Fan-made Level Blockout
Overview
As a personal challenge, I decided to create a level for Supergiant's roguelike dungeon crawler, 'Hades'.
Using Unreal Engine 4, I created an area set in 'Tartarus', the first section of Hades.
This area includes specific traps, enemies and layouts that teach the player to cast and dash effectively, giving them space to feel comfortable with the mechanics.
Research
I started this project by researching levels in 'Hades', specifically in the Tartarus area, to see how they flow, what makes them visually interesting, and how they're structured around player combat and movement.
I noticed the many 90 degree angle corners that are prevalent in Tartarus, creating a chaotic, jagged environment to fit the lower-class area of the underworld and it's inhabitants. These corners subtly guide the player towards the central body of areas or a subsequent area.
Tartarus rooms have either one or two open spaces, often divided by a "choke point" that divides the space and can create intense gameplay moments by restricting the space in which the player can move.
Finally, pillars and traps are employed in these rooms to keep the player moving, and allows them to hide from enemies and use the environment to their advantage
creating the layout
1. I began planning the layout of this level based around a central set piece - an elaborate pond for the local residents of Tartarus to fish from the Styx's water (that also serves as a potential fishing spot!)
I wanted this set piece to break the area up into separate platforms that the player must dash between to traverse that section of the room.
2. I began to map out the rest of the level based around the pond, initially the layout included a second room on the right, separated by a narrow choke point, but I removed this area as it took focus away from the pond.
3. Removing the right-hand section gave the space a clear central focus and clarified the flow of the area - the player must now "dance" around the pond to reach enemies or avoid their attacks. I felt that teaching the player to quickly dash around rooms is very important (as well as fun!) The area is also shaped to guide the player towards the right-hand side as they enter, past the first pillar and towards the walkway above the pond and the exit doors. Now that the area was defined, I began to plan enemy placements, with different variants of waves based on difficulty.
4. I redrew the level design in Adobe Photoshop to ensure correct proportions, as Hades' levels are essentially tile maps consisting of 1x1 squares.
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Creating the blockout
Beginning with the floor, I began to block out the level using Unreal Engine 4 based on my diagrams. I used tile-like cubes for the floor to replicate a tile map - this would be inefficient, messy and impractical in a true game environment, however as a simple level design prototype it works.
The next step in defining the space was the outer walls. I believe it's important to build a space from the outwards in - this way you'll be able to tell if it becomes too cramped or confusing before it's too late.
Once the main walls were built, I began implementing the pillars and traps - too many pillars and the viewport becomes obstructed, too many traps and the player loses freedom in the ability to traverse the space. It's important to consider balance when adding obstacles such as these, as lack in care may lead to player frustration.
Now that I had a clear space set out in-engine, I could look for areas of the level that appeared too empty or dull. I added orange boxes that would define the area where vases of gold would be, and created column assets that I placed on corners and walls to increase visual complexity. I also added an "altar" that may appear in the game. At this point the blockout was complete.
Solo Project | Created in 3 days
Unreal Engine | Blueprint Visual Scripting
enemy types
I mapped enemy placements based on three difficulties - Easy, Medium and Hard. All three of these waves are designed to encourage frequent dashing, casting and a constant pace.
Easy
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2 Thugs
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8 Numbskulls
The Easy difficulty has Thugs on the right side of the level, between the two pillar, and Numbskulls mostly placed on the right side. Thugs are large, tank enemies that cause moderate damage to the player up-close. The player will have to try to avoid the area where the Thugs are, and this drives them toward the centrepiece. Numbskulls slowly float towards the player, meaning you cannot remain in the same place for long unless you can handle being overwhelmed.
Medium
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4 Skullomats
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2 Brimstones
Skullomats spawn numbskulls until they are destroyed - the player must dash through the map and destroy these enemies as fast as possible, further encouraging dashing and a constant speed. Brimstones fire beams at the player, forcing them to keep constant movement. This intensifies the difficulty of the level, and further emphasises the level's design in keeping the player moving.
Hard
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16 Numbskulls
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2 Brimstones
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2 Wringers
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2 Pests
The Hard difficulty puts the player's movement ability to the test, bringing in 4 enemy types that keep the player moving, but also challenging their ability to tactically eliminate or dodge these threats.
Numbskulls and Brimstones work functionally similar to the previous difficulties but their placements have changed in the context of the new enemies. Pests throw Area-of-Effect bombs towards the player, forcing them to flee an area to avoid strong damage. Wringers can "catch" the player, incapacitating them for a short amount of time and allowing other enemies to inflict lots of damage. This challenges the player's ability to use both precision and speed whilst prioritising certain enemies to take out first.
scripting
Without Hades' game engine and mechanics, it's difficult to truly gauge how the level would play out. To help get a feel for the movement, dashing and combat, I created simple blueprints to replicate these mechanics.
The Movement is a very simple movement input, that recreates the movement of Hades in a basic manner, and corresponds with the isometric camera angle.
The Dash mechanic propels the player forward in an instant, and can be used to traverse over gaps and pass through obstacles such as pillars. I closely recreated this logic using blueprints, as the Dash mechanic lies at the heart of this level's design.
The enemies are static, and do not attack, but the player can "kill" them by approaching and pressing the left mouse button. The lack of enemy movement and attacks makes it difficult to assess the effectiveness of the level design, however it is better than nothing.
"styx fishing spot"
final product!