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https://youtu.be/7gh4gBO3cVI

Project Overview

An action focused third person level inspired by Mirror’s edge.

Setting:

A closed construction site at sundown.

Narrative:

The player has broken into the construction site to bypass a protest blocking the street. They find a disturbing scene at the top and are chased out.

2D Layout:

The level is built around a series of gameplay beats starting at point 0 and ending at point 8.

2D level layout

2D level layout

Gameplay beats:

0. Entrance: The player finds a way in.

1. Playground: The player experiences a few gameplay objects in a safe space.

2. Puzzle beat: The player finds a ledge that is too high for them to jump. They use physics objects to overcome it.

3. First platforming beat: The player finds a way to cross the gap by platforming on building supports. It ends with a ‘soft’ checkpoint.

4. Second platforming beat: The player faces a tougher platforming beat and enters the building.

5. Exploration beat: The player looks for a way out of the building, exploring the empty floors, here they are presented with multiple routes.

6. Narrative beat: The player enters the rooftop, where they trigger a narrative beat that triggers a chase.

7. Chase beat: The player is chased out of the building, having to use their platforming and knowledge of the space to travel towards the exit before being caught or hurt.

8. Exit: The player exits the level.

Design process

I started by playing around with the default third person scene in Unreal 5. It has a few platforms and a few solid blue cubes that are physics objects. I found it fun to try to use the physics cubes as platforms to traverse the space because they felt slightly unstable and presented an interesting challenge. I decided to build a level around this.