Overview

Two sections of a level created to show off my ability to quickly create a third person action level. The time limit was 12 hours of development, which didn’t need to be consecutive, but which couldn’t be spread out over more than two weeks.

My props are limited, mostly to rocks, from the free What Remains Of Edith Finch assets available for free in the Unreal Marketplace. Although there is description of specific gameplay elements in this writeup, the gameplay was not implemented as part of this task. The level was built using the generic UE4 third person setup, to allow for scale and sightline testing during development.

I don’t intend to continue to develop this level beyond the graybox shown here.

Setting: Hills surrounding Jump Creek Falls, after the apocalypse. The area begins on a hill to the east of the creek valley. The hill is open, no tree or even brush cover, just dusty regolith broken up by rusty shards of stubborn bedrock. As the hill bends down into the valley the rocky outcroppings are more prominent, and slippery rock slides hide between them. On the way down are branching paths leading to a sniper nest, a drinking spot, a pre-collapse tourist building, and several potential rock slides. Thin wisps of smoke come up from small campfires which dot the valley.

Specifications: Player has a bolt action rifle and a knife, but may find more weapons along the way. There is no combat in this section, it's all about exploration, and traversal. The section would include anim triggers for slides down hills, squeezing through tight spots, and edging along cliff walls.

A) Gameplay starts after PC hops down into a crevice with broken pieces of a metal walkway strewn across the bottom.

B) At the end of this section of walkways is a dead end path to a lookout point

C) Continuing to the end of the broken walkway reveals a good look at the valley below, and a more or less intact pathway to the right.

D) Jumping down to this platform, which looks as stable as any of the platforms PC has just crossed, causes a collapse which sends her sliding down a hill of pebbles. The hill of pebbles gives way to a steeper stone face which accelerates her fall.

E) PC flies off the edge of the stone slide. A brief moment of terror before she crumples against an outcropping. She is left gasping as she looks over the edge at her narrowly avoided fall. As well as being a great action moment it causes the camera to be pointed directly at the valley, and ultimate goal of this first section, the signs of life down there. Just in case the players didn't take the time to appreciate the valley at the vista points above.

F) A branch in the path offers a reward for the bold. Having just nearly slipped off the mountain, PC may choose to slide down another loose rock slope.

G) If she does choose the slide, she finds a hidden drinking spot with beer cans, bottles, and alcohol. These components can be collected to be used in an IED. To get back to the path she must squeeze between the wall of the mountain and a boulder. Once through, she can't climb up to the H) section.

H) If she takes the high road, she finds a great lookout point on top of that boulder. There are some rifle rounds there, as well as some unpacked gunpowder which may be collected to be used in an IED. She can jump down to progress but can't go back to the G) section. Either jumping down there causes the PC to slip and slide off the edge of the lower shelf, or the fall is too big and the PC just won't attempt it. Likewise the crack traversal from H) does not allow travel in that direction.

I) PC must press against the rock wall to edge around this narrow path. At the end of the path is a larger space so she can stand properly, but just after that is a break in the path. If she stops, takes a moment, and jumps the broken part, she can stay on the path.

J) If she just keeps pushing forward without paying attention to where he's going she loses her footing and slides down another rock face. At the bottom she may see the Visitor center, but she can't climb up to it.

K) If she remains on the top path she's rewarded with a nice vista point. she will also see a break in the mountain rocks though which she can squeeze. A safe path, like the one she found at C), can be seen through the crack.

L) However once she emerges from the crack she finds there is nowhere to stand between her and the path ahead. She'll be sent down an unavoidable rock slide, at the bottom of which she finds another terrifying precipice, and the remains of a tourist building. She can find a collectible in there.

M) After the L) path rejoins the J) path, PC continues along a number of drops until she has another narrow path to traverse, this time with rock outcroppings. This section combines precipitous falls with tight squeezes before being rewarded with a great sunrise vista. (Can be used to load and unload art assets, replace low LOD valley with actual gamespace, and adjust sun to be higher in the sky to give the valley a bit more light)

N) An extended period of stable path gives the player time to begin to transition to the next gameplay section (PC doesn't need to be worrying about how to survive walking anymore, and needs to start looking around). The major features of the valley can be made out, but most of it is obscured by thick plants. The player has a chance to scope out what they can.

Setting: Valley up stream from Jump Creek Falls. Nestled in this valley is an incongruous narrow band of thick foliage surrounding the creek. Boulders and branches obscure most sight-lines further than a few feet down here. There is a small camp on the far side of the valley. The camp is built on the remains of handmade wooden buildings, something built post-collapse. However, they are overgrown and dilapidated. It's clear that the thugs now inhabiting this valley were not the creators of these homes. The houses tell the story of the rise and fall of a people who had already survived the rise and fall of the world once before. There is also a clear trail leading downstream, with campfire smoke dotting the path. The stream goes through three choke points where thicket, or rock walls, close the paths forward. The stream has some good cover boulders and much longer sight-lines. In the thicker areas of growth there are tripwire traps, hard to spot in the dark dawn light, but easy to avoid if spotted.

Specifications: Player has a rifle, a knife, and potentially most of the components of an improvised explosive or incendiary device.

Map Notes: Cover is marked with colored blocks as well as representative Static Meshes, low cover is marked with yellow, high cover with blue. There are also sections of green blocks which represent thickets of plants and rocks. Thickets functions like high cover but without an edge to crouch against. It should also allow sound to pass through, as well as some limited visibility, but will block LoS checks for AI and ranged weapons. Patrol paths are marked for each patrolling thug, with visibility cones to indicate what the AI on those paths will see. The white lines on the large map indicate agro zones, starting a fight with gunfire in one zone should not draw fighters from the other zones.

A) Before PC reaches the valley a light pops up in front of her, she ducks behind a nearby boulder and watches a man approach a small waterfall, then move into a thicket toward the camp on the far side of the valley.

B) PC has two paths open before her, a log with cover to the left, and two openings in the thicket of growth to her right. The left path has good cover for staged advancing, but is exposed from behind, so this path is less desirable for someone who has not killed the guards in the last section. Conversely the right path(s) allows for PC to disappear from those guards behind, while making a stealthily approach to those in front. There is a small campfire with a few rifle rounds available for scavenging. The ammo is basically enough to restock the ammo used to acquire them, and so isn't much of a loss if a stealthy player can't reach them.

C) Again, at this choke there are two paths available, and again, the player has likely self selected their approach. The left path is open from behind and practically requires that PC has dispatched all of previous section's thugs. The right path climbs up a rise to give a good look at the lay of the land while hiding among the leaves of the thicket.

Walkthrough Gallery

This area is largely built on kit-bashing, and as such I have to state that none of the static meshes, the building, benches, logs, trees, nor rocks, were created by me. An image including all rock meshes used in this level has been included. Although I have used textured 3D objects, all art assets are intended as placeholders only, as a style guide for a level artist. I have also attempted to implement enough art to convey gameplay and gamespace concepts. This is mostly done so that while I built out the paths, I could be aware of, and be sure to feature, lighthouse features, in and out of the playspace. campfires and their smoke are necessary for signposting in the valley. The campfire placeholders without smoke above them are less representational placeholders for points of interest (Exa: drinking spot, sniper nest, first thug in the valley). They are meant to indicate to artists that these spots need to be attention grabbers, not that they should also have fires.