BioShock – Mad God

BioShock – Mad God | Personal Project | UE 5 | 2022

NOTE: This is an live page which I’m using to document my level design process. Apologies if its a little all over the place.

This level was a personal project about designing a fictional first level for a DLC for the original BioShock. I wanted to focus on pacing, atmosphere, environmental storytelling and introducing the player to mechanics and a new plasmid.

Level Design work

  • Created level blockout inside UE5 using cube grid and modeling toolset.
  • Collected reference, designed level layout, planned gameplay beats, spaces and encounters, designed and implemented puzzles
  • Used blueprints and sequencer to script player interactions, gameplay events and enemy routes us
  • Conceptualized and scripted narrative moments.

Download and play the current version of the level here

Gameplay & narrative beats, intensity and level flow

Gameplay & beats

  1. Arrive at the lighthouse
  2. Bathysphere Gas trap
  3. Collect Radio/Meet the stranger
  4. Jumping and crouching (TUTORIAL)
  5. Collect the wrench
  6. Melee Combat (TUTORIAL)
  7. Plasmid puzzle
  8. Exit level

Further reading: BioShock â€“ Level design project – Planning

Blueprints & Sequencer

The following shows some of the various gameplay blueprints that I’ve scripted for the level e.g. actor blueprints for the Secruis doors so I can reuse them throughout the level, a teleport blueprint contained in the Level Blueprint and the sequence which plays the lighting event as the player enters the lighthouse.

Actor Blueprint for opening and closing door
Level Blueprint to teleport player
Main door & Lighting sequence

Level Design Research

I began by replaying BioShock, BioShock 2 and Minerva’s den to get a general feel for how the levels are designed. As I played, I noted down, the general layout of the levels, environmental storytelling aspects, story events, splicer attacks and pickups.

Planning & Reference

Further reading: BioShock â€“ Level design project – Planning

Related pages

  1. BioShock â€“ Level Design Project – Reference
  2. BioShock â€“ Level design project – Lighthouse
  3. BioShock – Level design project – Planning
  4. BioShock â€“ Level design project – Update #1
  5. BioShock â€“ Level design project – Update #2

Big Tidy Up

Role: Designer | Platform: PC and Xbox | Genre: Casual | Engine: Custom | 2010 |

Overview

The Big Tidy Up Game was a team university project for the design for industry module. It was pitched to the Keep Britain Tidy charity as part of their big tidy up campaign in 2010. After finishing university, the team decided to keep working on the game and add further polish eventually releasing to the Xbox Live Indie Games (XBLIG) platform.

Responsibilities

  • Worked with client and designed games around their creative vision
  • Tuning and balancing of game systems 
  • Authored and maintained Game Design Documentation and project management
  • Created 2D assets
  • Organised play test sessions with student clubs and collected feedback
  • Play tested and documented design issues and bugs
  • Brainstorming with the team to iterate on features

Awards

The game was entered into the 2010 Game Republic Student Show Case and received the following awards:

  • 1st place for the Sumo Digital award for Game technology
  • 2nd place for the Team 17 award for Game Design
  • 2nd place for the Rockstar Leeds ward for best Team
  • 3rd place for the Just Add Water award for Game Art

Store links

Itch.io

Gallery

The Corridor: On Behalf Of The Dead

Role: Designer | Platform: PC and Xbox | Genre: First-person horror adventure | Engine: Unity | 2015-2021

Store links

Overview

The Corridor: On Behalf Of The Dead is a sci-fi horror game set in a dystopian future where law enforcement invade criminals’ minds to uncover their guilt.

I co-created the studio and was involved in all aspects of the games development and worked in close collaboration with artists, programmers and animators to create a rich, immersive and engaging player experience.

Responsibilities

  • Designed and developed entire sections of the game. Worked from high-level design briefs and pushed them to release-quality player experiences.
  • Created blockmesh level prototypes. This included – but not limited to – level layout development, world building, narrative beats, puzzle design and AI encounters.
  • Designed and scripted player interactions and gameplay events using various tools including visual scripting, cinema director and Mecanim.
  • Designed and implemented AI behaviour tree for enemy encounters and paths for NPC’s enemy encounters.
  • Authored and maintained several documents including GDD and golden path level playthrough documentation for use by team members.
  • Designed and implemented world space User Interface with a focus on compatibility with traditional and VR experiences.
  • Worked in close collaboration with a programmer, artist and creative writer to craft an immersive and engaging player experience.
  • Play tested and documented design issues, bugs and other aspects that affected player experience.
  • Organised play test sessions through discord and collected feedback
  • Organised a multidisciplinary team of 4, virtually across multiple time zones

Level design

Toyama Work Camp – Level design process

Game play and gallery