Escaping Project Paragon (Level Design)
Escaping Project Paragon is a top-down stealth game where the player must sneak around guards by studying their movement and throwing beakers to distract them. The game was split into three different areas, each ramping up in difficulty. I was tasked with creating the second area.
First Sketch of the map
There were a few goals I wanted to achieve. First, I didn’t want the layout of the area to be too linear. To do this I created a branching path in the layout. I wanted the player to feel like they had more choices to make other then what corner to hide in when avoiding the guards. Additionally, the game included purpose a note system where the player can find and read notes scattered around the game, encouraging exploration.
I made the games world more believable by creating a thematically consistent area. The area involves biological studies and includes vats with clones inside them as well as hospital beds. In later renditions I made the rooms bunched up around a single central hallway to better show the areas purpose and reduce the players traversal time.
Final layout of the map
The game changed a lot during development, and so did the level design. The initial design of the game included a hub that branched off into the game’s areas. The player would have to collect a key card at the end of an area; then backtrack to the hub. Allowing them to open a door in the hub to escape.
The game would eventually change. Becoming a more linear experience. Key cards were still in the game but are now obtained in the middle of an area rather than the end (except for the first area). Minor key cards were also added. They were needed to open doors in the level. Parts of my area were changed with this in mind. Adding doors that needed to be opened by finding minor key cards. This forced the player to traverse the entire area, making my exploration/choice centric design void.
In reflection the level is very different than the other levels in the game in both its total size and room space. This is mostly due to each designer going off to do their own layout without forming an overall design plan the whole game. Now I communicate with fellow designers to make sure each level/area fits the game’s overall level design.