FPS Level - Borderlands 4 (mostly-complete)

My goal was to create a side-quest level that could feasibly be in Borderlands 4. I made sure the level fit in thematically, mechanically, and gameplay-wise. I used a generic first-person-shooter gameplay pack for the base of the gameplay, but I made many modifications to make it play as close to Borderlands 4 as possible. For example, I added double jump, I scripted a grappling hook that is very similar to the one present in the game, and I made sure the walk speed, sprint speed, and jump height were accurate to how they are in the game.

The name of my level is Cult of the Moon, and it would be located in the Carcadia Burn region of the map. The exposition of the quest is that after the arrival of the moon Elpis into Kairos’ orbit, many inhabitants of the planet rejoiced. However, some took the moon’s arrival differently. In the outskirts of Carcadia Burn, a band of rippers, led by their ring leader Ainar, dedicated their lives to worshiping Elpis. They believe its appearance is an act of divinity. Tonight is their Moon Festival, in which they celebrate their “Moon God.” The night will consist of drinking, dancing, and most importantly, sacrifices. The side-quest would entail entering the Cult of the Moon’s compound and killing their ring leader, Ainar, for his unique gun that is powered by the gravity of Elpis. There is also an optional objective to kill all of the enemies in the worship/sacrifice area to free the prisoners slated to become sacrifices.

Since my last blog post a substantial amount of my level has changed. On the macro scale, it's much larger, and each area is more complex. I also removed the designated prison areas on the sides of the level. I'm very happy with how it is, and even though the "assignment" is complete, I am not finished with the level. I plan on constantly improving, especially over the next month or so. I have not received feedback on it yet, so the first things I'll do is make changes based on my feedback, but besides that I want to make the first combat zone larger and maybe add more combat zones. I'm currently framing the level as a side quest but my goal is make it long enough to be a campaign level. I also want to make it more "Borderlands," such as adding an Echo log somewhere in the level. Add

This is definitely the most time I've ever put into a piece of work and it shows, I'm very happy with the results.

Final Images: 

FPS Level - Borderlands 4 (work-in-progress) 

For my FPS Level assignment, which is also my final project, I decided to do a Borderlands 4 (BL4) level. I have a lot of experience playing Borderlands 2 and 3 but not 4 as it came out only a few months ago. I ended up picking BL4 as my game though because I don't think I have played any other campaign-based FPS games. And I went with BL4 over BL3 because I wanted to show that I have the ability to create an engaging level for the newest generation of video games. I've been working on the actual level for a little over a week now, and I have enjoyed working on it everyday. In fact, in the past 48 hours, 23 of those hours were spent working on my FPS level alone. Not out of necessity but because I'm just enjoying the process of creating this level substantially. The loose story of my level is that you are infiltrating a cult's compound in order to get their ring leader's weapon. The cult, known as the Cult of the Moon, is celebrating their moon festival the night you decide to infiltrate, hence the lights and tents throughout the level. The cult also plans on sacrificing people for their festival, so there's an optional side quest to free the people they captured as well.

Work-in-progress images: 

 Three Area Level - Red Riding Hood (complete)

A couple of weeks ago I completed the three-room-level. I feel alright about the results, but there were a lot of things I could have improved on. I should have gone into it with more direction as I ended up changing a lot of things. Also the "prompt" I received was extremely challenging. I had to essentially make an open world game while also keeping the scale appropriate. My level definitely ended up being too long as I was juggling a lot of conflicting information as the artists I was collaborating with wanted one thing despite those things being the opposite of what was best for the overall level. I'm definitely grateful for the experience though as I believe I will be better at collaborating with artists in the future. I also gained a lot of experience with the Unreal Engine modeling tools as that's what I used to model everything. I also think I did a good job will the visuals of the level, as I have a lot of awe-inspiring moments (such as the reveal of the giant world after leaving the village and entering the giant underground cave). Overall, I learned a lot from this assignment, even if it didn't turn out perfect.

Final images: 

Rapid Prototype Production 3 (Forest Fire Fighters)

For round 3 of Rapid Prototype Production (RPP 3), we had to make a game that had the primary purpose to educate. The topic my team decided to educate on is forest fire prevention and control. In the game, you have to call 911 and then control the fires for 2 minutes until the fire fighters arrive. This consists of getting a bucket and filling it with water from a well or using a fire extinguisher to put out the fires. There's also an electrical fire that the player needs to put out with the fire extinguisher. Since the fire extinguisher is the simplest way to put out the fires (you need to run back and forth to the well with the bucket of water), it has a limited number of uses meaning that the player has to think more about whether they need immediate speed or if they can sacrifice time to save the fire extinguisher use.

My contributions to the project include laying out the entire map, modeling the ranger's cabin, modeling the campfires, modeling the tents, texturing the ground and fire extinguisher, and coming up with the concept for the game. This RPP experience was mostly good but it had a few issues. I had a lot of great team members but there was someone who almost never showed up to meetings and kept trying to use AI art in our game despite us not being allowed. Luckily the rest of our team was able to step up to make up for this so our game ended up being great still. We also made our game in Unreal Engine which was great because I'm super familiar with it as opposed to Unity.

Final images:

Three Area Level - Red Riding Hood (work-in-progress)

For this assignment, we had to choose a game idea made by the artists and create a three room (or area) blockout around that prompt. The artists had to come up with an idea for a game using a popular IP and the idea I chose uses the Red Riding Hood IP, and the game play will be similar to Journey (meaning that it will be an open-world exploration game). While I am indifferent to Red Riding Hood as an IP, I really love exploration games which is why I chose this prompt. This assignment also has me collaborating with the artists, as after I finish my blockout, they will set dress it with their assets. So collaboration with the artists while creating the blockout is heavily encouraged.

I have some experience with these types of levels as I made multiple exploration levels for my undergraduate thesis project, and this project was even compared to Journey by my professor. I immediately knew I wanted the first area to be serene and calm and the second level to be scary and unsettling. Luckily, the story of Red Riding Hood made this easy as I decided I was going to make the first area a flower field and the second area a forest. I also knew that I wanted Grandma's House to be the third area. Luckily, when I met with the artists, they had the exact same vision for the level as I did so I was able to start working quickly.

For my blockout, the first area is a flower field and the starting village. It's very open the player can freely explore anywhere in the area. There are mysterious ruins in the area with a glowing orb, and I plan on turning those into teleporters. The first challenge the player will encounter is when they try to move onto the next area, the forest.

If the player follows the main path, they will discover that they need to cross a river to go to the forest, but the bridge is collapsed. There will be two ways for the player to get past this obstacle. One is by finding a path on one of the rock walls bordering the fields. This will take you above the river and put you down in the forest. The other path will be a cave that leads the player under the river. The forest will be very creepy, it will have thick fog and gigantic trees. There will also be teleporters in this area. Additionally, there will be a massive cavern under the forest that the player can explore.

After escaping the forest, the player will then finally arrive at Grandma's house. I haven't fully planned the layout for this house yet but it will likely be very large and labyrinth-like.

Work-in-progress images: