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)
Top Down View and Core Path:
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.
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.
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 aligned cover to the level grid and 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:
