Preface

When I was working for ARaction GmbH, my role was described as Game designer. This included designing assets, some gameplay programming and building the levels. Since we were creating augmented reality experiences, where the levels are created to match the real world, there is not much I can show how the levels for our games have been designed. That is why I decided to create this level design demonstration.

Now, you might think „Oh, a sewer level, that‘s boring, almost every game features a sewer level!“. And that is exactly the point why I decided to go with a sewer level. It is something most players are familiar with and, more importantly, something where you can perfectly show how level design principles work together. Also, a sewer level was the perfect choice for the game-idea I was having…

Context & story

So, this turned out to be the first real challenge: I had to create a level but there was no game yet. Luckily, I had been working on a game-idea for a first person exploration game for quite some time now, and the sewer-level even made sense for that game. Here is the story:

20 Years ago, there has been a huge fire in Silvan Creek, a small town in the mountains. Almost all of the towns population was killed in the fire, the rest has been evacuated. That day, Silvan Creek became a restricted area, fenced off and guarded by the military.

Your sister, Jane, is a reporter for the Coast City Post. For years, she has been secretly investigating the events that led to the fire in Silvan Creek. When you last talked to her, she told you about her plans to finally examine the compound herself by using a secret entrance one of her sources told her about.

Now, Jane has gone missing, and you follow her tracks to find out what happened to her.

Originally, I was planning to have the player spawn directly in the compound area, with some environmental storytelling hinting he did come through the sewers. Now this was the perfect opportunity to actually create a level where player walks through the sewers on his way to the compound.

Scope

After deciding on the type of game and level I wanted to create, I had to decide about what features I wanted. I decided it should be a first person exploration game with very simple mechanics:

• Standard movement with jumping and crouching
• Mouse-look
• Ladders
• Simple interaction-items like doors, keypads, terminals, etc.
• Keycards
• Notes with some background-information and world-building

I was able to quickly create a playable prototype. I was using the Easy Character Movement by Oscar Gracián-Asset for all movement and ladder-climbing. For highlighting interactible items, I was using the Quick Outline by Chris Nolet-Asset.

If you want to know more about the process of designing the level, please continue reading here: Sewer Level: Level Design