Singularity's Wake

Third Person Horror Experience

THE GOAL

The goal with this piece was to create a level with a fully modular environment and to reach a refined Whitebox quality. The focus was set dressing and building a modular kit but also to create a mechanic that felt unique and gave me more opportunities to level design.

SPECIFICATIONS

Time

Project time: 4 weeks
Scripting time: 3 days
Focused on set dressing and modular kit

Software

Unreal engine 5
Blender

Others work

Portal VFX and particle VFX

Thor Eli Gudfinnsson, Technical Art

Skybox

FAB content

Narrative

After an asteroid collision damages the moon base, the player awakens in the infirmary with a head injury and no memory.

As they investigate their surroundings to piece together what happened, they uncover evidence of a mysterious phenomenon that has created an alternate version of the entire base.

The player eventually unlocks the ability to travel between parallel realities, finding the crew of the station dead, corrupted by something evil.

By the end of the level, the player identifies the source of the corruption and makes the decision to destroy the base.

Inspiration and Pre-Prod

This project was inspired by 'Dead Space' and 'Callisto Protocol'. I chose this setting as a level art portfolio piece because i like the setting and environments.

I was drawn to the eerie and desolate feel of the levels, and those that feel more grotesque and visceral.

I wanted to achieve that variation throughout the piece.

Lighting

Since lighting was a big part of the ambience i did research about the lighting in 'Dead Space'

Following references closely and finding what i liked the most ended up in an immersive ambiance.

Player Engagement

To enhance player engagement with the level design, I implemented a mechanic that allows the player to switch to an alternate version of the environment. This makes the player observe and remember the space they are in.

Visual Scripting

By using Unreal Engine's built in game instance functions I could save information between levels. This is how I could make a door stay open even after switching level.

Switching Dimension

Three switches to open door

Modular Kit

I kept strict metrics throughout the making of this piece. This way i could easily replace the meshes with new ones. I worked a lot with making sure that the pivot was the same on all modular meshes and I also made sure everything snapped accordingly to the grid size.

Playtests

The Problem:

Since i was testing puzzle mechanics i needed to playtest a lot, which took a lot of time. It was important to gather as much information as possible to determine what worked and did not.

The Solution:

Because of time constraints i pivoted to away from puzzles, to then work more with set dressing and making the ambience stand out. I also re

OVERVIEW

WALKTHROUGH

Cafeteria

Introducing the mechanic

This section introduces the dimension-switching mechanic, encouraging the player to remain aware of two parallel spaces at the same time. The opening of the level establishes the narrative, providing the player with an understanding of the situation and setting.

Iterations

The early iterations of the cafeteria space was initially intended to function as a lobby or waiting area.

During development, I realized that reworking the space into a cafeteria was a more fitting choice. This shift allowed for more storytelling opportunities.

Normal Dimension

A blocked path and a portal acting as a strong focal point

Blockout

Whitebox

Dark Dimension

A hard reveal of the Dark dimension

Supposed to hit the player hard with a horrifying scene

Blockout

Whitebox

Bathrooms

This area is about simple puzzles, and using the dimensions to unblock paths forward.

Iterations

Early iterations of the hallway had me trying out different puzzle methods, i wanted to make the player having to backtrack some sections and use the portals to switch blocked paths.

Normal Dimension

One blocked path and one available path. Giving the player a goal to reach the switch to open the door.

Blockout

Whitebox

Dark Dimension

Switching the blocked path, which meant the player would need to find the spots where they could switch dimensions

Blockout

Whitebox

BLACK HOLE

An intense moment that shows the player a large black hole toppling over the moon base, suggesting it has something to do with the alternate dimension.

The Lab

Narrative plot reveal

A high-intensity moment in which the player uncovers the base’s horrifying purpose and its research. With new knowledge, the player must navigate a series of switches to ultimately destroy the facility.

Iterations

In early iterations, I explored the concept of a cargo bay in which the player would need to operate a crane to progress, requiring the use of the dimension-switching mechanic. This idea was later cut due to time constraints and the overall scope of the level, which proved too large to fully set-dress.

Since the level was planned to have its narrative climax in a laboratory, I redesigned the area accordingly and transitioned it into a lab environment.

Bait and Switch

In this section I bait the player towards the lever as a so called "red herring" only to show them the path is blocked, forcing them to turn around.

When they turn around they will notice another rift that leads to the other dimension where the path is unblocked.

Normal Dimension

Player is introduced to 3 switches that unlocks a door. But they are blocked in different ways.

Blockout

Whitebox

Dark Dimension

By entering the rift it unlocks some of the paths, but blocks other ones.

Blockout

Whitebox

Spline meshes

I used splines to generate objects like wires and tentacles. This afforded me to create lots of variety in my environments. The tool also created opportunities to easy iterate on the environment.

Metrics Gym

Made a metrics gym that I continually updated. Metrics was very important because the meshes needed to snap correctly in place

Closing Thoughts

Early in development I explored adding combat mechanics, drawing inspiration from 'Dead Space' and its combat. However, I made the decision to remove combat in order to focus on level art, level design environmental storytelling.

Switching to first person perspective had crossed my mind during this project because this would allow me to create a more tense and Closter phobic feeling throughout the level. I ended up keeping the third person perspective to keep the level closer to the reference of 'Dead Space'

Overall, I am pleased with the outcome of this level. Although I was initially uncertain about the project’s direction, trusting the iterative design process enabled the piece to evolve into an good level-art showcase. Through this project, I strengthened my skills in modular environment construction and scripting.

Full Playthrough

To Main Page

Next Project

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse