subverting expectations and forcing them to turn 180 degrees. Now, they must hide and let the car pass to remain undetected.
Overview_Journey_Updated_Final.jpg

ACT II : Assault on the lab

Synopsis
In the next act, things pick up in pace with more shooting, tougher enemies, and intense combat. I experimented with multiple elevations where the player is encouraged to jump to different platforms in order to gain an advantage. It unfolds in a quarry, where players must gather four keys to activate the elevator. Each time they return with a key, enemies swarm in for an attack.

Player goals

The initial task is to find the keys which are found on top of each yellow building. 

With each wave, the player needed information regarding when and where enemies spawn. I used sightlines and sound cues of incoming trucks to guide the player.

Fast-paced combat

In order to achieve fast-paced combat, I designed the level to be compact with interconnected paths and multiple entry points for the AI.

I designed covers that are see-through and long corridors that would encourage the player to take a flanking position.

Promote verticality

Vertical movement is promoted by designing tiers of height that would become pathways with a simple jump. To gain height, there are multiple paths that lead to a new tier. Pathways are balanced around taking a defensive or aggressive approach.
Wave System and AI balancing
Four unique spawn positions funnel enemies into the combat arena through various paths. Each path underwent multiple iterations to balance timing, sightlines, and player agency. Wave balance is combined with key collection, where each key location provides the player an advantage with a chokepoint.

ACT III :  Soaring Getaway

Guiding the player

The final act is the peak of the experience, requiring quick evasion from the player.

Seamless navigation is prioritized, ensuring the player easily finds their way while the narrow space enhances the illusion of running faster than reality.

Story climax

In the end, the player blows up the power core which causes the lab to collapse. To give the game a satisfying end packed with excitement, I chose to set it right where the player has been focused all along, the statue. Combined with slow-motion and free falling, it creates the peak of intensity.

Challanges

Fast-paced combat

One challenge I faced was designing for vertical, fast-paced movement and combat. In initial playtests, players tended to seek cover, clear as many enemies a possible and then find new cover further back, taking a more defensive position. By placing the objectives on a higher elevation, players naturally utilized verticality to their advantage.
While the player now had a better understanding of the possiblites of verticality, the same issue arose further down the line. Placing AI spawn on the other side of the map gave them a flanking position which meant that the player was  now inclined to move away from the cover earlier. Combine that with several flanking enemies and the player was now scared of staying still.
The last and major solution was to remove cover that would protect the player from the chest down. All relevant cover would instead be larger pieces such as building, pillars, machines, etc. By only using large assets, new pathways would be built between those, creating chokepoints that the player could defend for a while before losing the advantage.

Stealth gameplay

I aimed to convey that the player was disadvantaged and needed to evade enemies, leading me to position the player below them. However, this created a problem as the player couldn't see the enemies' locations. I addressed this by implementing a transparent fence and utilizing negative space, where open areas became zones players avoided.

Full playthrough 

Closing thoughts

Creating this level design piece was a very exciting journey. As a student of TGA I've had plenty of experience of making levels but this template made it possible for me to design a type of combat that is on a much more advanced level, almost to the degree that it feels like an actual game.

I'm very happy with the results, I feel like I reached my goal of creating a level that was fun to play from start to beginning. I even got the possibilities of exploring AI behavior and scripting in a complex and fully developed template.

In comparison to my previous level design pieces, I'm under the impression that my levels get better and better by each time. It was fun to see that I could follow through on a pre made plan and complete it not only on time, but with a good margin.

When it comes to making better changes to the map, I would focus on bridging the gap between space planing and world building. Currently there is an overuse of pipes and crates, which doesn't provide a modern view of covers, and it clashes with the current world building.
 
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