[Doc] Level Design - FPS

Since many of my work are under NDA, I cannot show the levels I made nor which steps I'm going through in order to create a level. So I'm creating this page for documentation ! I hope it may help some students or juniors to have something to use for their own work if needed.

The screenshots may not be readable for some people or on mobile. You can download the high quality PDF below and use it alongside the explanation if you need !

1/ What can the Player do ? -> The FPS Mechanics and Features

We are creating a level for a specific game and you want to create compelling challenges for the Player to overcome. Write down what the Player can do at this point of the game (she may not have all weapons or abilities yet) and how resources can restrain these actions (energy, ammos and such).

For me, it's a First Person Cover Shooter with powers in a science-fiction setting. The covers are destructible to create mobile combat and fast paced action. Here's what we need to write down :

2/ What do we want the Player to do ? -> Metrics and Intentions

To create fun gameplay phases , we have to know the Metrics of our game and character (how fast she can walk or run, how high she can jump with and without powers, how much damage she can deal in a given time, etc). It'll help a lot when creating level design spaces and encounters.

Once identified, we want to use these numbers to create an adequate challenge or reward for the Player. Creating a hard encounter may challenge her accuracy, her ability to move around tight spaces or her resource management skill if ammos are scarce. If we are challenging the three simultaneously at some high degree, the Player will probably be overwhelmed, fails and feels frustrated. We have to gauge each one of them, bring variety in both combination and difficulty to create an appreciable pacing that let the Player enjoy the game and breathe between moments of high tension. Each room do not have to be equally challenging, some can be rewards, like Codex entries, Ammos, Panoramas and such. 

Here is my Level Chart,  a document referencing intention for each room and how the Player navigate from one to another. Since game development is iterative, I put below an older version with notes about why I changed some things. Note that this example targets about 20 minutes of gameplay.

3/ Where do we want the Player to go/be ? -> Critical Path and Map Layout

We now have to actually create the spaces and encounters we need to challenge our Player accordingly with our intentions. We may not create the right space, encounter or even right pacing and that's OK. Game development is about iterating and testing. But we need to start somewhere, and that's what we have done until here. 

I've already choose with my Level Chart that my level is divided in 3 segments : the Main Entrance (#0F & #1F), a West wing (#2 & #3) and an East wing (#4 & #5). The Critical path require the Player to clear each part to retrieve key parts to proceed, but can clear the West and East wings in any order. 

A/ Main Entrance

B/ Left Wing

C/ Right Wing

4/ Was our idea any good, did we succeed into conveying it ? -> Integration and testing

We have everything we need to test our level. Grab your game engine, put time and effort into it to make your level into reality. You may need a few more steps, from scripting behaviour for doors, enemy or ask a developer to help you.

For this part, I just made a blocking into Unreal Engine 5 with no scripting since I do not need/want to make this a playable level. It's a level design document, not a prototype for the game. It would require some time to add enemy behaviour, stats and damage, Player's power and adjust the metrics. Here is a few in-game screenshots  using placeholders to "feel" the space in 3D through a camera.