My individual projects that I feel show what kind of designer I am.
Shows my Level art, environment art and open world level design:
My individual projects that I feel show what kind of designer I am.
Shows my Level art, environment art and open world level design:
My individual projects that I feel show what kind of designer I am.
Shows my Level art, environment art and open world level design:
My individual projects that I feel show what kind of designer I am.
Shows my Level art, environment art and open world level design:
LEVEL DESIGNER & LEVEL ARTIST
Table of Contents
What kind of game is The Forest
As the lone survivor of a passenger jet crash, you find yourself in a
mysterious forest battling to stay alive against a society of cannibalistic mutants. Build,
explore, survive in this terrifying first-person survival horror game.
Essentially, The Forest is a sandbox open-world exploration game where you build
camps and explore caves to solve the great mystery of the Island. I decided to remake
this Island with my own level design because the game inspired me, and I saw many flaws in the game's environments and level design.
My Goal
I wanted to create a personalized version of The Forest that had a completely redesigned map, as well as a multitude of new landmarks and points of interest. In addition to this, I felt that the caves desperately needed a redesign in terms of visuals and also the functions of the story elements found within. In addition to this, the laboratory also received a complete redesign.
The Forest Project
The Forest Project one of my individual Project I made in class when going to TGA. The Project is a non official re-creation of the open world from the game The Forest.
Above ground (Open world design)
A collection of open environments that are fully detailed and constructed by hand.
The Island from above
The level comprises of a 4x4 km Island. Nearly all of the land visible is accessible and detailed. The map is filled with points of interest that are heavily based on the base game. Areas such as the abounded camps and destroyed structures have been revised and re-placed in the new terrain.
Key
A simple topographic map displaying the elevation changes as well as the cave locations. The darker colored terrain displays the height while the gray and white areas are the extremely mountainous areas.
Red : High Combat ( Dense Forest )
Green : Normal Combat ( Forest )
Yellow : Low combat ( Forest )
Blue : Winter area, High Combat and Item lock ( snow )
Black : Mountain, unreachable
Overview With Zones
The zones have been strategically placed, allowing the player to be subtly guided towards certain areas, but also giving them free choice. For example, the caves can be found along pathways, but the player always has the option to seek other objectives that fit their own playstyle.
Open-World Level Design
A picture of how the big open world if filled with level design as well. Here we have a picture of how the terrain in the foreground point the attention to the mountain in the background.
On this mountain top you find the next clue of the story and also a way down in the caves. That fits in with the progression.
Points of interests
Areas like abandoned camps and shipwrecks can be found throughout the Island.
How the sculpting of the terrain looked
Hidden start quest (optional)
In the game you wake up at the plane crash and have a book that helps you start, the book is like a quest tab and gives you a quest to build a camp and campfire. In this quest book, I would add a quest that says to find the other part of the plane
(cockpit) because the plane was broken in two when it crashed.
When I first played The Forest, I was slightly disappointed that finding the missing section of the plane yielded nearly no new plot points or developments. However, in my version, I have it so if you find the cockpit (simply walk the way the wreck is pointing or follow the scrap) you can find a trail of debris leading to a cave. After following the trail, the player gets introduced to the enemies of the game in a small encounter and is able to find basic gear, such as a flashlight, compass, and map to get you started in the world.
The Underground (level design)
The caves are an expansive network of tunnels placed under the main island that the enemies inhabit. They also function as loot zones (dungeons) and are the only place you can find story/clues for the story. Special loot like flashlights and maps can also be found here, but players should expect high resistance from enemies.
Caves Overview
When making the caves I redistributed the equipment from the base game, as many of the items are a part of an item-specific area. For example, the player needs access to the rebreather in order to traverse flooded underground areas. Because of this item requirement, there are different 'levels' of cave areas, that scale in difficulty with the tools you need to successfully explore them. The Initial caves are not only meant as a tutorial for these game systems, but also to give the player the necessary equipment to get started within the game.
Showing Environmental storytelling
In the caves, there are many unique stories. For example, the shipwreck survivors quickly turned on each other after facing continual hardships and a struggle for power within their group.
Lighting
Hera are a few picture of the the lighting in the caves, The assets are only in a Whitebox level but lighting is gold level.
When making the city I wanted to create a blend of functionality and realism. I think I achieved that with the city's design. It looks realistic in its layout yet still feels great to travel in.
When making the city I wanted to create a blend of functionality and realism. I think I achieved that with the city's design. It looks realistic in its layout yet still feels great to travel in.
When making the city I wanted to create a blend of functionality and realism. I think I achieved that with the city's design. It looks realistic in its layout yet still feels great to travel in.
Videos
Some clips showing angles and views from the caves.
Loot spawns
How the loot was is placed. Here you see where you find the axe and the flashlight.
The Lab (linear level design)
The end-game environment packed with story.
The lab is accessible at the end of the game, and only after acquiring the necessary equipment from the caves. When you get in the lab you only have a few hours of the game left and will have to fight many enemies and finally a boss. Located below is a quick overview of the lab.
In the end game, you finish the story, You find your son and uncover the lab and backstory. You find out that the owner of the lab lost his daughter and wants to use an artifact ( the thing that made the monster of the island ) to get her back. With the life of your own son, he would revive his daughter but he was stopped. The boss is the daughter being mutated after years of experiments.
Picture of the boss room, Notice the red barrels as explosive for the boss to attack in to. The small object in the sun is the daughter. Playing in the only sun she sees down in the lab.
Picture of the lobby.
A area that the players returns to between looting and fighting. Made unique with the only full grown tree down in the lab.
Picture of the room where you turn on the power. When you turn on the power a second path lights up.
Also turns on the elevator that makes it possible for the player to advance.
Confusion
In the start when you find the lab you don't know what it is. The first sign you see is a red hearing,
a symbol of religion. Then only to be boxes. Trying to give the player the idea that this is a new chapter of the game. Where something unknown awaits.
My goal was to recreate the map from The Forest and redo the level design and art. While the visuals and asset quality isn't as refined as the base game, I think the landscape is better shaped and provides a good combination of looks and functionality.