Zachary Baptiste - Game Design
Game Name
Exhibition Escapades
Engine
Unreal Engine 5.3
Dates
Nov 2024
Players are put into the shoes of a master thief and tasked with stealing a new priceless jewel on display. Players have to platform over security lasers and lockpick using skill checks to steal the exhibits and escape. Single level game with 3 converging paths from player start to end.
Design Documentation
Level Progression
Below are a couple of in-progress and final iteration images of certain areas that changed the most during development.
Entrance Blockmesh 1​
Entrance Blockmesh 2
Lobby Blockmesh 1
Lobby Blockmesh 2
Vault Blockmesh 1
Vault Blockmesh 2
Level Design Principles
Below I discuss the level design concepts incorportated into the block mesh design of my level.
Leading Lines
Lobby area
Throughout the main lobby area I use leading lines to drive the player to paths 1 and 3 as path 2 is blocked by a gate.
Leading Lines
Artifact Room
This trend continues where the display cases used for platforming in the artifact room, double as leading lines to the artifact and ending area.
Openings Attract
Lobby area
In the lobby area of the museum I attempted to litter the ground area with lasers making it difficult to traverse. I hoped to make the ground feel claustrophobic enough to push the player upwards onto the platforming opportunities.
Openings Attract
Path 1 and 3
I also attempted to use openings attract on my paths 1 and 3 by making them transition into a brightly lit hallway rather than a lockpicking door. I hoped the light coming from this opening would pull players in.
Gate
Lobby area
The main laser gate in the front lobby serves to force players onto either path 1 or 3. This gate can be disabled by a side objective on path 3. I hoped this opening would also serve as a landmark/opening that players see and strive to get on the other side of.
Color Language
Throughout my level I tried to use color language consistent to accepted game norms. Enemies and lasers that hurt the player are bright red, while interactive objects are bright yellow.
Gameplay Demo
Technical Demo
Post-Mortem
What Went Right:
01
Level Design Maps – I feel that the creation and use of bubble maps and top down maps allowed me to quickly and accurately block mesh out my level.
Level Design Document – The creation of my overall level design document also allowed me to have a clear vision when constructing my level, as I had references and mood boards to look back on.
02
03
Lockpicking Mechanic – I was happy with the implementation of my Lockpicking mechanic, and felt it was what I had in mind and had researched when designing the level.
Blockmesh Appearance – I was happy with the overall appearances of my blockmesh and felt that assets could be identified by their appearance. I was also happy with my levels scale and proportions.
04
05
Scoping Down Changes – I felt the changes I made to my level after cutting the climbing mechanic helped my level to capture the feel I was going for while utilizing what I had to use.
What Went Wrong:
01
Climbing Mechanic – I didn’t allot myself enough time to blueprint my level’s climbing mechanic out fully, or possibly just committed too much for too little time. In the future I should look to start my blueprinting earlier.
Scoping Down Timing – I felt that although I scoped down efficiently after cutting the climbing mechanic, I should’ve done so sooner, and my level would have benefitted from the extra attention.
02
03
Color Theory Inconsistency – Using emissive materials on some of the interactive objects but not all caused some play testers to disregard interactive optional objectives.
Mechanic Research – In a lot of my climbing mechanic research there didn’t seem to be much existing material on what I was looking for. I struggled in making this mechanic myself based off adjacent tutorials and in the end decided it wasn’t fit for the final level iteration with the time I had left.
04
05
Gameplay Density – Although I made different blueprints, I should have placed more of them throughout the levels. Some play testers were confused and even thought there may be an issue as there wasn’t enough guards encountered in the playthrough.