Villa
INTRODUCTION
PROJECT DETAILS
Villa is a Left 4 Dead 2 survival map, fully playable in cooperative mode.
My goal was to create an abandoned and weathered house.
I wanted to convey to the player the experience of tranquility before the storm, moreover, I wanted to create a contrast between calmness and horror action.
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Developed in 5 weeks
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Valve Level Editor: Hammer World Editor
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Level Design
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AI scripting (for the Zombies)
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Performance (light and nodraw textures)
Pre - Production
LOGICAL PHASE
Click to enlarge
Before gathering reference images, I like to start with a text file.
During this process, I write down these elements:
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GOALS: what I want to do, why and how.
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ELEMENTS: gameplay elements at my disposal to use.
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QUESTIONS: questions popping up during the logical phase.
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IDEAS: idea popping up during the phase.
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SEQUENCE: effective design sequence of the level. This style permits me to constantly questioning myself and iterate.
References
Villa is inspired from zones of nord-Italy. To convey the experience of tranquillity and calmness, I thought optimal to set the level in the countryside of a city and not an urban centre.
I think the horde coming through helps the experience i was looking for, the sudden broke of calmness.
Level Flow
Level flow is very simple, due to the nature of survival map, the objective is to hold the ground.
Design & Gameplay
A lot of the gameplay bits is borrowed from Left 4 Dead 2. I used the elements of the game to indirectly tell the player where to hold ground optimally without forcing the decision.
RESOURCES
The villa is stuffed with resources indicating a good holding spot for the horde.
VERTICALITY
The villa is designed to be vertical rather than horizontal like a bungalow.
I wanted to give an interesting critical path and layout, I wanted the player to have the idea of escaping to the roof when things get tough in the base level.
OVERWHELMED
The Zombie AI is scripted to give a full assault on the villa, they can climb on the walls and attack from the balcony.
My inspiration was Resident Evil 4, where the real horror is getting overwhelmed by more sentient enemies.
LANDMARKS
The Villa is the highest and most different building in the courtyard, these gives an indirect indication to the player to explore it.
It is also the only opened house.
Steam Workshop page
Conclusion
This is a map created to hone my level design skills and learn spaces, lighting and AI. If I had more time I would redesign some of the aspect of the level. I think that some spaces are too wide, and the Villa doesn't have breakables wall that would had added more gameplay value.
In conclusion I learnt a lot, and I will do a better workflow next time, thank you for reading!