Quest Designer & Level Designer
One Way Ticket
Single-player | Dying Light Dev Tools | 110 working hours
Summary
‘One Way Ticket’ is a single-player customized level for the game Dying Light, where the player acts as Crane, who needs to rescue Rahim. Rahim was kidnapped by Rais’ people on his way to steal bombs from one of their hiding spots (the museum). The level focuses on using varied parkour skills to traverse to the main location and also having escalating combat along this way. The player will learn to use explosive stuff to better take down enemies. The estimated gameplay time is around 10 minutes.
Level Design Document
Play the level in Dying Light
Gallery
Design Goals
GOOD PACING AND CLEAR FLOW
Combat and parkour intertwined with an escalated difficulty to challenge the player
DYNAMIC
ENVIRONMENT
Switch between outdoor rooftops and indoor spaces to give rich and fresh experience
Consistent color language and conveyance tool to guide the player
CLEAR CONVEYANCE
Design Process
Initial Digital Design
How do I have a good pacing and flow
o Manage flow to let the player see the landmark several times
The overall outdoor flow is a very simple circular flow. To remind the player of his goal, I manage the flow to let the player see the landmark of the Museum building several times along his journey.
Goal reminder moment
o Explosive mechanic tutorialization - Teach, reinforce and challenge
The core gameplay mechanic in this level are explosives. I placed red explosive gas tank through the level as well as used the gas tank enemy type.
At the begining, I introduced the explosive zombie (The yellow protective suit one) with a bunch of normal zombies to make sure the player learn that he can make use of this explosivity to kill other enemies. Then I introduced the red explosive gas tank with several human type enemies (while they keep still). Finally, in the museum the player can combine these two mechanics to deal with lots of zombies and even trigger a chain explosive effect, and I challenge the player to use explosivity to take care of mobile human enemies last.
Detailed pacing plan
Introducing explosive gas tank
Introducing explosive zombie
How do I create a dynamic environment
I want an interesting experience as the player switches between parkour and combat moments. When I played Dying Light, I felt the rooftop combat experience in the Old Town part could be improved as there is always limited space on the rooftop, but the rooftop can bring a fun parkour experience similar to Mirror's Edge. So I decided to add some interiors for combat between running and jumping on rooftops.
And also I designed different WOW moments in the transition from exterior to interior to bring the player surprises.
How do I give a clear conveyance
o Use the blue color as a consistent language
Inspired by the Blue District in the game Dying Light, I decided to keep using blue as a consistent language to tell the player that they are on the right track. It becomes very clear and no one will get lost as long as they see any blue elements in the level.
o Use natural conveyance tools which blend into the environment
To communicate where to go in parkour sequence, I use tools such as ladder, climbable ivy and ledge to hint the player, which suit the context and also are obvious.
o Use lighting to point the way
I also used lighting as a tool to point the way for the player. The first time the player can get a gun as a weapon, I intentionally placed it where the light points at so there will be less chance the player will miss that.
