Jon Murray Designs
Level Designer
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Wastelander Games

For my thesis I made a virtual reality thesis exhibition. I took all of my peers work and put them into a game engine and I made a level for each students work. The goal of the experience was the escape a maze made out of each students thesis exhibition. As if your are stuck in our creative process and trying to escape it.

The Wastelander Games

Project Details
Role: Level Designer, Combat Designer
Game: Fallout 4
Engine: Creation Kit
Year: 2022
Team Size: Solo

Description

The Wastelander Games is a level where a band of raiders abducts the player led by a man named Rico. Rico and his gang throw you into an abandoned police station turned arena where they bet on how long you will live to survive against Vile The Tormentor, a ruthless and powerful super mutant.

gameplay Goal

My main goal was to give the player as many opportunities to play the way they wanted to play. As a level designer, I don’t see this as my level but the players. Mainly I wanted the player to feel as if they earned the right to leave the police station, not just to bet a level or a boss. I aimed to validate that feeling through tension using combat encounters and AI.

Level Design Goals

Reuse of Space

The critical path features verticality, bounces, and combat encounters that maximize the use of space.

Many Ways to Win

Defeat Vile by advancing from room to room, using terminals to get power armor and weapons for a fair fight, or luring Vile to explosive barrels.

Tension through (Combat) AI

I created tension by designing a long-term combat encounter with Vile along the critical path and smaller ones the player and Vile would encounter.

Reuse of Space

Reuse of Space

I maximized my space as much as I could using these methods.

  1. Verticality (2 Floors. The top floor has broken floors, so the player can jump down at any time to escape Vile.)

  2. Bounces (Sending the player back multiple times to the main space to get from room to room.)

  3. Combat Encounters (I placed many feral ghouls around the level for small combat encounters that are fodder for the player and vile.)

Many Ways to Win

One of my main goals was to encourage players to play how they wanted to. Show, don’t tell. There was one of two ways to defeat vile.

  • The first is going from room to room, using each terminal to open up the cell on the lower level, where they can access power armor and a minigun to face vile on an even playing field. They gain many weapons to help slow down vile and feral ghouls.

  • The other is luring vile to explosive barrels laid around the environment and shooting them when he is near to deal massive damage.

Vile Chasing Player

Tension through Combat AI

I used AI and combat encounters to create tension and build upon it throughout the player’s experience.

  1. Long-term Combat encounter while fighting ghoul fodder.

  2. Teleporting strongest enemy when players use terminals. Provides framing for the next goal, and I can move Vile and add more Ghouls.

  3. Encouraging the player to use ghouls to distract Vile.

PostMortem

Coming Soon…

NEXT

Let Me See Gray

Creation Kit - Different Narrative Paths, Multiple Play Styles

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Source - Physics & Puzzle Based Gameplay