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The Magical Archaeologist

Overview
The Magical Archaeologist

Tools

  • Unreal Engine 5

  • Photoshop

  • PureRef

  • Blueprints

  • Unreal Marketplace Assets

  • Unreal Learning Kit

  • Blockout Tools Plugin

  • Audacity

  • DaVinci Resolve

My Role:

  • Level Designer

Overview

This experience began life as a week long assignment for CGMA.  I took the CGMA course out of a desire to sharpen my design skills and get the opportunity to work with and get feedback from industry veterans.  The overall goal of the course was to create a half-dozen or so levels from varying themes/genres using linear, semi-linear, and open world styles of gameplay.

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In this instance, I enjoyed working on this environment so much that I decided to revisit it when the CGMA course was over.  Over the course of about three or so weeks, my goal was to make as complete a gameplay experience as possible.  I plan to revisit this again with fresh ideas!

Goal

  • Design a complete high quality game space.  Process included preparation, whitebox, blueprints, playtesting, and of course feedback.

The Magical Archaeologist

Ancient Egyptian Temple Theme

Linear style level inspired by The Mummy and the Sly Cooper games.  You can explore and solve mini-puzzles to discover the secrets of this forbidden temple.

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The environment was designed to accommodate stealthy gameplay and third-person shooter mechanics.

Overview of the desert temple exterior.

Puzzle Beats

Overview of the desert temple exterior.

  • Added mini-puzzles to encourage exploration.

  • Minimized backtracking by ensuring all puzzle "keys" were close to their solutions.

Imagery

Underground temple's first room.

  • Used environmental storytelling to imply the purpose and function of the temple.

  • The staggered and uneven nature of the stone blocks was meant to reflect the chaotic nature of Apophis.

Smarter Than the Average Bear

Player character sneaking around enemies.

  • Designed simple patrolling and stationary enemy AI to react to player sight and footsteps.

  • AI behavior and health system was modeled after the Sly Cooper games to encourage sneaky gameplay.  Both the player and AI can be taken down with one hit!

Level Flow

Partially collapsed underground hallway.

  • Easy mental mapping using memorable points of interest.

  • Elevation indicates level progression, the farther down you go, the further along you are.

Encounter Design

Inner sanctum's vault door.

  • Enemy encounters were implemented in especially intriguing PoI's that played with patrols and elevation.

  • Elevation is important as the high ground provides an advantage on the way in, but a disadvantage when headed back out.

  • All combat spaces get reused by repopulating it with different enemy AI after the boss fight.  This final section of the level serves as a power trip thanks to the range ability the player earned.

Boss Checkpoint

Giant statue of the chaos god Apophis within the underground temple's deepest chamber.

  • A boss encounter that serves as a skill check was implemented to test the player's ranged ability they received earlier.

  • The fight was designed with the simplicity of the Sly games bosses in mind, as well as the dramatic flair of the music and UI of a souls like game.

Breakdown
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