The Last Of US Part 2 -Level Design Study
Hello! My name is Ubedullaha Kotwal, I am a passionate game designer with a specialization in Level Design.
Growing up, I have been a fan of single-player and story-driven games and this passion led me to pursue a career as a game designer. I have always been a fan of Naughty Dog games and had a lot of learning and incredible experiences from their games.
For this year’s Blocktober, I decide to work on a level design from The Last of Us Part 2, I absolutely adored the last of us games because of their design and the overall narrative.
Before getting into the editor to start blocking out the level, I used the Miro board to collect and store my research and reference images in one place. I used google earth to plan out the layout inspired by Seattle City. I also did a short and basic narrative plot and used those to define the gameplay flow and beats in the level.
Research:
Create a level design for blocktober 2022 based on TheLastOfUs Part 2 with a focus on exploration and combat.
- Conduct and Analyse research on the existing levels designed in the last of us part 2.
- Use real-world references from the Seattle area to plan the layout and sections of the level.
- Design the level, playtest and then iterate on the blockout.
- Use blueprints to script some basic game events.
Environment Reference
For this level, I decided to set it in the city of Seattle, in the Last of Us Part 2 for me Seattle was a prominent and interesting region, Seattle region provided me opportunities to work with different layout styles, and an opportunity to add interesting exploration opportunities for the player.
Game References :
Level Locations :
- Suburbs: This is where the player starts the level from. This level was picked to follow a basic plot where Ellie is tracking down a missing survivor who might have been responsible for stealing their group’s supplies. In the suburb, she comes across a survivor camp where she finds clues to the next location. Suburbs provides exploration opportunities for the players alongside the threats present. The camp was wiped out by the hostile armed enemies who are still patrolling the exit of the camp
2. City: The city section of the level is larger in terms of layout and exploration. The city has various regions from interiors and tight alleys to wide open streets, the player is guided through the city through the lighting, abandoned signs and layout. The player tracks down the missing survivor in an abandoned hotel lobby. While traversing the city, the player has encountered the infected and other hostile survivors that are scavenging. The layout, shapes, and lighting all work together to help guide the players to the next location.
3. Hotel: The hotel is where the final confrontation takes place, the missing survivor has been hiding there with a couple of bandits. The hotel structure is in a more dire state and feels as if it might collapse at any time. This layout forces the player into tighter spaces and difficult situations. One of the floor collapses while the player is walking through the corridor, this forces the player to take a new route to reach the goal.
Environmental Objective :
The points of interest in the level are made as primary and secondary, The primary Point of interest is the landmark, which is visible almost most of the time, it is also placed closer to the last section of the level, the secondary points of interest keep the player on track and serve as a focal view towards the primary point of interest, they also serve as exploration points on the maps and rewards the player for exploring.
Blockout
The level took about a month from concept to final blockout, I used Unreal Engine 5 and Interaction with ALS by Jakub W to implement blockout and test the gameplay in the level. For the layout I tried to stay close to real-life city layouts wherever possible but did a few changes to make the gameplay feel better, this allowed me to have flexibility on most parts of the level while having some real-life design references in the level.
Due to having a limited amount of time to get the level ready for blocktober, I spent very little time scripting and used the Interaction with ALS to implement the gameplay. Initially, the AI difficulty was too much and I had to adjust their difficulty level, the human AI patrols through a path track path, while the zombies take random patrol points, each section has its own local AI restricted to that section itself, this prevents the AI especially the zombies to Wander all across the level.
Completed Level
Conclusion
This level provided a lot of learning experience and definitely helped me improve as a level designer. Naughty Dog is the master when it comes to narrative-driven game design, and hopefully, I have managed to capture a part of their design philosophy. In this level, I used the layout and shapes to convey different emotions to the player and in depicting an unforgiving world. I found it fun and challenging and having a time constraint helped me to stay focused and productive throughout the month.
