Erik Kleint - Level-Design
Aniticpation
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General Information
On this page you will find details concerning the production of the first level of Anticipation.
The video on the right shows the games trailer.
Below you'll find a more detailed insight into the process of the levels creation.
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On the bottom of the page is a chapter with additional sources like the download link for the game and a commented walkthrough video.
Trailer
Role Description
Developed by nine students Anticipation was madde in 2023 over a five weeks time span.
For this project, I was solely responsible for the level design, narrative Design and lighting. Additionaly I supported the art deparment with vfx.
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(In case you enjoy accompanying music while reading feel free to press play)
Level Design Process
Since Anticipation is a 3D-Puzzle-Platformer, I knew a lot of the games success would depend on the levels puzzles and traversal parts. To offer a counterbalance, I decided to enhance the experience by adding wide views to the level to give the inherently cognitive experience something soothing and to touch the player on a more emotional level. While talking with the other members of the team we came up with the idea of a ravine the player would have to ascend. I liked that Idea, because a ravine as setting would give the player a clear direction. Besides that would it be possible to seperate the level into different sections with different kinds of Puzzles alongside the ravine. I decided to work with three distinct areas:
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A mine/cave area that serves as research base for Pandora, the games main character,
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a village that with a more fantasy/medival touch to show the contrast between the planned fantasy and SciFi-Elements
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and the enormous towers of a long forgotten, but highly advanced species that could offer a solution to deflect the impending cataclysm the games narrative revolves around. I planned to use these as a landmark.
Credit: Kristina Vardazaryan
Area 1: Version 1.2
Version 1.1
Area 1:
Version 2.1 Version 2.2
Molecule Map / Mission Flow Diagram
Similar as I would have in the future project Sinphony of Hamelin I started with different iterations of Molecule Maps. This Time I was able to plan a lot of puzzle ideas beforehand and visualized them in the more detailed versions of the molecule maps (this example shows the molecule maps of area 1, the cave area). This had the effect that a lot of the different level areas were already sketched out in my head when was later crafting the blockout.
While I was working on the molecule map I was focusing a lot of my attention on the players learning curve in getting a feel for the puzzles as well as coming to grips with the games traversal and movement mechanics.
Since I was also responsible for the games narrative design, I incorporated ideas for narrative beats in the molecule map as well.
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Crafting a Proximity Map
I tend to create molecule maps with the thought to someday translate them into a playable level. This inhabits a general spatial component that, even though it maybe quite faint, serves as a basis for my proximity / top down maps. The same was the case for Anticipation.
Since the molecule map was quite detailled this time, a lot of my thought process that would normaly be connected to the proximity map was already done. So I created just a quick draft for visual reference.
Approach to Greyboxing
Before starting to blockout the level, I needed to kickstart some basic core mechanics. Since we were still in preproduction, these mechanics like for example switching timelines to alter the level were not yet in the works. I decided to set up some placeholder mechanics to start with the greyboxing workflow. The most important part was the before mentioned Time Switch.
I thought about different methods to set this up inside of Unreal Engine 5 and built prototype scenarios:
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Binding objects of one timeline to a single parent object that could be hidden if desired while simultaniously unhiding the corresponding parent object for the present.
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Loading and unloading sublevels.
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Utilizing the newly added Data Layer functionality of UE5.
After presenting my different approaches to the games programmers, we decided to work with two seperate Data Layers (Video on the left).
Blockout
As I was starting to blockout, I tried to get a quick feel of the necassary scale of the preplanned level sections. To achieve this as quick as possible I placed rough placeholders for everything and didn't bother with a custom landscape for now.
This enabled me to quickly get a playable version of the first level area, the cave, running.
In the following iterations I adjusted the blockout. First to the implementation of anomalies the player needed to aim at, when switching times, and tweaked jumping parts, to still fit to the players learning curve, and later to funnel the player into birthcanals to control his camera angle before presenting him large vistas or a look on their objective (video on the right).
Finishing up
In the next weeks the cave endured multiple iterations, mostly in terms of anomalie and geometry placement and reworking different jumps that would be too difficult to perform when the final assets were added. Addiotionally I worked on the two remaining level segments, that were planned to implement, built a tutorial section, tweaked the games lighting and added vfx, the narrative pieces the player can interact with and cutscenes.
After an extern playtest I added a lot of breadcrumbing to guide the player through the level.
Things I like
- The games difficulty fits. It shouldn't be too be frustrating, while simultaneously not ending up in boredom. Though it plays quit simply, the outlooks serve as eyecandy to keep the player enganged in simple parts.
- The general puzzle ideas, e.g. opening a door in the present to still be open in the future or pillars that serve as ramp in the future to reach a higher place, while they can be used in the present to cross large gaps.
- Additionally the level difference when switching times offers a good opportunity for subtle environmental storytelling, that adds to the games vague narration and reinforces a sense of mystery.
Things I don't like
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I personally think, that player guidance is sometimes too obvious or at least too intrusive. When closing a rift, the player gets a short cutscene, foreshadowing the way to the next rift. Most jumps are marked with bords that show the direction. These sometimes even indicate the path in between jumps. On top of this there are flowers scattered throughout the level that indicate the way through particles they're emitting. I added most of this after receiving feedback from playtesters that complained about getting lost. I feel I overdid it a bit.
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Obviously the level, or rather the game is not in the best technical and artistic condition. Textures and geometry are lacking detail and the movement feels unresponsive. Even though these flaws are not directly in the responsibility of the level designer, I think I could have insisted to reduce the games scope when early difficulties arose.