Andreas Paleologos
Level Designer
INTRODUCTION_INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION_INTRODUCTION
ROLE: Vision Holder / Level Designer
GENRE: First Person Shooter
STYLE: 50's - 80's Mix
RELEASE: PC
ENGINE: UNITY
DEVELOPMENT: 8 Weeks
GREED is a Low Poly, corridor FPS set in the 50's where a casino heist goes south and you must escape. Gamble you're way out with playing games for buffs, arming yourself with a plethora of weaponry and using the unique types of ammo to fight your way out!
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You're the guest of honour, and the owners wont let you leave
PRE-PRODUCTION_PRE-PRODUCTION
PRE-PRODUCTION_PRE-PRODUCTION
Pre Production
During prod. of GREED, I was tasked as its Vision Holder and Lead Level Designer.
This was the first time I was in charge of a team, we had 2 programmers, 4 artists and 2 designers. This was a game idea I had roughly created before production and after getting a team, we then started to flesh out how the game would become.
Soon after the design document was completed, I went straight to work on the level and its contents, feel, theme, atmosphere etc. This is some examples of sketch designs of rooms.
(01)
Extension 1
3 part extension of the floor plan, connected into pokies, roulette and the secret dev room which was originally the bigger room above the middle room here
This level concept was based off the look and structure of 50's era casinos, the decorations, machines, furniture were all in this style. Keeping this in mind, much of my sketches used these elements together to create concepts for rooms, paths and encounters.
First Skecth
(01)
Entrance / Main Foyer
The first hazard the player approaches is a acid pool, a neat way I incorporated showing this is merging the background glowing pool into the foreground level
(03)
Merging background into foreground
The first hazard the player approaches is a acid pool, a neat way I incorporated showing this is merging the background glowing pool into the foreground level
(05)
Pokies / Bar
The first hazard the player approaches is a acid pool, a neat way I incorporated showing this is merging the background glowing pool into the foreground level
(02)
Merging background into foreground
The first hazard the player approaches is a acid pool, a neat way I incorporated showing this is merging the background glowing pool into the foreground level
(04)
VIP Lounge
The first hazard the player approaches is a acid pool, a neat way I incorporated showing this is merging the background glowing pool into the foreground level
(06)
Merging background into foreground
The first hazard the player approaches is a acid pool, a neat way I incorporated showing this is merging the background glowing pool into the foreground level
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Production
As pre-production finished and Production rolled in, work was started in-engine to create the greybox for the player mechanics and make the outline from the planning. I usually start my levels by getting an image of the whole level sketch and then using a modelling tool such as probuilder to quickly make the surrounding playable areas. I also used probuilder to mock up assets like the machines, furniture and decorations as reference for the artists.
As the floor plans were being created, I also took the liberty to adjust and redesign some areas that felt had missing elements to the design such as the leadup to the last area.
The level design itself was a mix of corridor shooter / arena inspiration from games like doom so areas were mixed with safe zones in hallways with arena rooms for combat. The development of the greybox was fairly quick considering the size and timeframe we had for production. After basic mechanics were implemented I tested the area size, potential spawns for enemies, decoration placement and when everything felt it had reached a good testing point we used that as the first build to show of our development during sprint meeting
(02)
Orthographic angle of level
The first hazard the player approaches is a acid pool, a neat way I incorporated showing this is merging the background glowing pool into the foreground level
(01)
Birds eye view of level
The first hazard the player approaches is a acid pool, a neat way I incorporated showing this is merging the background glowing pool into the foreground level
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Production Cont.
As development progressed, complications arised through production on certain mechanics and systems, one in particular was the Blackjack Minigame.
The minigame mechanic was tied into the gameplay loop of the vertical slice where players before entering the level would play a game of blackjack. Winning would reward a buff and losing would give a negative effect, this was in favour to add a swing into the casino theme of the game and create fresh game loop.
This turned out to be the biggest anchor to the project, so much so that it brought other departments behind in polish to try and achieve the mechanic to work. This was a fault on my behalf, the mechanic was too far through development and as the lead designer and vision holder, I should have halted the progress to cut the weight so the game could polish in other areas.
As much as it is a mistake I made, it was my greatest lesson. It taught me to be confrontational, speak the truth of something and I've since carried that same acknowledgement into future projects.
(01)
Pokies Room
The Pokies Room, a hallway of machines with a cashier booth in the middle with a illuminating light to guide the player into a surprise attack by the staff of the casino.
(02)
Aesthetics
Out of all my projects worked on in study, GREED has to be my most favourite for the level and aesthetic. It was my most detailed low poly level I crafted within a short amount of time and still proud of the efforts that went into it
(04)
Boss Room
A massive arena room with elevation and little cover, this was the last area where the player would fight the boss "Ace Of Spades".
(03)
VIP Room
This was a larger circular room with a POI middle piece and open space for gunfights. The VIP room initially had plans for a key or collectable that would open up the last area that would lead to the boss, taking a page out of doom's horseshoe level design with exploration and backtracking within a condensed level system.
(05)
Bar / Lounge
A aesthetically nice looking area, the Bar / Lounge had a lot to display with furniture, a whole bar the length of the room, pool tables, booths and other small additions to the room that made it feel groovy to the theme but also a tight fighting area with the tables in the middle.
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Behind The Scenes
All of this effort combined created the look, style and feel that is displayed within GREED. How it came together was through clear communication within the Design and Art Departments, consistent follow through with pipelines and schedules, acknowledgement of any issues or problems within development and planning ahead to resolve roadblocks.
On the topic of how GREED looks, this was some of the behind the scenes of the level material during production. This is a collection of a few photos that had early concepts, ideas, designs and scrapped content.
(02)
Asset Dump
A look into the range of assets the talented artists created during production of GREED. This was to import them in and adjust the scale to fit accordingly
(01)
Extension 1
3 part extension of the floor plan, connected into pokies, roulette and the secret dev room which was originally the bigger room above the middle room here
(03)
Extension 2
Another unused space, picture (03) in the first sketches actually has this and the other unused rooms in the plan however these were stretch goals.
(04)
Secret Room
Throughout the level, the player can come across paintings, one however is breakable and reveals a secret room with all the developers. Its just really zoomed in closeups of us.