From the Source

Full playthrough video ----->

From the Source is a mission design project heavily inspired by the legendary Half Life series, due to my admiration for its ground-breaking gameplay and narrative.

What I did:

- Quest/mission design

- Level design

- Gameplay scripting

- Cinematic design and scripting

- Encounter design and scripting

- Narrative design

Software used:

Unreal Engine 5

Clip Studio Paint

This was a university-assigned project for my module 'Mission Design'. Our brief was to "produce a portfolio of work demonstrating your expertise in level design and the level production process via implementation of modelling, gameplay scripting, sounds, animation and VFX to a real-time game environment." Our tutors provided us with a playable FPS prototype, 'Rebel-X', made in Unreal Engine. It had combat and enemy AI implemented with it, so we took these tools and used them to create a full playable mission of our own unique design.

Narrative design:

Our uni brief included a short story for us to expand upon in our missions -- in the distant future, humanity relies on a robotic workforce that works in their factories and their homes to make life more comfortable. An alien AI has invaded and took control of the robots, causing societal collapse. A special ops team, Rebel-X, has been assembled to push back the alien invasion.

I decided to base my story in the factory these robots were created in. The player assumes the role of a Rebel-X special agent, tasked with infiltrating the compromised Freeman Research Facility in order to obtain a copy of the robot's schematics, as well as running a program on a control terminal so the special ops team can hack into the alien AI from within the robots themselves.

To enhance the narrative within my mission design, I took care to include a lot of environmental storytelling. All the scientists in the facility were slain by the robots, so signs of a struggle are shown in the layout of the environment. Fallen shelves, broken computers, tables used as barricades, etc, all tell the player a story. At the beginning of the mission, I gave the player a 'brief' from the Rebel-X commanders at the beginning of the mission that sets up the reason the player is there and their task. Furthermore, I wrote a diary entry from a dying researcher and placed it next to a key item. Both of these can be seen in a screenshot on the right.

Level and gameplay design:

I decided to split the facility up into 3 floors. Each floor had an objective for the player and a unique combat encounter. Floor 1 has a warehouse, which are typically very open spaces, so I used this to create a vertical combat experience. Large crates obscure the player's view around the corner, making encounters unpredictable. Verticality is introduced through the upper walkway only accessible by stairs; the enemies on the top level also provide aerial threat to the player when they're on the bottom floor. The cafeteria after the combat encounter provides a moment of solace for the player, yet they are reminded of the danger merely moments afterward, where a door covered in blood is the final thing they see before entering Floor 2.

Floor 2 is designed to be a more concentrated space. The main combat encounter is in the security office. Upon entering, a scripted sequence occurs where the player is now locked in the room, and the only way out is by surviving the onslaught. Crates placed carefully in the room provide cover from enemies on the balcony. The player is rewarded for exploration and objective completion on Floor 2 with a more powerful gun.

Floor 3 is the final floor. I designed it to be more sprawling, with more smaller rooms to enter and 2 smaller combat encounters instead of 1 big one. The player sees a sign that directs them to the room they need to reach, but find it's locked. The room next door has a shotgun, good for the short range encounters ahead. The player will also notice an exposed vent opening at the top of the wall they cannot reach. By going around the top floor, they defeat the enemies and find the other end of the vent in a small storage room. Climbing through, they find the door key they need and a narrative note next to a dead researcher. They exit the vent through the opening they saw before.

Cinematic design:

I created cinematics to show the player their objective during gameplay and make them more aware of their surroundings. The first one I designed shows the door opening after you stand on a pressure plate, signifying what the plate has done and as a sign the combat encounter is over. The second plays after you crawl under the door to the security office. The camera pans back around to show the door locks behind you, and then pans forward to show the positions of the enemies.

The tutor who marked my work praised my 'strong' pre-production. They remarked on my 'well structured and clear' level flow and level layouts, as well as 'good additional narrative'. My combat encounters were 'thought about well and aren't too difficult or too easy'. I received an A for this project.