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ChristopherMattarelli@gmail.com
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What is Dagon?
Dagon is a 1st person wave-based shooter.
Set in the 1910's, inside an obelisk, the player faces off against Lovecraft-inspired monsters, making their way up the tower, slowly learning more about the main character.
The project was built around arcade-style gameplay where the player must learn to manage resources while being overwhelmed by enemies. Our 2 inspirations were the Call of Duty: Zombies series as well as the Killing Floor series.
Itch
Initial Development
Level Design
Researching/White Boxing
Before creating the level, I started off by concepting what it should look like.
The first thing I do is look for inspiration and design ideas from other similar levels. Resources like Reddit or Pinterest are helpful at this stage.
Once I have gathered enough to have a few different starting ideas, I begin sketching them out. The team then selects the level ideas they like the most and I begin white boxing.
The team and I originally attempted to keep the ships accurate to their real-life counterparts. However, due to a lack of information available, I chose to make the size of the ship in line with what worked best with the gameplay.
Asset Placement/Restart
After the team chose the white boxed layout they thought worked best and I added extra details, I then began situating the assets in the level.
At this point, the team had decided to move from Unity Engine to Unreal Engine due to some issues from the former and helpful features from the latter.
We also used this as an opportunity to move in a different direction for the project, this meant that a new level would be needed to meet the new vision.
Later Development
Level Design
Research
In this instance, we wanted an indoor structure with a hole in the center of a tower containing multiple levels. I had already created a similar level for a previous project so referencing it allowed me to have a base to start off with.
I then re-read and played some of the Lovecraft stories and games to have a better understanding of his environments and how they were adapted.
White Boxing
The very first thing I do is focus on the requirements, getting the hole, stairs, and points of interest done, allowed me a strong base to build off of.
An initial worry of mine was that even with smart enemy spawn locations, the circular design of the map would provide too much room for the player, always giving them the ability to just remain ahead of the enemies without much challenge being created.
I solved this by slicing up the area, creating choke points and dead ends, not too many as to make the levels linear, but enough to force players to constantly be aware of their environment and pathing to avoid being trapped in corners and have exit routes available.
Asset Placement/Lighting
While the white box was being created, I worked closely with the 3D artists so they could begin making the required assets as soon as possible.
A goal for this project was to learn what Unreal provided as tools and options. This heavily influenced the art style of the game, because of this, keeping a consistent style in the level was challenging. However, leaning into more dramatic lighting for the level allowed for the clashing styles to feel at home and actually compliment each other.
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