Shadow of the Tomb Raider Inspired Level
ROLE
Level Design
DESCRIPTION
This was a personal project where I decided to make a challenge tomb that would fit into the Shadow of the Tomb Raider game. I used the Adventure Kit Asset Pack for the climbing walls, the ledges, the zipline, the tight spaces, the bow and arrow, the character, its controller, and the animations. Everything else is made by me.
YEAR
2024
GENRE
Action Adventure
Engine
Unreal Engine 5
Video Playthrough
LEVEL DESIGN
Layout
For the layout, it was designed in a way to resemble a cave in the Amazonian jungle that has ancient cultures built structures into. These structures would have been abandon for many years so the structures and the cave would have been worn down by erosion. The journey will take them through turbines that ancient people used. The player will have rotate these turbines using the rope pull to move through the level. Once the player reaches the final temple area, the player will have to use the knowledge they learned from the previous turbines to complete the puzzle and reach the temple and get the attribute. I also wanted to incorporate the collectable that are semi hidden throughout the environment
Step 1: Gameplay and Reference Board
I started out my level by deciding which mechanics I wanted to use. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, there are plenty to choose from. I decided that I would stick to the main mechanics that are central to the rebook trilogy. It was also the only mechanics that I could find in an asset pack. After that, I decided to make my reference board. With this step, I decided to make my level almost completely in a cave to make me have to mess with some lighting more than I would if it was completely outside. With this board, I wanted to get some pictures of the caves in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Next, I wanted to get a lot of pictures of the scale in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. I noticed that many buildings and ruins are oversized in the game to give an extra wonder and awe effect. Finally, I wanted to get pictures of the mechanics in use.
Reference Board
Step 2: Designing the layout and Building
The next part of the process for me was deciding what I wanted the puzzle to be. I knew I wanted to use the rope pull, I just knew I wanted to use it in a unique way not in game. And I also realized that I couldn't do anything overly mechanical since it wouldn't even be possible for ancient civilizations to build. First I thought about hanging moving platforms that you move with the rope pull. I then tried to think of how it would be possible with wood, rope, and stone and couldn't think of an explanation. I then came to the turbine idea. I knew this was reasonable since I had seen it used before on movies. With this in mind, I started doing a little metrics level where I implemented the mechanics and built the blueprints I needed to build.
Step 3: Iteration
With iteration, the first thing I wanted to do with the turbines is to make the player jump sideways from a ledge on the turbine to a ledge on the wall. The problem with this was the asset pack ledge did not allow for this. I changed my initial idea to allow the player to climb up to the top of the turbine and jump off to the ledge. After that, I was talking with a colleague, who was also using the pack, and saw that they found a way allow the player to freely jump from the ledge. With his help, I was able to implement that jump and change back to my original idea and take it further where you can jump off to the next hallway as well.
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The next changes happened after some playtesting. Initially, I had the turbines all the same size and multiple in the final area. I had another colleague test it and his feedback was to change the turbines up some to make the puzzles a little harder. In response, I decided to make the second and third turbine bigger and to make the ledge paths more different. Another source of feedback was for there to be only one turbine in final area and the change up the path. In response to that, I made the final area have a single turbine and added more points where you had to get off the turbine and rotate it more.
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The third change that I have implemented is from the first room. After I had a separate colleague playtest the level, he said he didn't notice that there where collectables in the first room. In response, I decided to change the entrance location and rotation of the first room so that you would enter looking at the first collectable.
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The final change was with the external vista to the main room. The colleague who play tested in the last paragraph said he didn't even notice it. So I made the window bigger and also added a light to try and draw more attention to the vista.
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Step 4: More Realistic
The final step in this process is to make the environment more realistic to what the game will look like and communicate to the Environment artist what the environment is and what should be traversable and what can be filled with objects. I am still working on some of the rooms, but the ones that I have finished are displayed below.
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