Road Trip Level
LEVEL DESIGN PRACTICE
Genres: Single Player, First/Third Person, Driving, Puzzle, Adventure
Level Length: ~15 mins
Level Play Through (12 mins)
Personal Level Practice (3 Weeks Project)
SOFTWARE: UE5
This level is inspired by the game The Long Drive and by many places I've been on my road trip around Utah. The idea of this level is to solve problems along the journey, discover different spots, and enjoy different views. The game involves a system that switches between first-person exploration and third-person driving. The player will be driving around the level, which was mainly blocked out using the landscape tool. That creates a significant contrast in heights and visually attractive locations.
LEVEL DESIGN:
+ Extract and exaggerate real-world landmarks as inspiration for level design
+ Using the Landscape tool, block out a large-scale level
+ Use a scale difference in roads and path leads player switching between walking/driving
+ Using Landscape creates puzzles and interest points.
+ Using collectibles, checkpoints, and area difference guides player
BUILDING PROCESS
INSPERATION
The gameplay was first inspired by a small indie game that went viral on the internet called The Long Drive. It is a game about a road trip; the gameplay was very simple: explore buildings along the road, build your own vehicle, and go as far as possible. The game was interesting because of the random events and the vehicle assembly system. I like the idea of creating a road trip game with events that unfold during the journey. I want to make a level about a road trip that includes puzzles, danger, and dramatic views.
CONSTRUCTION
Blocking Out
During the three-week production, I set a way-too-ambitious goal given the time I had. The final product only contains half the size of the planned map. There are unfinished areas, an NPC and mission system, and buildings with detailed layouts. I wanted to fit many famous Utah landmarks onto the map, such as Arches National Park, Horseshoe Bay, MDRS, and numerous small segments along the road.
First, I block out the landscape, with the river cutting the map in half. I imagined the first half of the journey is descending from high altitude to the second half, which is inside the valley or flatlands, as a contrast in altitude, and during the exploration of the first half, there will be many viewpoints where the player could see the areas or towns on the second part of the map to attract the player.
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Functional Areas
Then, I focus on the rhythms of areas within the level, and I mainly set up four area types: rest areas, reward areas, dangerous areas, and puzzle areas. Different regions can overlap, since the central bridge was at the center of the map, with most views and height advantages. I placed most of the interaction near the bridge to make it the level's center. The level ends at the beginning of section 2, where the player crosses the central river.
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The Intro (00:00~00:37)
This is the first part of the level, which teaches the player basic movement and grants them the dashing ability for the first puzzle. This allows them to jump across the collapsed area and reach the first viewing area as a reward. The gate leads the player into the first town area.
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The Town (00:37~03:20)
The first town contains a hidden area that references the Utah Monolith, accessible only by walking, some NPCs, and a puzzle that requires the player to find a key card at the crashed bridge. This area was designed to let the player learn the level's background story from NPCs. There are four buildings in the region relative to NPCs that are planned to provide these messages and help:
1. The town across the bridge got into trouble, and even the military came and told people to stay away from the area.
2. The meteorite cuts both roads for leaving; the only way out is a secret path behind the billionaire's house.
3. The billionaire was trapped on the bridge while trying to escape. He got scared and even abandoned his house.
4. After investigating abroves, an NPC will guide the player to the next section with a gun that can detonate land mines.
The player needs to activate the elevator and enter the billionaire's house after obtaining the key card. The roadblock in front forces the player to abandon the sports car and drive the ATV instead. The ATV allows the player to drive through stairs and pump roads.
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War Zone (03:20~04:51)
When going through the first mine fields with the detonate gun, the Player can talk to NPCs in this area and know the military blocked the path with landmines because some part of the meteorite contained an unknown substance that turned the town across the bridge into a zombie warzone. They blew up the bridge for quarantine, placed mines, and blocked the way down. The good news is that the war is over, but they left the grenade launcher in town.
The player must cross the bridge to destroy the blue obstacles. The land mines can also blow up obstacles, but they are non-moveable. This area still encourages players to use the detonate gun to clear a path and jump across the bridge.
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Abandoned Town (04:51~08:08)
This town is another main area of exploration, like the first town. The player will collect the grenade launcher and actively blow the roadblock out of the way. Inside the town, players can search the ruins to find more coins. There is a new update for ATV that allows it to jump. On the back side of the city hall, a path leads the player to a hidden area with two viewing areas. I used a narrow path to allow the player to walk in only.
The hidden area is quite like the first one for a reward. The first viewing area shows the research center and Meteor Crater; the other one shows the main path of the area that leads the player into the canyon. The purpose of these view areas is to attract players with a preview.
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Down Hill (08:08~12:00)
When the player heads back to the war zone, the new grenade launcher can clear the path downhill. There is a similar puzzle of removing obstacles with an explosion, and a gas station inside the mountain's body. There are some rewards after exploration. The content of this gas station, with the hostile town, wasn't finished in the current version. When the player arrived on the other side of the bridge, the demo ended.
ABOUT UNFINISHED AREAS
I had a brief background for the level: a meteor disaster causing widespread trouble in the area, blocking roads and leaving some towns cut off from communication with others. In the planning, there should be NPCs in the game who guide the player and assign missions to reestablish connections between areas. The player will gain equipment or upgrades by completing missions and acquiring new vehicles along the journey.
In retrospect, the level was too large for a three-week assignment. It has the scale of a whole game demo. It also made the areas feel less polished. The area is supposed to contain interactable NPCs who can guide the player and provide insight into the story, but there wasn't enough time to implement it. The vast regions also made the gameplay feel loose; the current areas lacked sufficient gameplay to sustain it, leaving some sections feeling boring. I think the main issue was that when planning, I focused way too much on how the areas look than how they play.
FUTURE PLANS
In future planning, the hostile town will be the last puzzle player would encounter before crossing the central bridge. An NPC from that town will give the player missions to investigate bunker 1 for the key to bunker 2 at the end of the hostile town, so they can retrieve Doom Day's resource. The owner of the gas station downhill had the card; the player will need to buy the card with collectibles.
The bunker's entrance is located uphill, and the exit is situated near the bottom. Inside the bunker, the player will encounter a first-person level where they must use the detonation gun and grenade launcher to clear the path and disable traps. The path is one-way, with the card near the end.
After having the card, the hostile town NPC became friendly. Since the player's first sports car was left in the first town, the reward was a new sports car and the ability to switch between driving an ATV and a sports car, so the player could have a vehicle that can dash and a vehicle that can jump, which gave the player sufficient ability for the second part of the map.
The planning for the second part of the map works more like an open world, albeit in a blurry vision; the player will travel across various areas to complete missions.
Overall, I think this is a very promising level that I can improve to create a truly enjoyable game demo. At this stage, I am lacking the ability to complete it fully. After learning how to implement NPC, mission, shop systems, and other mechanisms, I will give it a second shot and create an improved version of it for those unfinished plans.