We just lately printed a teaser for our recreation Legacy 1917, the place we confirmed the primary gameplay footage of the “Prologue” stage. In this text, we’ll discuss concerning the fundamental ideas of stage design, strategies and tips that have been used to create this location.

Preparatory work

The start line was the work on the final synopsis. At the primary stage, the group and I created gameplay conditions, linked them with the narrative and tried to attain the specified gaming expertise. This is how the primary drafts of the situation design doc, stage schemes, descriptions of gameplay conditions appeared.

The subsequent step was extraordinarily necessary to work with references. This usually helps to type the final look of the situation, to grasp the topology of the realm, its foremost options. We didn’t attempt for historic authenticity, however we would have liked to convey the spirit of the town, its particular options.

Monotonous places will shortly bore the participant, and dealing with references helps so as to add selection and spotlight these options that characterize the area.

Having ready the design doc and having provide you with a sketch of the extent, we proceeded to the lengthy stage of creation. After many iterations, we lastly got here to the specified consequence, which we’re able to current to you.

Introductory scene

According to the synopsis, the primary scene of the extent is the station. This is historically the place from which the research of the town begins. Similar moments have been, for instance, in Half-Life 2 or Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. The participant can get acquainted with the realm concurrently the principle character and their feelings from what is occurring will coincide. In our case, the Brestsky railway station was taken as the premise.

At the very starting, the participant enters a big space and sees a lot of individuals in entrance of the station. Here he has the chance to go searching, talk with individuals, type an concept of ​​what is occurring round him. The total first a part of the extent is an acquaintance with the town that survived the revolution. The foremost character arrived right here and not using a clear concept of ​​what is occurring, and our process is to carry him updated. This a part of the extent doesn’t include any threats and the participant is free to discover it, however already on the exit the soldier warns that it may be harmful exterior the station. This is how we put together the participant for the upcoming challenges.

Further Dive

Here is a bit of the extent the place we go into extra element about what is going on on. The participant sees littered streets, deserted wagons, trams, a damaged energy line, and so on. The fruits right here is the road, which is totally blocked by makeshift barricades. Throughout this part, we present the participant that this place can nonetheless be harmful and steadily escalate the scenario. If the station created the impression of a peaceable location, then additional down the extent, the participant increasingly more usually stumbles upon traces of armed conflicts.

Here, the attentive participant encounters a small department, which he can discover to search out sources and one of many first secrets and techniques (collectible merchandise). It is necessary to notice that just about at all times in our recreation the character strikes diagonally from the underside to the highest nook, however right here we intentionally shifted the actions to a horizontal aircraft. This makes it doable to put a visual passage into the constructing on the central a part of the display screen. Also on this place, the participant can discover a ladder, which additional motivates to discover this space.

Even if the participant ignores these indicators, shifting on, he’ll see a platform from which he can clearly bounce down, and to the aspect he’ll discover the key already acquainted to him from the coaching stage. This will stimulate him to nonetheless discover a passage upstairs.

First Blood

Of course, as a part of the tutorial ranges, the participant encountered enemies. He has realized the fundamental mechanics: he is aware of learn how to sneak, stealthily kill, distract enemies with particles, cover within the bushes. But it’s this stage that presents the primary actual check for the participant. However, we did not wish to make the participant endure an excessive amount of. Our process was to create such a check, which was primarily attention-grabbing for the participant. Here are some tips that helped us with this.

The variety of enemies. This is essentially the most banal methodology of facilitating or complicating gameplay segments. It is utilized in nearly all video games that contain collision.

Structure of the world. When your process is to sneak previous a bunch of enemies, it’s essential to know precisely the place you want to go. The specifics of our digicam doesn’t indicate that the participant can see the exit from the world, being on the very starting of it. For this motive, we tried to maintain the world easy sufficient to make it straightforward for gamers to navigate at first. The foremost factor right here is to not make it too easy, since creating an attention-grabbing panorama immediately impacts the standard of the gameplay.

Space for maneuvers. Even a small variety of enemies can create issues for the participant if the world forces him to always be close to them. This is a good way to extend the strain because the participant will get the sensation that they’re always on the verge of detection, however this solely works if they’ve mastered the fundamentals effectively sufficient. That is why the primary arenas recommend that it’s doable to take care of a snug distance from enemies.

A lot of excessive and vast shelters. The accumulation of bins that closes Peter to his full top is instinctively perceived by him as a extra dependable shelter than a small fence. In order to make the participant really feel extra assured, we tried to make use of these covers extra usually.

This phase has two arenas linked by a connector, during which the participant can take a breather. Such components help you join a number of arenas collectively to create long-lasting stealth sections, with the chance for the participant to take a brief break. In addition, checkpoints are normally positioned in such locations in order that in case of dying the participant doesn’t replay all the phase, however continues the place he had issues.

After the stealth part, you want to give the participant a break from any such gameplay, and as you recognize, the perfect relaxation is a change of exercise. But extra on that within the second half…

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