After Riot

The goal of this project is to clearly differentiate between the Critical Path (defeating the boss) and the Golden Path (finding hidden weapons), but also to use environmental storytelling, as I want to improve in this area.

Role: Level Designer

Year: 2022

Duration: 1 week

Software used: Photoshop, Unity

Assets: FPS Microgame

Story

Your character finds himself in a prison where a violent prisoner rebellion has taken place. To escape, you must find a way to climb to the top of a tower, the only place connected to the outside world.

Research

My main idea was to make the level a loop. So I researched the different locations in a prison and created a diagram based on that. While doing this research, I came up with the idea of dividing the level into two loops: the first would be the prisoners' section, and the second would be the staff's. Each of these sections would end with a large area where you'd have to accomplish something to either return to the beginning or continue moving forward.

Paper version

I then built the level based on these ideas. To complete the prisoners' section, the player will need to find and activate switches to open doors, and for the staff section, they will need to defeat all the enemies in the room. Once this is completed, the player will gain access to the Jetpack, allowing them to complete the level.

The narration

There's no dialogue in the game; everything is done through the environment. Depending on the position of the corpses and certain elements of the scenery, the player will be able to understand their objectives as well as the events that took place in the prison. For this, I made some sketches of the setting to better visualize how to tell all this to the player.

Blocking

For Blocking, I first created each area in a simple way. Then, one by one, I added the gameplay elements, followed by the scenery elements. Then, I added a few details, while remaining in line with the Artistic Direction of the Microgame FPS.

The story

The prison is built deep in the mountains, extremely isolated and difficult to access, making it possible to prevent escapes and information leaks as much as possible. The only way in and out is through a large tower.

All this is necessary because, in addition to serving as a prison, the place also serves as a laboratory in which prisoners serve as guinea pigs for all kinds of experiments.

All these tortures pushed some prisoners to try to escape, by digging tunnels for example, but in vain.

However, the prisoners all launched a desperate rebellion, using their numbers to try to overcome the prison staff. The focal point of these clashes was the cafeteria, the only area where the two different classes came into contact.

Despite the escape of some personnel, overall losses were enormous, especially among prisoners.

Des robots furent envoyés pour éliminer les derniers survivants ; ces derniers seront alors les seuls encore présents aujourd'hui, défendant les lieux comme s'il y avait encore quelque chose à défendre.

This project helped me better understand how to communicate with the player, whether it's about directions or story. It's also the first time I've worked on an FPS, with the constraints and advantages that entails. I also had to limit myself to the elements of a Unity pack, as if I were arriving during the production of a game.

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