I make a level in 4 hours!! UE5 Block-out
This is a freestyle blog post.
I don't get a lot of free time and I don't do well with long term personal projects. I like to make short bite sized works that flex my creative muscles, keep my scripting and blockout skills intact and hopefully have a mostly complete experience by the end of it. 4 hours was not a lot of time to make a properly planned level but I suppose it's a challenge I don't mind failing and improving in.
The first hour went mostly in gathering references from Titanfall 2 and Metroid prime, learn individual elements that make both the game's level design shine. I wanted the movement of Titanfall 2 (as basic as possible) and the shooting the door to open from Metroid Prime so I got to work on it. After an hour I had this
Then I went into quick LD research as I realized I spent more time on adding individual camera shakes per state before I even decided what the level design is going to be. No probs, happens very often in personal projects, we seek the cool before we seek the meaning. I know I have very limited time to iterate on layouts and decided to stick to a very basic room structure. That should save me some time to finish in 4 hours right? (Insert padme askin anakin meme)
I open miro and make a very creative flowchart
As you can see, it's brimming with ambition of a person who has lot more than 4 hours. I even collected a lot of shapes and location references. Decided I'll be making a sort of a temple that leads into sort of an energy facility that is overtaken by some spiders. After 30 mins or so of Imagining the coolest ideas my mind can conjure, I decide it's time for making the level.
I spent the first area trying to teach the players the basic movement mechanics and ended up with a pretty decent layout that combines verticality and also fluid movement (I think but always open for feedback)
2.5 hours in I had the whimsical idea, "Hey! it seems like the right time for a playtest!". I gave the editor build to my roommates/friends. The casual roommate found some sections really tough and pretty much impossible, the other more experienced roommate just played it like it was one straightline walk. I decided to tweak the platforming sections slightly to get a better feel of tutorial area. It was also the section where I introduce the "Gun". So I wanted to have a bit of storytelling. Truly Bethesda fan style, I put a dead body next to it. I was satisfied with the space, put some architecture touches, started placing some props, JESUS CHRIST there's only an hour left. Now I was scrambling but not reducing my ambition.
The next section was a simple corridor, which reinforces some movement mechanics which player can also find work arounds. The Arena I shot myself in the foot with the ambitious free flowing movement in level while also trying to design the encounter. I wanted it to be an easy encounter with some humanoid enemies where player has to tackle two objectives. "Kill all Scavengers" & "Destroy the eggs". Completing the two objectives will complete this arena and take the player to the Boss room. It was also around the same time I was starting to lose focus and get tired.
I decided on this central nest and player has some room to move around. I started scripting destructible eggs and some enemies but really had to crunch back to the level space. In the end, I had some thing pretty visually good enough and has somewhat decent movement flow but definitely lacks a lot of balance. Very quickly I ran out of time, and decided to call it a day and move on to take rest and spend another exciting week of game development.
Despite the 4 hour constrain, I was pretty happy with how much I was able to complete. I know I'd rather take my time and make a more complete level to my satisfaction. Baby steps I suppose. Here's the end result. Another incomplete level I might comeback to if my interests are rekindled again.
too good ✈️