Stack-O-Bot

In the Stack-O-Bot project, I designed and prototyped a third-person adventure level in Unreal Engine 5. To accomplish this, I used the project’s base assets alongside custom landscapes, foliage and additional resources from the Unreal Marketplace and Quixel Bridge. I created a detailed Game Design Document during it's development and iteratively refined gameplay elements based on feedback from multiple playtests. This helped to ensure a balanced player experience and well-paced difficulty progression.

The level design incorporated meaningful choices and obstacles of increasing complexity. Encouraging players to use the available character actions, such as the jetpack, in creative ways to overcome challenges. By carefully designing these obstacles and providing rewarding solutions, I crafted a gameplay experience that offered players the freedom to approach the level in different ways. All to ultimately guide them toward achieving the defined win conditions.

Role & Responsibilities

Third-Person Adventure Design: Designed and prototyped a third-person adventure level using base assets, custom landscapes, and resources from the Unreal Marketplace and Quixel Bridge.
Jetpack Mechanic Integration: Crafted gameplay elements and obstacles requiring creative solutions, incorporating the player’s jetpack mechanic for dynamic movement.
Encouraging Exploration: Designed the level to support multiple approaches, encouraging players to explore and think creatively to solve obstacles and reach the win conditions.
Custom Asset Implementation: Utilized a mix of custom and marketplace assets to create a visually appealing, immersive environment that fit the gameplay's needs.

Design Decisions

Initial Concept:

My initial concept for this project centered around creating a level that balanced exploration with decision making, multiple paths and strategic action. Encouraging players to think creatively when overcoming obstacles and the type of challenge they wanted to experience. The concept was to provide a sense of progression by introducing increasingly complex challenges that would require the player to use the jetpack mechanic in innovative ways. Additionally, I envisioned a level that offered different solutions to obstacles. Giving players the freedom to approach challenges in their own way while guiding them towards the defined win conditions. The level design also focused on providing rewarding moments for overcoming these challenges by the use of collectable energy orbs. This helped create a sense of accomplishment and player agency.

Core Gameplay & Mechanics:

Exploration and Puzzle-Solving: The level focused on exploration, obstacle navigation, and puzzle-solving, incorporating the Jetpack mechanic for vertical traversal and energy orbs for rewarding exploration.
Dynamic Obstacles: Used moving pillars, fans, and moving platforms to create timing-based challenges, requiring careful navigation and precise movement to avoid hazards.
Progression Mechanics: Integrated pressure plates and buttons as key triggers for progression, allowing the player to interact with the environment and solve puzzles to advance.
Environmental Interaction: Encouraged creative problem-solving by utilizing both environmental puzzles and platforming mechanics, promoting engagement with the level’s design.

Level Design:

Progressive Complexity: The level is structured to gradually introduce mechanics, starting with Scene 1’s tutorial phase, where players learn basic interactions and are rewarded with Energy Orbs for exploration.
Meaningful Choices: In Scene 2, players face a choice between two paths—one easier and the other more challenging, with the harder path offering greater rewards in Energy Orbs. This introduces a risk-and-reward dynamic.
Verticality and New Obstacles: Scene 3 ramps up difficulty with vertical challenges like elevators and fans, testing players’ timing and precision as they make their way to the final platform.
Replayability and Engagement: The inclusion of collectible Energy Orbs, the ability to backtrack, and the choices between paths adds replayability, encourages thorough exploration, and keeps the gameplay engaging and dynamic.

Challenges & Solutions

1. Difficulty Balancing

Challenge: Balancing the difficulty throughout the level was a constant consideration. All of the assets and obstacles needed to introduce new mechanics while not overwhelming the player. I had to ensure the player understood the basics without making the level too easy or too challenging.
Solution: I designed the level with an increasing difficulty curve that paced the obstacles and introduced new mechanics at a steady rate. In Scene 1, simple obstacles and collectable energy orbs served as a gentle introduction. As the player advanced, the level incorporated more complex challenges like the moving platforms, fans and pressure plates. Requiring greater precision and strategy. The combination of strategic placement of obstacles and gradual difficulty progression ensured the player was both challenged and engaged throughout the level.

2. Pathway Choice

Challenge: I wanted to give players the option to choose between two distinct paths. One being easier, while the other offered more challenge and additional energy orbs as rewards. The challenge was ensuring both paths felt meaningful and that the player felt their decision had weight.
Solution: I designed the easier path with fewer obstacles, while the more difficult path introduced moving platforms and complex pressure plate setups. This created a higher-risk, higher-reward scenario that encouraged exploration but without making it feel discouraging. The player could clearly see the difference before choosing as well, and chose based on their preferred playstyle.

3. Replayability

Challenge: I wanted to incorporate the Energy Orbs throughout the level, encouraging players to explore and collect. The challenge was ensuring the orbs felt like an optional challenge without distracting too much from the main gameplay experience.
Solution: I created two distinct paths with one more difficult but more rewarding, and the other easier with fewer rewards. The energy orbs were strategically placed to signal which path offered more, incentivizing players to eventually try both. The harder path was intentionally designed to be difficult to backtrack through, meaning players would need to restart the game to fully experience both pathways. This decision reinforced the notion of meaningful choice, where players could either challenge themselves with a riskier path or take the easier route. This also encouraged replayability by rewarding players for exploring both routes across separate playthroughs.

4. Consistent Scenes & Flow

Challenge: Maintaining a seamless transition between the three scenes was essential to keep the pacing intact. I needed to ensure the level flow felt natural while transitioning from one set of obstacles to the next.
Solution: I used mechanics like the moving platforms and pressure plates to help guide the player from one section to the next. By maintaining consistent visual themes and creating logical progressions in the level design, I ensured the player felt like they were advancing naturally instead of jumping between disjointed areas.

Narrative

Character Motivation: The story centers around Bot 62, an aspiring adventurer inspired by the legendary Bot 21, whose mythical accomplishments in the multi-versal plane have made them a symbol of greatness.
Goal and Symbolism: Bot 62 enters a challenging obstacle course to prove themselves worthy of legendary status, aiming to complete the course and stand atop the statue of Bot 21, symbolizing their growth and determination.
Personal Journey: The level becomes not just a physical test of skill but a metaphorical journey for Bot 62, representing their rise to greatness and pursuit of their dreams amidst increasing challenges.
Narrative Integration: The narrative adds depth to the gameplay, offering a sense of purpose and emotional investment as players progress through the course and reflect Bot 62’s growth and aspirations.

Tools & Techniques Used

Unreal Engine 5 – Primary tool for level design, asset placement and gameplay mechanic implementation.
Unreal's Landscape Tool – Used for creating custom terrains, helping to shape the verticality, flow and aesthetic of the level overall.
Trigger Volumes – Implemented to activate objects and mechanics like doors, fans and pressure plates based on player proximity or interaction. Ensuring an engaging level progression.
Iterative Playtesting - Conducted multiple rounds of personal playtesting to refine the gameplay balance. As well as identify frustration points and adjust difficulty to ensure an enjoyable player experience.

Lessons Learned

Balancing Difficulty and Reward: I learned how to effectively balance difficulty and reward, particularly through the two distinct paths, which offered players meaningful choices and catered to different playstyles.
Environmental Design: I gained a deeper understanding of using environmental design, such as verticality and obstacle placement, to create a sense of progression and variety throughout the level.
Playtesting and Pacing: Playtesting played a crucial role in refining the level’s pacing, ensuring a smooth flow from start to finish, free from frustrations or bugs.
Enhancing Player Engagement: I learned how to improve player engagement by strategically incorporating challenging obstacles, such as moving platforms, pressure plates, and fans, making the level dynamic yet fair.

One of the main aspects I learned when creating this level was the importance of the balance between difficulty and reward. Especially with the two distinct travel paths, which provided players with meaningful choices that catered to different playstyles. I also gained a deeper understanding of how to use environmental design. Such as verticality and obstacle placement, to create a sense of progression and variety. Playtesting was critical in refining the pacing and ensuring that the level flowed smoothly from start to finish without any frustrations or bugs. Additionally, I learned how to improve player engagement by strategically using challenging obstacles like the moving platforms in mid-air, pressure plates and fans. These lessons helped me create a level that felt rewarding and dynamic, yet also offering a challenge for players that wanted one.