Wizard's Dungeon

Game | Narrative | Level

Game Description

Level Design

Narrative Design

Premise

Level Layout

Prison Area - Smallest

Game Description

I previously worked on a personal project called ”Escape Doom”. It's a multiplayer focused Escape Room-esc game developed in Unreal Engine 4. I mainly took on the role of it’s level-and narrative designer. Given that, I thought that I might share a bit of my reasoning on its first level’s creation, why I designed it the way it is, etc. Before all that though, It might be good to list my main responsibilities as well as give a short description of the game.

The goal with Escape Doom is to create a fun yet challenging cooperative experience. One that shys away from the drab and gray tone typically found in Escape Rooms, instead opting for one that can be described as quirky, colorful while also spiced with a lot of peril. The low poly style and the easily recognizable, heavily stereotypical themes used in the scenarios act as a foundation to further encapsulate the goofy vibes we are going for and enhance the sense of fun, curiosity and discovery.

To contrast that and to help enhance agency to the players, Is, of course, all the traps, obstacles and dangers that stand between the players and freedom. Besides the puzzles themselves, each level also include an overarching story as well as small tales to tell, all being told using notes, NPC:s as well as hefty amounts of environmental storytelling.

Level Design

Craft the level from ideas on a piece of paper, to gray boxing and then all the way to the finish line with a polished level
Designing and placement of lighting in the level

I strive to use certain tools of the trade when I design the levels, to help guide the players in the right direction. These include using lighting and color to highlight important areas, letting none important parts be sparse in terms of detail and decoration while giving areas that include hints or puzzles more detail and visual cues.

Narrative Design

Build an overarching narrative that fits the game’s quirky yet perilous tone.
Establish world building, lore and character backstories.
Provide fun and plausible reasons for the puzzles being in the level
Create other small and more isolated stories in the level that help flesh out the world.

It’s never been the goal to let Escape Doom be about presenting the players with a deep and complex story. The narrative acts more as a backdrop for the scenario and reason for the impending doom that the players must escape from. That being said, By using notes, the environment and the puzzles themselves, I do try to incorporate as many narrative elements as I can without letting it take over the gaming experience. Giving the players the option to partake in the stories if they so choose.

Premise

The picture is taken from the main menu map of the game, where the player has the option to choose what scenario they want to tackle.

Level Layout

Although this particular scenario is just one big level, it is divided into sections, which themselves have subsections as well. They have consciously been crafted in different sizes and scope in order to help create a healthy amount of variety and give the players a nice balance between moments of triumph, curiosity and challenge. At a basic level, the order of the sections in terms of scale can be described as follows:

Smallest
Biggest
Smaller
Bigger
Small

So, I would now like to invite you to join me as I discuss the different sections, what they’re all about and why they are structured the way they are. However, if you’d rather play the game first instead of me spoiling the fun, you’re more than welcome to reach out to me and we’ll set something up.

Prison Area - Smallest

It begins rather small. The players wake up and find themselves locked inside a dark prison area. The tasks included in this area are rather few. First one of the players has to find a key carved from bone that will help them escape the cells themselves, after which they must figure out how to unlock the door leading out of the prison area.

The solution involves rotating a few torches and the pattern can be found by inspecting ones surrounding. This section more or less acts as a type of tutorial, teaching the players the mechanics, how the game plays, etc. The section ends with the players unlocking the door leading out of the prison area, having them treading through a cramped, dark hallway and at the end of it lies the main hall.

Main Hall - Biggest

This section is undoubtedly the biggest area of the game and will most likely be the place where players spend most of their time in. The end goal stares at the players from across the room as soon as they step into the main hall. In order to proceed and make their escape, they must find a way to bypass a large spiky trap blocking their way forward, but in order to achieve that goal, many more steps must be completed first. Keys must be found, piano melodies must be mastered, secret caves must be uncovered, and much, much more.

I wanted to give the players a sense of accomplishment and awe. After having moved around in a cramped and dark prison, they reach this big open space that lets them breathe. That presents them with a plethora of different interesting directions to go. That shys away from the traditional escape room-esc games. Computer games are not limited by rent costs or anything like that, letting us create escape room experience unlike those found in real life.

The main hall acts as a type of hub area, and leads to other smaller areas, all with their own set of puzzles. There’s an office, a bedroom, a bathroom where one of the toilets lead to a secret tunnel, a pitch black servant quarters, and more. Some puzzles, like the rotating knights located in the office, can be completed by a single player, while others demand that the players work together. There is no specific order in which all the puzzles must be completed, giving the players a sense of freedom when it comes to how to proceed. This will most likely also help to alleviate the frustration players might experience when not being able to solve a puzzle, instead giving them the option to leave it for a moment and try their hands at another one.

Trap Area - Smaller

After overcoming all the parts needed to remove the large grinder trap, the players are able to proceed into the trap area. Unlike the main hall, this place only has one puzzle, finding out the pattern needed to maneuver the floor spikes in front of them. Classic and very straightforward. It’s meant to counter the large area they just completed, letting them feel a brief relief. One moves in a certain pattern as another player reads a tale about a brave hero as he makes his way towards a great beast.

Lobby - Bigger

So close, but yet so far away. Even though the players are getting closer to their end goal, I wanted this section to fill the players with dread. So, this area is covered with dead bodies, has a portion of the floor ozing with hot lava, a big knight guarding the door marked ”Exit”, and other tid bits there to help create a scary vibe as the players go about discovering this part of the level.

Much like with the main hall, the lobby includes a number of areas, although at a smaller scale compared to the main hall. While it has four different directions to take, the lobby only consists of two. The kitchen and Locker Room. The way the puzzles play out is also different. Most of the puzzles in the Main Hall area were isolated from one another. In the Lobby, they all are part of a bigger puzzle, namely getting rid of the guard hanging out at the gate marked “Exit”. However, nothing is straightforward in the world of Escape Doom. In order to dispose of the guard, one must first know who is hiding under that haunting knight helmet and what that person’s favorite food is, as well as some other steps along the way. Then, and only then does the way forward reveal itself and the players are able to continue to the last part of the dungeon.

Although the amount of puzzles are less in numbers compared to those found in The Main Hall, they are more complex and involve new mechanics, giving the players a new level of challenge in a fun and creative way. The main attraction in this section is found in the food storage. Upon arriving there, the players come across “Pantry of Everspawning”. A place much different than the other parts of the stoney, dark parts of the dungeon. It is a lavish green garden with everything the players need in order to cook up the knight’s favorite meal. Meat grows on bushes, whiskey sits on the rocks, fish resides on sticks, olive oil hangs from tree branches, etc.

When the meal is done and the guard gone, the players venture on the last section of the Wizard dungeon.

Outer Hallway- Small

This place is meant to act as one final surprise and end the level in a big way. There are no cross roads or puzzles to solve, only one way forward and a lever to pull.

The players might expect to reach the outside as they open the gate marked “Exit”, alas all they are greeted with is a massive cave, covered in fire and lava. It’s hot, deadly. Not at all what you regularly find at an exit door, and at the center of it stands an inactive teleporter. There are a couple of objects that hint at puzzles needing to be solved, however, the players only need to pull a lever next to the portal to activate it, jump inside, and thus escape their doom.

Puzzle Design

Designing puzzles has come to be one of my favorite parts of game development, especially when the puzzles have to be interwoven into a specific theme, area and narrative. Finding ways to connect them all together in a comprehensible and interesting way is a really fun challenge that makes all the cogs in my weird brain begin to move.

As I go about designing the puzzles for Escape Doom, I strive to strike a nice balance between challenge and creativity. Some might be pretty easy and easily recognizable, while others more complex, unique and hidden. There is also the factor of the amount of players needed to complete a puzzle and puzzle variety. I try to keep the way puzzles are structured differently from one another and make a portion of puzzles solvable by a single player and others needing two or more to complete. Below I would like to present a few examples of the one’s found in the level.

The Eye-Link 500

The Eye-Link 500 is the surveillance system that the Wizard Gary uses and is located in his office. Its display is a magic mirror and it is connected with wireless cyclops eyes that act as cameras. The players need to use this mirror in order to maneuver the servant quarter which is pitch black. There is only one problem, the mirror must first be activated by inputting a 10 note long melody on the piano next to it. The keys on the piano are color coded.

It didn’t take long before I decided to include a piano puzzle into the game, as I have a soft spot for them in general. Furthermore, I thought it could act as a fun object to just interact with, as it works as a regular piano, so the players might lay down some tunes if they so desire. It also demands that the players not only get the right color code needed, but the order in which it needs to be played. The solution is found on a nearby desk with 10 potions in different sizes and colors can be found. Play the piano according to the bottles, from smallest to biggest and use the piano key with the same color as the potions. Another way to solve the puzzle is to just look at the candles next to the piano where a little Snail toy sits. The correct tune actually is a part of the song “Lilla snigel”, so if the player knows how to play that song, they are able to solve the puzzle that way too. When possible I try to give the player a few different hints in the environment that can help them solve the puzzles.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, how do I solve this puzzle?

Whilst the piano bit can be solved by a solo player, the next part cannot. After having gained access to the magic mirror the players are able to see the servant quarter layout, and that a key they need lies at the far end of it. To get it, one player must act as a guide for another as she or he traverses the darkness. More than just a fun cooperative experience, this part is more of an obstacle course than a traditional Escape Room puzzle, and serves as a nice break from them.

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