Honours Project

Level Design

I wanted to try and merge my interest in turn based games such as Hard West 2 and real time first person shooters like Overwatch 2 to see if it was possible to design a level that felt dynamic yet still stuck to the constraint of turn-based gameplay.

Built in Unreal Engine 5.

Process…

Solo Project | Unreal Engine 5 | Blender

Step 1 | Research

The goal for this project was a multiplayer turn based shooter utilising dynamic map elements (such as moving cover in Overwatch 2). As such I needed to learn three things before I started: level design techniques in turn based shooters, level design techniques in FPS arena shooters and dynamic elements in multiplayer games and how they affect gameplay. There were quite a few similarities between the two genres including cover placement, how high ground is used and where objectives are placed.

Dynamic elements have a couple of uses; they either disrupt play or are utility events which players can benefit from. For example, a train to move across the map quickly versus a volcanic eruption which could kill players.

Step 2 | Moodboard

I created several ideas including a theatre with moving set pieces or an earthquake map with collapsing buildings which would create various dynamic cover that would evolve as the game progressed. I settled on a street with a train or monorail down the middle somewhat inspired by the concept of The Line in Saudi Arabia. To get more inspired I love New Orleans architecture and wanted to tie that in somehow.

Step 3 | Blueprints

The core blueprint was the monorail system itself - this needed to be fleshed out as the level was going to be built around it. Players needed to be able to board the train and quickly move around the level. This required the majority of balancing as I didn’t want players feeling like they were wasting turns by being stuck in a box.

Various other mechanics were added such as cars driving along the road - these would act as both obstacles and cover due to the turn based nature. The last important mechanic was Deployable Cover which allowed the player to place a piece of cover where ever they wanted. This gave them the flexibility to move into more open areas and possibly act more aggressively.

Step 4 | Modular Assets

I wanted this to be my most polished project to date and the most impressive visually. The easiest way to do this was create basic assets using the Geometry tool and saving them as Static Meshes. One of my passions is Planet Coaster and I love using the existing assets to create a large variety of building shapes therefore I felt confident in doing the same with my own basic assets. By building modularly; and the benefit of creating an arena shooter which typically uses symmetry to balance gameplay, I knew I could create something impressive.

The same concept was done for level details such as benches and other various cover to quickly and easily flesh out the design.

I used Blender to create a small segment of monorail track, I used splines in Unreal to easily create various shapes and layouts as part of the modular system.

Step 5 | Greyboxing & Iteration

Due to the modular assets the greyboxing experience was fairly quick and I was able to create a lot of detail without needing many unique objects. Something which I learned early on however was how hard it is to design for a turn based game. Players always need options and the psychology between this and real time games are similar but not identical.

In a real time game players can get away with skill if they end up in a bad situation, turn based games are entirely based on strategy and therefore multiple roots need to be available at all times. This means testing is hugely important to spot the more active routes and consider why players may be avoiding others.