Game Design

Philosphy

When going about making the prototype, I wanted to make sure the player had multiple forms of movement, from crawling, climbing ledges, and rolling. Allowing for multiple types of playstyles, from slow stealth, to fast run and gun action. Combined with a low time-to-kill to create tense action.

Movement

The first thing I worked on before anything else was making the movement options, I wanted the player to have tons of options, allowing them to interact with the level in dynamic ways

Stealth

One thing I wanted to do was in addition to standard stealth and detection systems, add upon it. The game uses a light detection system that adds modifiers to enemy detection rates, with a special enemy type that can see in the dark. To compliment this, I wanted every light to be able to be shot out.  I also put in a “focus” mode that highlights nearby enemies but only when crouched and standing still, since I wanted to rethink the typical focus mode found in a lot of games in order to encourage the player to not use it too much.

Combat

Combat is quick with both enemies and the player dying quickly, making combat risky but not impossible. With no regenerating health, the player is reliant on using health packs scattered through the level that takes up an inventory slot. In addition to guns, the player can also find grenades and mines they can use against enemies. The player can also knock over enemies by either melee attacking them or diving or rolling into them.

Inventory

On of the big things I wanted to do was have a limited player inventory, with a backpack slot that not only takes up an inventory slot but forces the player to choose what kind of extra ability they want, for example picking between extra armor or having night vision abilities. I decided to go with a WW2 style tech idea, so night vision would require a backpack. Med kits and grenades also take up their own slot. 

Boss Fight

I put in a boss fight that provides a unique challenge to the player. The boss is blind but reacts to the sound the player makes, shooting at the source of noise while walking in a maze, but the lights are cut making the player just as blind if they didnt pick up the night vision goggles. The boss also cant be snuck up on, attacking the player if they get too close. Leaving a tense fight as the player plays cat and mouse in the dark. 

Level Design

Details

Entry Way

Theres two ways in, one guarded and the sneaky way in, this area is lightly guarded with a single building with a med kit and ammo. Its main purpose  is to introduce the player to the game and give an easy challenge.

Main Compound

The main compound is where the player will spend the most time, this is where the player will spend most of the game, searching for equipment and ammo, but with more guards and night vision guards creating more of a challenge

Warehouse

Inside the warehouse, guards patrol the halls in brightly lit rooms, with rooms that make loops to avoid enemy patrols.

Boss Area

The boss area is cloaked in darkness during the fight, rows of boxes create a maze for the player to navigate and hunt for the boss

Process

First thing I started on was the gameplay. I started with adding all the movment options I wanted the player to have then moved on to stealth and combat functions. Once I got things feeling right I set up the boss fight the way I wanted before moving on to the map

I started by looking at pictures of military compounds and drew up a layout that wasnt overly complex but still allowed for open exploration of the compound, especially in the middle part. I split the middle area into three separate areas. Once I had the layout down I got to work blocking the environment out, fixing whatever wasnt working, I found that tightening the spaces up helped make the game area play better. I used colored materials to differentiate how the player could interact with the object, denoting which objects could be used as tall and short cover, what could be climbed on and what could be vaulted over.

Next I put in the lights, making sure the lighting coverage was fair, making bright areas and shadowy areas for the player to sneak around in.

After finished the three areas I finished making the maze used in the boss fight and finished with a quick little cutscene that introduces the boss fight