Toyama Work Camp | Unity | 2018 | The Corridor: On Behalf Of The Dead | Steam & Xbox
Level Design work:
- Built level blockout with Maya and Probuilder, collected reference, designed level layout, planned spaces and encounters, designed and implemented puzzles.
- Design goals: Introduce the player to crafting mechanic, broke up linear gameplay spaces and developed strong environmental storytelling themes and rewarded player with story event.
Additional tasks:
- Designed and visual scripted player interactions, gameplay events and enemy routes.
- Conceptualized and scripted narrative moments.
Store links
- Steam
- Xbox
Introduction
This article will focus on my design process, work flow and responsibilities for the Toyama work camp level from the sci-fi horror game The Corridor on Behalf of the Dead. It will include planning, reference, design and artistic decisions.
Background, planning and reference
As the designer and part of a three man team on The Corridor, I was responsible for a range of aspects of the games development including some level design. One of the levels I took responsibility for was the Toyama work camp level which was the third level in the game. Up until this point, player’s had followed a fairly linear path up and I proposed that I create a space where the player had the freedom to choose how they approached their objectives and exploration.
Additionally, the core narrative idea I wanted to explore and present to the player was what had become of the citizens of the world after M.O.M (the ruling party/ organization in the game) had taken control.
The game in general was influenced by George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 and while re-reading the novel for reference, I was drawn to the work camp type environment with its rich visual design and strong environmental storytelling themes it offered which allowed players to construct their own version of the narrative.
Additionally, a new crafting mechanic was to be introduced to the player. They would need to use this to create something that would be needed to progress.
Goals
- introduce new crafting mechanic to the player – items need to be collected and assembled to progress
- break up linear flow of levels and support player choice to approach their objectives and exploration
- strong environmental storytelling and visual design
Layouts & Sketches
To begin, I started sketching (fig.1) some ideas for the levels layout, keeping the ideas of player freedom, exploration and collection of items in mind.
Fig.1 – Early paper sketches to generate level ideas
Hub and spoke design
While in the process of sketching, I was reminded of certain levels from the Bioshock series, such as the Medical Pavilion, Minerva’s Den and Burial at sea.
Fig.2 – Level layouts from the BioShock series.
These levels make use of the hub and spoke level design layout which involves a central large space with pathways that emanate to smaller self contained spaces. Rewards and challenges can be provided for at the ends of these spokes. These large central spaces act as a reorienting space as players pass through this area as they explore each spoke.
Using the central area as reorienting space aligned well with the games design goals of providing an immersive experience along with player freedom. I wanted the game to omit any form of HUD or marker system and allow the player to freely navigate levels and fid their own path through exploration. In approaching the games design this way, it was necessary to communicate the players various option’s through the design of the level. Additionally, by focusing on exploration, we could use the self-contained spaces to distribute ephemera and along with environmental storytelling, allow the player to create their own version of the story.
I began looking into real spaces that might fit the general idea of a central orientating space with smaller self contained spaces surrounding it. I started looking at floorplans of large dilapidated or ruined buildings, places like slaughterhouses or old factories for reference. These generally had large central spaces as see here in this architectural plan (fig.3):
I incorporated the slaughterhouse ground plan into some of the earlier sketches I had made and then began thinking about how this place might look and feel, a place that people worked and lived under the watchful eye of M.O.M. Fig.5 shows some mood boards I drew up as I continued looking at spaces. I liked the idea of a place that used to function but which had been converted and reused as a work camp. Furthermore, these would help me incorporate some shape and colour into the design.
Fig.5 – Mood board examples
Blockout
With these ideas and inspiration in place, I began a block out (fig.6) in Maya.
Once I was happy with the general feel of the level, It was time to move over to Unity and begin the blockmesh phase using probuilder.
Iteration
Fig.7 – Work in progress – blockmesh phase
As the gallery above (fig.7) shows, I produced a general rough version of the entire level so that that I could get a feel of the space, pacing and scale. From here, I asked a couple of our team members to playtest which allowed feedback to be collected and fed back into the next iteration of the level’s design.
Shape and Colour language
As Naughty Dog’s David Shaver has suggested, establishing a consistent visual language throughout the level design not only establishes consistent affordances to the player but also speeds up collaboration with other team members.
Examples of the various colour’s used to donate materials are shown in fig.8:
Shapes and opening
I used a combination of shape and lighting in various areas of the level to guide players to specific paths or areas. Fig.9 shows an arch way section which leads to one of the levels main goals. In order to attract the player into this opening, I built a wall section which used three arches to create an opening and used warm lighting to generate a sense of mystery and safety to guide the player in.
Although this was used to guide players to where I wanted them to go, it doesn’t prevent players from exploring and still allows them the freedom to explore at their own pace.
This section was also used to show the door before the key. Directly through the middle arch, there is a locked door which the player needs to open to continue and this is seen as soon as the player enters the level.
Leading lines
Fig.10 – Leading lines used to guide player to important locations
Following on from fig.9, once players had entered the room beyond the arches I used a combination of pipework and a cable laid on the floor as leading lines to guide the player in the direction I wanted them to go (fig.10). The pipes and cable were given contrasting colour where added to guide players to important locations within the level. For example, a metallic grey was used to for pipe work to contrast against the “redish” brown of the brick walls, this has the affect of looking like a pipe would belong in this environment but also stands out and catches the eye of the player.
Affordances
Along with the game UI, I established a consistent visual language for the levels affordances. For example, doors with handles would generally be interactable and were kept a consistent colour and scale. If a particular part of the game required that I deny affordance to the player then a logical obstacle would be used. For example, fig.11 shows an area where a door is barricaded, wooden planks were used to show the player that the door couldn’t be opened in its current state.
Items that could be interacted with where placed in well lit areas to focus the players attention (fig.13). Additionally the game used a subtle highlight on the object if it could be interacted with. This feedback was used to reinforce affordances and that the player could interact and collect the item.
Narrative beats, environment and ambiguity
One of the games design pillars was story ambiguity. I wanted the player to create their own personalized version of the story and to facilitate that, much of the story was told through environmental storytelling, ephemera, worker dictaphones and notes. As the players are given the autonomy or freedom to explore the environment and experience these blocks of story, they are continually creating their own personalised version of the story. This form of story creation is what researchers Tom Cole and Marco Gillies terms Interpretive fictional agency (IFA) (2019) and manifests in meaningful ways for players.
Again. using the hub and spoke level design layout allowed me to distribute these narrative blocks throughout the level.
Gameplay event scripting
Along with all the other levels from the game I was responsible for scripting all player interactions and gameplay events. I used the adventure creator visual scripting tool for this and an example of one of these events can be scene in fig.13 below:
NPC/Entity Setup
NPC’s were setup using Unity’s Mecanim system and Adventure creator character setup. As fig. 14 shows, this particular guard character was setup top follow a path and patrol an area. Allow a passive character, players could still take damage if they got too close.
AI & Behavior tree’s
I also used behavior designer to setup behavior tree’s for enemy AI as shown below in fig.
Before and after
A selection of before and after sliders from blockmesh to the final game.
