Plunge Forest is a piece of work I completed in my level design class during my third year at Sheridan College. It uses the Map Editor for Far Cry 5, which has a wealth of assets and some basic AI design. This was enough for me to design a complete level.
I had my eye on some forest-related material in the editor's asset library, so I planned to make a level related to that. I went ahead and created my own level design document and designed the initial story in it. The player is a captured soldier. The player needs to get rid of the guards along the way without being detected. Then the player has to get rid of the enemy commander and finally escape in a helicopter.
All I had to do after that was find some inspiration.
The level is designed in a very dark environment. The downside of this design is that it tends to make the player feel too dark to see the objects in the game. However, there are a number of benefits, the first of which is that the darkness is very effective in creating atmosphere. One of the main directions of my design is that I want the player to be careful in a creepy environment (I have a mechanic in the level where the player fails the game if they are spotted). Secondly, guidance in the dark would be better designed. It would be easier for the player to see places that are illuminated by a light source and thus understand where the next destination is. And if the light sources were designed just right, it would make up for the shortcomings mentioned above.
The entire level would be 6 floors high. The first 70% of the level will be played on 1 and 2 floors. From "Path Up the Mountain", the player will slowly climb a mountain and face the final challenge at the top. The target to be killed and the helicopter to be used to escape are also at the top of the mountain.
The difficulty of the levels also rises a little bit as the player advances. Several large areas will challenge the player quite a bit. There, players will need to hide themselves with the help of bushes and crates, and then look for opportunities to take out the enemies.
Small Square:
Big Square:
For level design, it is important that the designer is familiar with the ratio of units to the environment ("metrics"). Especially in my level, which has a sneaking element, if the boxes or other obstacles are too short, the player will be detected by the enemy. Resulting in the cover becoming ineffective. And obstacles that are too tall can obscure the player's view.
I also need to figure out what all the assets in the game are, and keep track of them in the level design document. This would be a great way to visualize where and how much of these assets are being used.
Finally, I need to make a map of the level. This map will be accurate to every room, every box, every path. It helps me to be able to take an overall look at the whole level. And if it's not my project alone, then my partner will need a map to keep us on the same track with the level design. And these maps can also be used to help the test participants during testing.
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