Loop Map Practice - Far Cry 5

This is a practice level I made using the Far Cry 5 Map Editor. I learned from Dark Souls that a loop level is very interesting. The sense of surprise and coming home has a very positive emotional boost for the player when they realize they have traveled a long way and end up back in a familiar place. I used the level to simulate a small loop level, where the player spawns at a point similar to a base. At the end of each adventure, the players will find themselves back at the original base. Unfortunately, the Far Cry 5 Map Editor does not have checkpoints, so there are no rewards for returning to the base. But the purpose of my design was achieved.

Several of the steel doors pictured above are unlocked in one direction. This means that the player cannot open that door from the inside of the base (where it is shown in the picture). More doors can only be opened if the player explores deeper into the level. If it was in some other editor, it could also be designed so that when all of these doors are opened, a new door is unlocked, allowing the player to go to another new map. Or just unlock a boss fight. This kind of level design can match very many design needs.

To see how the player keeps returning to the origin base in this level, you can go to the homepage and watch a very short demo video.

The victory condition for the level is to reach a designated location. Within the initial base, the player will see this location directly. However, a steel grate blocks the player. This also helps the player to know where their destination is at the beginning. In the next flow of the game, once the player sees the steel grate, they will know where they are going. This is giving the player a guide and hint at the beginning.

Some of the enemies in the level will stand in place and some will patrol back and forth. Given that the player only has melee weapons or flying daggers to begin with, the enemies at the beginning will have their backs to the path the player came from. This gives the player the opportunity to make sneak attacks. And once the player has defeated these enemies and seized their weapons, subsequent encounters will likely be directly face-to-face with the player. Players need to find cover as soon as possible to hide or preemptive strike to quickly take out the enemies.

The last indoor level is a challenge for the player. In a small space, the player will have to deal with 7 enemies. Players need to rely on doors or other obstacles as cover to engage these enemies in a short period of time. I limited each enemy by making them stick to their rooms. If I were to tweak the difficulty, I could make their range of movement (the blue area in the picture) large enough. This way, some of the melee-attacking enemies would rush at the player extremely fast, and the long-range enemies would shoot at the same time. This would greatly increase the difficulty of this part of the sub-level. If there is enough test data, I will use it to make difficulty adjustments in this section.