Lyra: Stornghold - with Level Design Document Brief

In my second year of Game Design at Sheridan College, I created this map independently as an assignment for a level design class. The engine used was Unreal 5, and the level was created using the Lyra Starter Game, a freeware package from Unreal.

The requirement of the assignment was to create a map for a multiplayer versus game. I was inspired by the maps in Counter-Strike and had the idea to create a castle map. My goal was to create a sense of contrast between fighting in an old building with advanced firearms.

Regarding the reference of the game, I went ahead and searched for some medieval castle looks. There were two main points that I needed to focus on finding: the interior and the courtyard. Because the plan for my level was for red and blue to be born indoors and then fight in the courtyard in the middle.

Through my search, I found a variety of flags that play a small role in interior decoration. This kind of decoration can be used to design a medieval interior style directly for the game.

For the courtyard design, I focused on searching for medieval courtyards that were surrounded by walls, as well as some courtyard maps from shooter games. I found that although not many objects can be placed in the grounds due to space issues, towers, walls and decorations on buildings at the edges of the map are very necessary. These objects can readily give the player a message of a medieval courtyard.

Next came one of the most important designs: the map.

Outside of one main engagement location (the area where the control point is located), I wanted to provide two additional routes for the player to choose from. These two routes needed to have a direct impact on the central engagement area. The first design is an elevated platform from which the player can shoot across the center courtyard from a high vantage point. The design of the firing ports also allows the player to expose fewer hit boxes to the enemy. The second design is a shortcut, which the player can enter directly from the spawn point, and then enter the side of the center courtyard, appearing on the battlefield unexpectedly. Players can use these two routes to have an impact on the battle in the courtyard during the battle. However, this does not make the main center route any less important. Because of the presence of control points in the courtyard, the main route will always be of the highest importance.

The proportions of the characters and scenes are also very important. During the creation of the level, the height of the scene and the size of the space need to be kept under strict control. This is because if the scale of one object is off, it is likely to lead to a chain reaction that will cause the neighboring objects to be out of scale as well. In the end, the player will feel very small or very large in the level. In severe cases, this may even affect the player's choice of cover. This kind of design error can be fatal to a shooter's multiplayer maps.

Next up is greyboxing.

After many rounds of testing and gathering valuable feedback, greyboxing was polished using a material package provided by my college professor.

Full view:

Sniper platform:

Spawn points(Red):

And, of course, the list of assets. This one is also essential.