An open world experience
The establishing shot showing the player the short term, mid term and long term goals.
My main intent with this project was to create an interesting and visually appealing fantasy world which guides the player through a mix of findability and discoverability while keeping the player’s interest in the world piqued
I wanted to create multiple different biomes and environments for the player to explore, and create various points of interest within these biomes to make the world feel filled with content for the player to experience.
My primary source of inspiration was Elden Ring. Remembering the feeling of adventure and excitement I got while playing that game for the first time I was inspired to create a similar experience from scratch. Elden Ring has a major focus on rewarding vistas, pleasing world composition and giving the player free reins to explore any part of the world. It is for this reason I chose to put such a great emphasis on these aspects of my own world. An important design philosophy I took from the reference game was that if something looks like it can be reached, it should be reachable, almost every area that is visible in my level can be reached somehow
This project was worked on in a previous assignment over 5 weeks along with the 6 weeks I spent on it during the portfolio time. The template was also created ahead of time in a separate assignment.
I always start my projects by immediately jumping into Unreal and blocking out some very basic shapes and how I want the general flow of the level to be just to get a sense of scale and consider what I want to show within the piece I’m creating.
Something I often strive for in my levels is to create that classic feeling of being lost only to turn a corner or open a door and realize you’re back in a place you recognize from earlier. I’ve implemented this in various ways in my level, both out in the open world and in the areas with more condensed level design.
One aspect of the old design I found somewhat lacking was the worldbuilding. For this reason I decided to update the Sapphire Hills area with an entire new Fort which uses a few of the same building pieces as the capital, showing that they may have been built by the same people but one has since been cast to the side and not been used as much.
This project was worked on in a previous assignment over 5 weeks along with the 6 weeks I spent on it during the portfolio time. The template was also created ahead of time in a separate assignment.
I always start my projects by immediately jumping into Unreal and blocking out some very basic shapes and how I want the general flow of the level to be just to get a sense of scale and consider what I want to show within the piece I’m creating.
Something I often strive for in my levels is to create that classic feeling of being lost only to turn a corner or open a door and realize you’re back in a place you recognize from earlier. I’ve implemented this in various ways in my level, both out in the open world and in the areas with more condensed level design.
One aspect of the old design I found somewhat lacking was the worldbuilding. For this reason I decided to update the Sapphire Hills area with an entire new Fort which uses a few of the same building pieces as the capital, showing that they may have been built by the same people but one has since been cast to the side and not been used as much.
As my focal point of this project is the composition and world design I’ve put a lot of work into creating appealing vistas for the player to both see what is to come and where they have already been. The purpose of doing this is to create excitement while playing the level and to also add a sense of progression as the player moves through the world.
To avoid the player losing their way while exploring I’ve used various kinds of signposting to signify where the player should move. This is done through the use of lampposts in areas close to the village and crystals in the underground area.
I use this technique in my level to show the player large amounts of information at once, often letting the player linger with the view for a while before continuing on. I chose to do this to let players come up with their own idea of how to approach what lies ahead while also showing short, mid and long term goals.
excitement while playing the level and to also add a sense of progression as the player moves through the world.
At the entrance to each area I have created different kinds of portals, for instance a gate into the Capital, the view from the elevator down to the underground, a natural cave opening into Mount Acropolis and the gap between the rocks before the initial vista over the open world.
I seldom enjoy the feeling of needing to backtrack across an area I’ve already explored just to get back to a place where I can continue progressing. For this reason I have focused heavily on either linear progression through the world, or in the cases where I want the player to return to an area I guide them through a different way than where they came from. This leads to a feeling of surprise and discovery once they realize they are back in a previously explored area even though they came from a different direction.
The central river which flows through the middle of the map. The player can see this river right from the starting overview of the map and take mental notes of where various places along it are located. It also serves to connect The Capital to the rest of the map.