Capitol Palace
A Third Person Adventure
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Introduction
My wish with this project was to create a storydriven, stealth based level with grandiose architectural elements.
I wanted to fuse the level design with the cityscape to create fun and interesting paths to traverse the city.
Elevator Pitch
A kingdom and its princess, the king and his advisor. Only one can sit upon the throne
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Individual solo project spanning 10 weeks of work halftime.
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Focus on creating an experience that encompasses multiple concepts of creativity
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Made by using Unreal Engine and Blender
Note:
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All scripts are made by me.
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All content is made by me with exemption of the following:
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Realistic Starter VFX Pack
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Landscape Backgrounds
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Horse Starter Kit
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Mixamo Animations
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Cutscene music
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Summary
Playthrough video with commentary
Overview
Top Down
Level Flowchart
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1. Sneak past the harbour guards
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4. Find a way up to the rooftops
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2. Marvel in the view of the city
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5. Find a way in to the upper District
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7. Investigate possible routes forwards
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8. Avoid getting seen by the airship
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3. Sneak through The Lower District
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6. Climb the walls
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9. Enter the sewers
Design Techniques
Funnel Before Reveal &
Establishing Shot
The path leading up to the vantage point from where the palace and city is visible, is partially obstructed. This is meant to enhance the visual impact by funneling the player before the reveal.
The vantage point also serves as the lookout spot for an establishing shot to signify the player's goals.
Bait & Switch
The vantage point looking out over the city also serves as the bait in a bait and switch.
Once the player has reached the vantage point there is no way forward.
As the player turns around, the new path forward is revealed. The player can now pick up the trail and continue.
Now the player has turned 180 degrees and is rewarded with a sense of acomplishment due to proggression.
Prospect & Refuge
The level is split in two vertical halves. The lower street level and the top half comprising rooftops and facade ledges.
The rooftops makes the player feel advantageous and secure. The top half therefore has both high prospect and refuge.
Here the player can relax and breathe after the previous stealth encounter.
Leading the player with movement, light & music
Movement attracts the eye and guides the player in the right direction. The birds swooping down, the trucks and the rolling tire all have this purpose.
Lights and lanterns function as breadcrumbs and subconsciously lead the player in the right direction. With the powerfully lit palace as the final goal, the player is constantly moving towards the light.
Music can be heard and functions as a clue of where to go. The attentive player is rewarded by paying attention to the cheerful music.
Hourglass
The level oscillates between open and cramped, high and low spaces in an hourglass design. This pattern becomes familiar to the player which instils confidence.
This concept of safety atop the rooftops is however broken with the introduction of the airship, which in turn introduces a new gameplay beat in the form of a puzzle.
Landmarks
Landmarks are placed throughout the city which helps the player navigate.
The landmarks also provide the player with grandiose views and vistas.
As the palace is the player's main goal it also funtions as a motivator, perched atop a hill, it screams challenge.
Narrative & Worldbuilding
The importance of emotion
Story Synopsis
Anchoring the experience in emotion is the most fun, and to me personally, the most important part in creative work. With a story you can make the player care, which is why I have chosen to include one.
The narrative beats are presented in the following order:
After the murder of his daughter, the king/emperor withdrew from the affairs of state, leaving his most trusted advisor, the Grand vizier in charge. Unknowingly to the King however, the advisor is responsible for the murder of the princess. Now years later the Grand Vizier is in the final stages of a Coup d'etat. However the princess is not dead... and she has just arrived in the city.
1. Introduction (Ki)
The player arrives at a harbour in the slums of the city. Sewer drains are visible throughout the level to foreshadow what is to come. The sewers is a very dangerous place and must be avoided at all costs.
2. Development (Sho)
As the player reaches the rooftops of the upper district, they are confronted by the enemy, and forced down in the sewers. These turn of events were foreshadowed yet unexpected.
3. Twist (Ten)
A story is only as good as its villain. My wish was to raise tension by introducing a new and more dangerous type of enemy.
The backstory explains that the kingdom has been plagued by a secret terrorist order, responsible for the supposed murder of the princess. In the absence of the mournful king, his advisor institutes a Death Squad. A powerful elite unit of mysterious warriors to hunt down the terrorists.
Suspicion arises when the princesses companion informs the player, in dialog, that the terrorist order was defeated the same year as the Death Squad was formed. The player then deduces that the Death Squad is in fact the terrorist organisation in disguise. The players will to destroy the enemy is hence elevated.
4. Conclusion (Ketsu)
Lastly, the player reaches the palace and the main antagonist for the final duel. The Coup d´etat is stopped and the player is celebrated as a hero of the realm.
Play me with sound
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Architecture
The aesthetics and beauty of architecture is a quality that humans strive for and enjoy. To elevate the level, I chose to incorporate aschitectural elements in the design.
I wanted to create a cityscape that felt realistic yet grandiose, which would both serve as the basis for a fantastical and somewhat over the top experience as well as a fun and interesting level design.
Working with real life references, copying scale and design to achieve elements of realism is both challenging and fun, but also extremely useful.
Reference: Uppsala Domkyrka
Environment Storytelling
The following is a good example of environmental storytelling, that flows in line with the theme of the worldbuilding.
The statue depicts a human holding a sword to indicate a warrior status.
The warrior is also pointing in the direction of the enemy nations.
Lastly, the warriors foot rests upon a globe which indicates the nations historical ambition to rule the world.
Production
Sketching
Drawing sketches of the concept, the level and the architecture proved very useful in this project.
I sketch both topdowns as well as three dimensional. The ability to visualise my thoughts and ideas in a constructive manner comes in handy. Both to aid me in my work as well as others.
Process of realisation
Sketching and planing out the level beforehand makes the blockout stage easier, and much faster, which is one of the reasons why I felt that the scale of the level was possible.
To me, it’s all about vision and the process of realisation. Employing every skill and asset in order to come as close as possible to the intended goal.
Above: The proggression of the tavern.
You never now what is going to happen, what unexpected opportunities might appear once the blockout process has been started.
I always start, however, by trying to imagine my work, creating a mental image before proceeding.
To the left: The proggression of the rooftops.
Airship
Absolutley obsessed with anything mechanical that flies, airships is one of my all time favourite aircrafts.
Heavily inspired by the works of Hiyo Miyazaki, I could not stop my self from creating the airships featured in this project.
One of the things I like the most is taking something from the drawing board and implementing both the concept as well as the idea behind it.
Reflections
To list all the things I would’ve done differently if I could redo this project from the start would take too long. But to summarize the most important, I would name these three things; iteration, scale and feedback.
Iteration
I would have scoped differently, putting more effort into planning, since this work was meant to be presented, not only as a result but also the process leading up to that result.
Most creative work is not something you get right on the first try, it needs to be reworked time and time again. Therefore, I would have built the level differently to leave room for iteration, so that I could present at least one segment that reached a higher level of polish than what was presented here.
Feedback
These past few months, I have gotten to know some incredibly talented people. A big mistake that I made was not asking for enough feedback from all of these people.
I feel I that more of time should have been diverted to feedback opportunities. Hence the full value of the iterative process has not been fully utilized.
Scale
One of the most challenging difficulties in this project was finding a balance between the grandiose scale of the city and a scale that made sense to the player.
The scale resulted in some areas that did not achieve the adequate amount of polish. Therefore, an alternative way of presenting this level would have been a smaller, more polished segment with a more iterative process behind it.
However, I chose not to, and focused both on my sketching, storyboarding, cutscenes and Blender meshes to show something else.
Conclusion
My main goal however, was never a fully polished level, but to give a sense of who I am and what I like. I am fairly satisfied with the result. Some things such as the cutscenes, the mood of the city, the worldbuilding concept and the implementation of level design principles is good. However, the player path, the lack of polish and overall gameplay is something that I need to refine.
Overall the level leaves much to be wanted but has the potential to become something great. Finally, to anyone still reading this, I thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely, Joel Reyes.