The Facility

Jordan Cordina

Level Designer

Genre: Stealth (First-person)
Players: Singleplayer
Platform: PC
Status: Released prototype

Contributions

Position: Level Designer
Team Size: Solo
Using: Unreal Engine 4
Duration: 3 months

👉Responsibilities

Sole designer from concept to final blockout
Utilised visual scripting for events and story beats
Applied architectural techniques and psychology to the level geometry to guide players
Iterated and evolved level over seven stages based on player feedback

Gameplay Summary

The Facility concept was a first-person stealth-action game, with a low-tech 60's spy films theme
Level is linear and low-action, featuring multiple stealth routes
The player starts without equipment, forcing them to rely on stealth
The mission is to covertly infiltrate 'The Facility', using tall grass to stay hidden

📝Contents

🎯Design Goals

From an early stage my design goals for the blockout were:

Encouraging player movement solely through environmental cues
Creating a sense of mystery as players unravel the Facility's purpose
Building tension to enhance the danger and make payoffs feel great
Introducing the crouching and stealth mechanic to players

🔍Level Overview

Level features exploration and stealth sections
Story beats and scripted events feature heavily in the first half
Architectural techniques used to increase impact of level beats
Stealth section features risk and rewards routes

🏖️The Beach - Technique Breakdown

Environmental cues lead the players attention towards the next story beat. Level geometry blocks view of distant and nearby boat.

A view of a distant ship and a scripted tugboat moving from right to left, guiding players to the next view.

A second view is blocked by geometry, revealing a switchback route when turning around. Light guides the player to the next area.

☢️The Cave - Technique Breakdown

Lighting implies a false path ahead. Instead the floor collapses, breaking player expectation and building tension. The pickaxe and nuclear crystal-story beat also hint at the sinister purpose behind the facility.

The player is forced to reorient themselves and find the way forward. The shape and properties of the environment funnel the player towards the exit.

Small tunnel requires crouching to enter. Gunshot audio creates a sense of danger that builds tension further. The tight space contrasts with the open view that follows, increasing the vista's emotional impact.

🏝️The Cove - Technique Breakdown

An elevated vista gives players an overview of the cove area, offering a choice of high and low-risk routes. The view is made more emotionally impactful from design techniques set up in prior areas.

The route on the left of the vista branches, offering multiple lower-risk paths, with environmental storytelling visible along the route.

The beachside route to the right is the quickest but riskiest route to the facility, rewarding skilled players.

A hidden route behind a building can be discovered when travelling one of the low-risk paths. Environmental cues link it to the facility and invite players to explore it.

A final vista is offered atop the facility steps, rewarding players with a view of the challenge they overcame before moving onto the next part of the level.

🔄Iterations

🏖️Beach

Initial beach: Arch silhouette drew attention • cave appeared as deadend
Final beach: Driftwood points player towards cave • raised sand in cave hints that path continues inside

☢️Cave

Initial cave: Built anticipation • uninteresting transition space • lack of backgating
Final cave: Collapsing path blocks backtracking • environment gives narrative hints • exit tunnel teaches crouch

🏝️Cove

Initial cove: Destination unclear • too much emphasis on boat • lack of story beats
Mid cove: Linear route • emphasised firing range • facility not clear enough • raised ground obstructed view
Final cove: Multiple points of interest • POIs emphasised • clear silhouette and contrast for factory • multiple routes

🪞Reflections

📝Were design goals met?

✅ Guiding and encouraging movement via environment

Player movement encouraged via environmental guideposts
Lighting and level geometry successfully guided players in playtests
Iteration and playtesting helped refine layout

✅ Building tension and creating payoff moments

Tension built through scripted events and audio
Payoff achieved by obscuring + revealing views
High risk, high reward stealth route available

✅ Creating a sense of mystery

Sense of mystery created through environmental cues
Scripted enemy text hints at a darker purpose

✅ Introducing the stealth mechanic

Engagement with crouching required to progress
Crouch segment preceeds stealth section
Players could plan their route from the first vista
Low-risk route features hard cover
High-risk route dead ahead, promoting level reset
Exploration is rewarded with a hidden route

🏆Successes

Deep-diving architectural techniques while iterating on the Facility's design set me up for success, as this is what players felt I got right. These techniques built a sense of mystery, discovery and grandeur, and I found the more I leaned into them, the more effortless and fun player navigation became. Setting up scripted events - which I'd not used as extensively before - also proved rewarding, making the blockout's flow easier to visualise.

📍Pain Points and Improvements

After improving navigation, players said the level's beats came too quickly. By slightly extending the cave section, foreshadowing the path collapse and breaking it up with a choice of routes, tension would have room to rise naturally. This could improve pacing and payoff, giving players more room to breathe.

In the cove, some players didn't see the building as a point of interest from the first vista. I'd adjust the trees around it to improve visibility, and would ground it with some grass in front of the wall.

Additonal scripting would also improve balancing stealth routes - the enemies move on a set path without a 'detection' mechanism, which I'd add in future stealth projects to get timings just right.

✨Key Takeaways

Rapid iteration and quick feedback early on is key
Intuitive navigation frees the player to focus on the fun
Architecture and level design theory shapes space with purpose
Scripted events improve visualisation and should be used often
Incorporate scale from the start, and plan pacing with metrics in mind