Overview
This challenge was set by Max Pears of the Level Design Lobby discord community. This challenge/level is based on the universe of the Last of Us.
Setting: This level takes place in the middle of the game, Joel and Ellie have seen documents which makes them believe that a firefly HQ is nearby. On their way there, they run into some enemy scavengers. To get past them, they have to make their way through a car park and into a shopping center.
Requirements: This is a stealth level that has three-story beats. In the first beat, the player must stealth through a car park in a shopping center. In the second beat, the player explores the shopping center and ends up in a pharmacy. This will be the down-beat and will provide some character dialog between Ellie and Joel. The last beat will be a small combat encounter in the store. The full requirements/constraints can be found here.
Platform: Windows PC
Engine: Unreal Engine
Tools Used: Unreal Engine, SuperGrid, ThirdPerson starter content
Completion: 9/9/19
Team Size: 1
Role: Greyboxing, Prop and Texture Placement, Lighting, Pacing, level design document, research
Level Design Document:
Google Document
Download Options:
Google Drive
Level Layout
Ideas and Thought Process
This was the first time I did a level design challenge from the Max Pear’s Level Design Lobby and it was a really fun experience!
The first thing I did was to write out the level design document and plan my layout onto paper. Writing out the level design document allowed me to think about my layout before putting onto paper while keeping in mind the constraints (the story beats, setting, etc). I initially wanted to make an outdoor car park but decided against it because most American car parks don’t allow for cover. They are all mostly just an open field and I figured that, in a zombie apocalypse, there would not be many cars in a car park. Most cars would be on the freeway or on the streets. Instead, I decided on an underground car park with the idea that the scavengers opted to use as a side entrance to their shopping mall base. This would also help explain the amount of cover in the car park as the scavengers also used the entrance as a loading bay.
As for the shopping center, all my reference pictures showed wide open hallways or open areas that revolved around/lead into the center of the mall. I was also reminded of the DLC where Ellie had to find medicine within an abandoned mall for Joel. With those things and the constraints in mind, I decided that the car park lead the players to the entrance of the shopping mall. This path would lead to the center of the mall with the sides hallways locked away, implying there are more of the shopping center than what is presented. This straight path would lead to the pharmacy. This would also be a great place for both Ellie and Joel to remind themselves of the past, Ellie with her friend and maybe Joel with his daughter.
I chose the shop to be a pharmacy because I figure medicine would be a really important trading chip in a zombie apocalypse. The small/medium-sized pharmacy would be a good TLOU combat space due to the small artificial hallways made by the aisles and storage areas on the side.
I wanted my players to have multiple ways of approaching the underground car park. They can either take out the scavengers or just sneak by them. With this in mind, I separate the scavengers and made two main routes in the car park. The left side would be easier to just sneak by the scavengers but would offer little exploration and the right side offered more possibilities to sneak by/kill the scavengers but would be more time-consuming. With the way, I positioned the scavengers and the cover objects, the players would need to know the scavenger’s patrol route or else risk being seen when the scavengers rotate around in their routes. The players could also take out each scavenger at specific moments without alerting the other enemies because of the enemy positions and routes.
With the shopping center, I just focused on creating a focal point, the escalator, that the player can see and walk towards. Players can look behind the stalls and the fountain for items with Ellie and Joel talking to each other about the shops they see on the sides. The actual space is very small but I added locked hallways and shops to imply that the mall is bigger. I also added a small fetch quest to open the pharmacy door for story/Joel and Ellie bonding purposes.
As with the pharmacy combat space, I wanted to allow both the stealthy or “guns out blazing” approach for the players to use. The aisle can be used as a cover or as a way to stealthy kill an enemy. The space on the left side is a flank that the player can use to gain better cover in a firefight or another way to sneak up on the scavengers.
Jimmy Lu 