Unity Practice:
Metroid Level

Project Type: Individual

Platform: PC

Timeframe: Summer 2025

Tools Used: Unity

A small, Metroid Prime inspired level I made in Unity using the FPS Microgame settings in order to re-familiarize myself with the engine. Thankfully, it seems to be almost just as I remember!

Now, I want to be clear about what exactly I did here, and what the goal was. I wanted to make sure I remembered how to use the engine itself, and maybe practice a bit of level design. As such, I utilized the FPS Microgame deault settings, alongside some free assets from the asset store. I did no coding, and minimal interacting with components. Hence why this is in the Level Design section, and not the full project or systems design sections.

Download here:

PC Mac

As always, feedback is appreciated!

And now, a breakdown of my design process for the level.

The level starts with the player in a room with calming blue lights, indicating that there should be no immediate danger. The player has no items, but the first one is immediately visible. The blaster pickup is the only thing on screen moving, indicating its importance. Picking it up also indicates that other items may be found in a similar manner.

Having obtained a weapon, the player steps around a corner and into the first main room of the level. Red lighting indicates that danger lurks, followed quickly by the first enemy.

After dispatching the enemy, the player can explore the room, finding finding four exits.

The first three exits are on ground level, and simply lead to the rest of the level. The fourth exit, however, is on a high ledge with no visible means of reaching it. This suggests to the player that either there is another way up there, or perhaps that they don't have the item required to reach that door, hinting at what the level's special item might be.

This level is designed like a giant ring; no matter which path the player decides to take, they all meet back up at the mini-boss arena. This allows for a sense of exploration, as the player will need to go down each path eventually to defeat all of the enemies, while still guiding the player where they need to go. For the purposes of this discussion, we'll assume the player travels the ring clockwise.

The first room to the left of the main room contains multiple enemies to face, but also containment vats that not only provide cover, but also do a bit of environmental storytelling, suggesting this area may have been a sort of lab before everything went wrong.

After clearing out the containment room, the player can find a side path lit by green lighting. This leads to a healing room where they can recover some health if the enemies haven't been dropping any healing items. In a full game, this would likely be a save room.

The proper exit to the containment room is a long hallway filled with partially opened doors. These act as cover for taking out the enemy that patrols this hall.

After the hallway, the player reaches a computer room, complete with desks to hide behind and another enemy. The door to the right leads back into the ring, while the large door across the room leads to the mini-boss.

If the player investigates the larger doorway, they will find a destroyed elevator shaft, leading to a drop they have no way to get back up from. This implies that either they will obtain a way back up, or there will be a different exit. Either option suggests something may be waiting for the player at the bottom.

Once they have dropped down the shaft, the player will find themselves confronted with the mini-boss of the level: a pair of turrets that are much more powerful than the basic drones encountered previously. The bottom of the elevator shaft is exposed to both enemies, so the player must act quickly to get behind cover before taking them out.

One of the turrets drops the special power-up of the level: the Jetpack! Suddenly escaping the mini-boss arena and reaching the second floor of the first room makes much more sense. That being said, with the mission objective being to take out all of the enemies, the player will still need to explore the rest of the first floor regardless.

After returning to the computer room, the player can go through the previously unexplored door, finding a hallway leading to a small central room that is the meeting point of the three original paths in the first room. There is also another healing room, for those who went either right or up in the first room, instead of left.

To the right of this small room is the central hall that leads back to the first room. This hall itself, as well as the healing room, all open into a larger room that the eastern path from the start also leads to.

Taking this central path, either now or at the start, allows the player to look through a small window and into the final room of the level, getting a sneak peek of what is to come.

Regardless of how they get there, the main eastern room contains some more desks, some sort of energy core being studied, and of course, more enemies.

Now, if the player had gone right at the start, they would have looped around to the far side of the energy research room. And at this T-junction, with the large room to the left and a smaller dead end room with one more enemy to the right, the player might notice a faint blue glow on the wall, and the fact that the junction doesn't have an immediate ceiling. Without the jetpack, the player would have no way of accessing this small, hidden nook.

However, finding this junction after the mini-boss, or returning later now allows the player to jump up and receive the level's hidden, secret item: a new weapon! This is not required to beat the level, but rewards the player's exploration.

With jetpack in hand, and all of the ground floor enemies defeated, the player can finally jump up to the ledge in the first room that was previously inaccessible. The large central tower reveals itself as some sort of large power source, and the final hallway awaits.

One last healing room awaits the player for any last minute healing, or as a safe space to retreat to if the final room proves too much all at once.

The final room contains not only numerous smaller drones, but also another two turrets, and everything has increased stats. The player must make strategic use of the various pillars, both as platforms and as cover, to navigate the various enemies and finally claim victory!

Unity Practice: Metroid Level

Unity Practice:
Metroid Level