This project was created as a one-semester Level Design capstone. The intended gameplay is Mirror's Edge style, but within the specific scope of this project - with combat omitted and focus shifted on traversal. Since this was a solo project I had to make some compromises when it came to creating the blueprints for the player controller, but I think the gameplay elements I have managed to implement are sufficient.
This is what the player sees at the beginning of the demo. The shot is composed to feature the building with "MERCER" on it (was meant to be a narrative element at some point, was scrapped due to time constraints), and more importantly the computer screen with the objective for the player. I've tried to do avoid using direct dialogue and mission/task UI/HUD due to time constraints and priorities for this project.
Here we can see the first section of the game where most of the gameplay introduction happens. The player will come out of the red door and presented with the first tutorial message (if they do not leave the area in a few seconds) on how to slide and crouch. Afterwards there is a jump tutorial as well (with the same timer). If the player fails this first jump they will not fall to death, but be able to loop back to the beginning of the jump (or just wall-run into mantle up). After that there is a section where player is supposed to learn the wall-running mechanic, which is hinted with a group of footsteps on the first blue shield. The area is set up to be fairly tight and contain some jumps, so the player will almost inevitably wall-run there as they try to move forward.
After the initial area the player will find themselves in the interior part of the large blue building. This area has some broken architecture and construction, which enables the player to ascend. The footprints are still present there to guide the player and also create some light environmental storytelling elements. Here the player will have to use both wall-running and jumping off the wall while doing so, as well as climb ladders and do 180 wall-jumps. There is a branching path here that goes through the optional area (blue path). That area was originally the part of the main path, but I felt like this section was long enough as it is and that that path did not contribute anything particularly interesting to this section. As a result I've opted into making it an optional detour, and in the future it could contain some hidden collectibles. After getting through this section the player will come up to a jump onto the construction crane.
In this section I originally intended the player to slide down the red rope (may be hard to see in some shots) and knock out an NPC. I've ended up not having enough time to implement that, so I've instead placed a number of knocked out enemies here and the body of the courier by the pillar. The blue pane is blocking the path forward until the player picks up the red suitcase, which sets the panel lose and initiates the helicopter chase. For this section I wanted to build some tension from the chase and intense music, and focus on the player using what they have learned and 1 more new mechanic to get through this area fast. It's worth noting that the helicopter implementation here is mostly a mockup and does not function entirely as intended - it is simply here as a point of reference. I would implement a more sophisticated helicopter AI and a real damage model if I had the time and didn't focus on the Level Design component.
Here, there are again a few alternatives way to get through the area. I wanted to give the player more freedom in how they chose to traverse this part (although the helicopter shooting at them would instill some sense of urgency), potentially with a hypothetical future option to return to this area like you can in the Mirrors Edge. I've more or less fully fleshed out the main path, the alternative paths I would love to work more on if I ever get the time - i feel like they are a bit too empty. This section is not meant to have any complicated parkour - after all I want the player to focus on the speed rather than complex movement. The blue section introduces the new parkour move - boosting off the railings for a longer jump. there are a few repetitions for the player to practice this mechanic. At the end there is an opening in the large building that's under maintenance.
The inside of the maintenance area is a set of narrow corridors, catwalks, and railings that ultimately leads to the ladder going up to the roof. The helicopter chase (and related music) ends once the player enters the maintenance area. I wanted to do a "riding an elevator in an elevator shaft" sequence here, but it ended up being out of scope. Inside those corridors there are some optional areas that player can explore, the ladder leading to the roof is hidden from the player view as they go through for the first time and can be noticed much easier on their way back from one of the dead ends. The ladder climb contains a placeholder for some narrative/worldbuilding dialogue.
This section was meant to be a "wind down" section after the chase, where the player gets to explore a little bit in a confined space and ultimately head over to the end of the mission (and in case of this project, game).
After getting to the top of the building, the player gets a nice view at the surrounding area, and at the mission end area they will also get to see additional computer screens with some narrative bits and the view on the space they have just traversed.
The playthrough video will be attached below.
Overall, I'm happy with this project. It was quite ambitious during the initial pitch, but I have scaled it down appropriately early on in the development. there were some unforeseen circumstances that still impacted the timelines, so I had to cut down some more. The gameplay implementation turned out to be the most challenging part of the project, and I wanted my level to be playable in its entirety rather than just a whitebox without any relevant gameplay. I wanted to have a player controller that would inform my level design rather than just let imagination fly with a hypothetical player controller. In that regard I have succeeded - I've spent the first few milestones developing only the controller, and after that work was done I mainly focused on the whiteboxing with most of the controller locked down from any changes (with the exception of a few bugfixes).
This was a rather brief overview of this project, if you are interested in finding out more about it or its development - feel free to contact me via any of the available channels.