Playtesting Repetition Tools
Solo Level Design Process and Skills Practice Challenge
Roles: Technical Designer, Level Designer.
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Tools: Unity, Microsoft Visual Studios.
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Skills: ...
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Genre: ...
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Target Audience: Level Designers, Encounter Designers, Systems Designers, User Researchers.
Initial Planning
Level Prompt:
An abandoned shopping mall in various states of disrepair. Primarily an interior space, but you're free to add some views of exterior from inside, as you see fit. Exterior can be any environment (urban, hills, desert, etc.).
Player Objective:
Find the breaker room and turn power back on. With power on, they can take the now operable elevator to the top floor security room to get the McGuffin.
Prompt Structure:
Blind Prompt to be built under a 2 Hour Time Limit
Goals Going into the Prompt:
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For this first challenge, I was primarily looking to benchmark where I was at in regard to speed, both with working in Unreal Engine 5, and using Blender.
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I was also looking to maintain good level guidance and some sense of level progression, while trying to build as much of the space as possible.
Outcome and Reflection:
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I ended up spending more time building out spaces to sell the astatic then I spent on designing the level itself. During this initial block out stage, the level design is more important than the aesthetic fidelity, and I need to make sure I prioritize that properly.
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In this challenge I also learned quickly that I didn't remember the hot keys I needed to for Blender, so I pivoted to working exclusively in Unreal so that I could move faster. If I want to use a tool like Blender in a fast paced time crunch like this, I will need to make sure I know all of the necessary hot keys off the top of my head.
Refined Planning
Level Prompt:
A Dairy Plant turned Chemical Weapons Factory.
Player Objective:
Infiltrate the Dairy Plant, and reach the secret lair inside. Once there, set a series of charges to blow the space sky high.
Prompt Structure:
Blind Prompt to be built under a 2 Hour Time Limit
Goals Going into the Prompt:
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I wanted to focus on the level layout and building as much of the playable content as possible over visual fidelity.
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I wanted to try approaching the block-out from the exterior first. To give a more focused path towards the end goal, I would put a placeholder for a building, and then later replace the placeholder, with an interior.
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Normally, I start with a spaces interior to prioritize building a space that feels intentional and practical, but I was curious if taking the opposite approach could help me work faster.
Outcome and Reflection:
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Compared to the previous challenge, I feel that this one has a much stronger level design.
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Specifically so in that the space feels like it was designed to be a level, which wasn't something that was achieved super well in the previous challenge.
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Approaching the space from the exterior first for buildings did help me work faster, and I think this was because I was laying out a guide for how big the space should be, and where it should go to.
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Since I'm building these spaces in 2 Hours, I don't have a map in mind or sketched out on paper like I normally would going into the blockout, so all of my decisions are made on the fly.​
Prompt 2
Level Prompt:
A Dairy Plant turned Chemical Weapons Factory.
Player Objective:
Infiltrate the Dairy Plant, and reach the secret lair inside. Once there, set a series of charges to blow the space sky high.
Prompt Structure:
Blind Prompt to be built under a 2 Hour Time Limit
Goals Going into the Prompt:
-
I wanted to focus on the level layout and building as much of the playable content as possible over visual fidelity.
​
-
I wanted to try approaching the block-out from the exterior first. To give a more focused path towards the end goal, I would put a placeholder for a building, and then later replace the placeholder, with an interior.
​
-
Normally, I start with a spaces interior to prioritize building a space that feels intentional and practical, but I was curious if taking the opposite approach could help me work faster.
Outcome and Reflection:
-
Compared to the previous challenge, I feel that this one has a much stronger level design.
​
-
Specifically so in that the space feels like it was designed to be a level, which wasn't something that was achieved super well in the previous challenge.
​
-
Approaching the space from the exterior first for buildings did help me work faster, and I think this was because I was laying out a guide for how big the space should be, and where it should go to.
​​
-
Since I'm building these spaces in 2 Hours, I don't have a map in mind or sketched out on paper like I normally would going into the blockout, so all of my decisions are made on the fly.​
Final Tool
Level Prompt:
A ruined multi-level subway station that exits to what used to be a metropolis city.
Player Objective:
Escape the collapsed Subway Station to the City Above.
Prompt Structure:
Blind Prompt to be built under a 3 Hour Time Limit
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The First Hour is spent off screen designing a Top Down Map of the Space.
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The Second and Third Hour are spent in Engine Building the Space.
Goals Going into the Prompt:
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Following the previous challenge, I wanted to experiment with a lower level of visual fidelity with the intent of reaching content complete state faster.
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This rough but complete version of the level then could be iterated on visual after the fact, but the playable needs of the space could be met potentially under the time limit.​
Outcome and Reflection:
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I felt that largely my theory was correct, though the level I designed on paper which the blockout was based on, was larger in scale than it probably should have been for the challenge. That being said, I did in fact put together more of the level than I otherwise would have been able to given this approach. Given all of this, I am interested in continuing to experiment with this kind of approach on a larger scale level in the future.
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During this challenge I found myself struggling a bit more than I did previously achieving the correct scale, and also found myself wishing I had more time to do further research on the way tracks might connect with each other, and how the tunnel portions of subway systems might look.