Third Person RPG Dungeon Level

My RPG dungeon level was created in Unity and most of the mechanics seen in this piece were created using Sebastian Grave's Create Dark Souls in Unity series on Youtube. My main goal with this design was to study and achieve the tight narrow spaces found in the souls type games. Of course with a more broader RPG such as The Elder Scrolls or The Witcher I would still design narrow passage ways for dungeons but allow a bit more space in more encounter areas for the player to move around more freely and experiment with the fighting mechanics. without having to worry about spacing. There are a few design cues I put in this level starting off with all enemies being red, it is easy to set enemies apart from the player but in an instance where I would want to add friendly NPC's later I would keep them a seperate color so that it is easier to tell the two apart. I also added lootable chests which in this particular demo is the factor driving the player through the level and making them look around and explore more than the player would. I added the faintest blue glow to chests so they are easier to spot from a distance but you would have to look ofr it pretty closely. I wanted to do my best to make some chests more accessible than others but also giving players incentive to explore and keep a close eye to the environment.

Great Tower

The first area is the great tower and I built it out to instantly add the powering feeling that you get when you first see a tall building. I think the Souls games does this really well when first instroducing you to a level sometimes they show off a tall building that can look very intimidating. In a more traditional RPG, a tall building can signify a place of power or importance and can make the player feel like a small part in a bigger world. The way up spirals around to give a sense of dizziness and the enemies are dangerous as well as a drop if you were to roll off the edge.

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Overhead view of inside the great tower Blue lights will guide the players towards where chests lay. When starting the player will start in a narrow alley and have a few chances to get the hang of combat. On a starting level I would really draw this out more to really teach the player the mechanics. I intend the player to go after the chest that is behind the front enemy but a hidden enemy next to the door will flank the player. It is possible to slowly sneak around enemies who are sleeping but idle enemies will notice you. The main path and seperate chest paths in this section of the level.

Twisting Halls

The Twisting Halls act as a maze of enemies hiding behind any corner and a way for players to really pay attention to their surroundings. This area has many plain boxes littered through out which can be replaced with a number of objects, such like a place where there is much reorganizing or panic depending on the overall mood and flow of the level. It can present itself as a question the player can either answer in their head or find out through collectable loot as to what happened. Souls game do this all the time. I wanted to build a central hallway that echoes the power and feeling of intimidation the tower first evoked. By using tall windows in a giant hallway and adding the redish light it really adds the sense of fatigue and with the added mess of boxes everywhere, the flow of which players traverse the area and the lethal attacks from sleeping and awaiting enemies gives of a thick tension while finding your way around.

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The small bridge is a neat area where I wanted to play around with terrain and what I can do to an area that connects a bigger room to tighter hallways. The long powering hall can make you feel claustrophobic though it is important to check behind the next corner incase an enemy attacks you or wakes up from you disturbing thier sleep. I wanted players to look around each room for possible treasure. Some you will spot easily, others take a closer eye to spot but not every corner will have something. After the halls the level does open up into one more area outside that will try to worn out the player before the next big enounter. The boss of this area is not fleshed out in this demo but you can imagine that the size of this room could house something even bigger and more freightning. It resembles a bigger version of the central hallway to create a bigger sense of power that the boss has.

Bone Graveyard

The bone graveyard is the last section in this level after you defeat the boss. The interesting thing about this section is that I wanted to forshadow what sort of level may be next but creating a connection to the next level (I imagined it would be some catacombs so I built a small section of a giant graveyard which can give a strong sense of dread. There are undead bodies that can be disturbed and a few living enemies that will attack on site so it is important to not draw any more enemies while on the move or you could eaily become overwhelmed. This was a huge experiment into what I could do with terrain and I liked the idea have building dugged up graves so I went with the idea. Later iterations could add enemies popping up from the gound or teasure being left behind in unclaimed grave holes. The centerpiece of this graveyard is the central enterence into the next level. I thought about how cool it would be to fall into a giant hole made in the ground that led within the catacombs and is the start of the next level.

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The graveyard was built with the terrian system within Unity and the tombstone and tree assets were made by me. Enemies are waiting to be awoken and will attack the player on site if anyone disturbs their rest. Chests await players willing to grave rob the undead The graveyard feels huge, A design choice to mix it up from the tight hallways on the previous area. The enterence to the next level is a huge and uneasy looking sight. Down this hole there is no way back up and you are stuck in the next area.