Full Playthrough:
Over my winter break, I wanted to practice making a linear triple-A style action-adventure level. I was inspired by this excellent video by level designer Steve Lee.
I made this level in the Hammer++ editor over the course of three months of part time work. Roughly 80 total hours.
Project Goals:
- Make a roughly 5 minute self contained gameplay experience
- Practice level design fundamentals (gating, combat, sequencing)
- No super polished art
- Learn a new fun tool (Hammer editor)
Inspirations and Experience Goals:
I love the Coen brothers. I was inspired by the classic motel scenes from No Country for Old Men for this map.
I thought the grim brutality of bloody violence in a pedestrian setting was a cool contrast. I set my level in a motel that's been taken over by Combine soldiers.
The two words I used to encapsulate my intended experience were infiltrate and liberate.
I achieved this by making the player's main objective to rescue NPC Alyx. An optional side objective allows the player to free an imprisoned NPC rebel.
Plus, the player can't enter the motel from the front entrance. They're forced to find a back way in.
Zone Spotlights:
Crowbar (Zone 3)
After escaping the horde, the player gains access to their first weapon, the crowbar. The intended design was, the player runs down a claustrophobic hallway and encounters a zombie. Then, they turn around, find the crowbar, and kill the zombie.
What ended up happening is that the player would see the zombie in the distance, find the crowbar early, then kill the zombie.
Here's how I might design it differently if I were to iterate further:
In the old framework, the player found the solution before they had to experience the problem (be in melee range of the zombie).
With the new layout, the player first must encounter the zombie (problem) and only then are they forced to find the solution (crowbar).
Box Puzzle (Zone 4) and NPC Rescue (Zones 4a and 4b)
In order to gain access to the motel, they first have to get over a large fence by moving boxes close to jump over.
This gate exists in the same space as the zombie in the Crowbar section, so in order to complete the puzzle without disruption (getting hit by the zombie) the player has to discover the crowbar and kill the zombie first.
After passing over the first fence, the player can continue on the critical path as normal (through the door) or investigate the chain link fence nearby.
Through the chainlink fence, the player can see Headcrab zombies, props, and lights, signaling that they can enter this space. But, the door to is locked.
If the player briefly doubles back, hops back over the fence, grabs a box and takes it with them, they can climb over the fence. This gives them access to the optional area where they can rescue NPC Rebel.
The player might notice through a window in the alley that a Combine soldier is guarding a cell. In the next room over, they see through another window a trapped NPC rebel. They can open the door, grab the shotgun on the ground and use it to eliminate the Combine soldier.
Arena Combat (Zones 6, 9, 11)
While the player infiltrates the motel, the same combat arena (the parking/common area) is recontextualized.
First Combat (Zone 6)
The first time the player fights in the arena, they only have a pistol (or a shotgun if they rescued NPC Rebel) and they fight just a single enemy from below.
After this enemy is defeated, the player is given the opportunity to explore the space and find the keycard gates they can't yet enter.
The placement of obvious cover signals to the player that there's more (probably more difficult) combat to come.
Second Combat (Zone 9)
The second time the player fights in the arena, things have changed. They have someone they need to protect (Alyx), new weapons to deploy (scavenged SMGs), and the Hevsuit, which gives them more armor. They can afford to play like Rambo.
Here, the player fights from above, shooting into a squad of Combine. This advantageous tactical position (high ground) reflects the player's new spike in power.
Final Combat (Zone 11)
During the final combat, the player is the most armored they can be. They can use the blue keycard from Alyx's cell to get the Assault Rifle (Zone 8a) and they've scavenged plenty of ammo and health.
Here, they fight on level ground with their enemies, who are now more numerous and powerful than before. Being on the ground level, there's more cover for the player to use.
Cover Placement
A key change late in development was the orientation of cover. My level design instincts told me to break from the rigid right angles of the engine's grid. But doing this with cover made player movement and enemy positioning awkward. My professor Richard Lemarchand gave me the suggestion to align cover to the grid. This was especially helpful in a level where the combat arena was going to be reused.
Old cover at off angles.
Process:
I started with a text document of narrative and gameplay beats I wanted to incorporate. A lot of my original ideas ended up getting cut for scope, but I allowed myself to ideate freely.
It also helped to list out some mechanics and affordances Half-Life 2 allowed me, many of which ended up becoming core to the level's identity.
Early Iterations:
Early iterations were rough. The spartan, blocky architecture meant it was hard to discern that the space was a motel. The player's objective was unclear.
The gating mechanics were based on Combine force fields that could only be disabled once the player rescued Alyx, who used her EMP to turn them off.
Player's didn't understand what Alyx's wonky EMP animation was supposed to be. The Combine force fields were hard to see and confusing.
The core path wasn't clear, I had to simplify.
Continued Iteration:
I removed the gates and removed Alyx's EMP. I replaced them with red and blue keycards and terminals that the player interacted with.
In the previous iteration, if the player turned away while Alyx deployed her EMP, they could miss the animation, leading to further confusion. Having the player initiate the unlocking made things much clearer.
I also added architectural touch points that clearly signaled the space was a motel: a large neon sign and an office.
The players objective became instantly more clear with the addition of a scripted sequence where Alyx is marched to her prison cell by a Combine soldier, out of reach of the player.
At one point, the player was going to start up high.
Final Level and Further Learnings:
In the final iteration of the level, play testers were having my intended experience with minimal hiccups.
Many of my late-stage tweaks were increasing clarity (adding windows and lighting) and usability fixes to make combat smoother. I tweaked enemy spawn rates to make combat as satisfying as possible.
If I had more time, I would continue to iterate on the placement of health and ammo pickups and add checkpoints. I would also add more optional paths and objectives. I also think I could further increase clarity using lighting on key items like keycards to make sure players can't miss them.
Image Gallery:
