The Police HQ
Project Summary
Description
The goal of this project is to emulate a professional level design test. Police HQ is inspired by High Overseer Campbell from Dishonored 1. Similar to Dishonored 1, players have multiple ways to complete their assassination lethally or non-lethally.
Game Engine: Unreal Engine 4.
Project duration: 1 - 2 weeks.
I was responsible for designing and blocking out the level. Everything except the statue and mannequins was made by me. As a part of the project requirements, I designed an original ability that would fit in the Dishonored universe.
PoliceHQ.mp4Mission Objective
This level takes place after Corvo escaped prison. Corvo's target is a corrupted Police Inspector who has captured Overseer Martin, a member of the Loyalists who helped Corvo escape prison. The Police Headquarters locates in Holger Square in Dunwall (same as the game). Additionally, the Police Inspector has a notebook that holds vital information about those who plotted Empress's assassination. Search and rescue Martin, take out the Police Inspector, and obtain his notebook.
Screenshots
Project Development
Creating a Non-linear Level
To better understand non-linear level design, I spent some time re-play Dishonored 1. There was a specific guideline for this project: players only have the blink (teleportation) ability unlocked. This meant that I didn't need to design ways to utilize abilities like Possession.
My primary goal was to maximize Blink usage, so I created many high routes and low routes. Furthermore, there are multiple ways to enter the headquarters. I highly recommend you play the level or watch my video commentary for a better demonstration.
In stealth games like Hitman, players complete their assassination by observing and exploiting their targets' patrol routes and behaviors. Players will still use the same process to assassinate the Inspector, but the caviar is that Inspector doesn't have a patrol route, and you cannot see his behaviors. He is a coward who likes to hide in his office, which means you have no idea about his patrol path or behaviors. However, players know that he will always stay in his office unless something unusual happens. So the question becomes how to get into his office. Or how to lure him out of his shell.
Your first main objective is always freeing Overseer Martin, locked inside the HQ. By limiting players' options and forcing them to explore the HQ, they would become familiar with important locations and routes. Once they find Martin and get his intel, players should have some ideas about what to do and where to do it.
Breaking into the Inspector's office is simple. Find the key to the office, steal the key, and unlock the office. On the other hand, luring him out requires players to pay attention to NPC dialogues and Martin's intel.
For example, some guards may mention rumors about a sexual relationship that the Police Inspector has with a prostitute at Hotel Eos (an original location that players can find at the beginning part of the level). Their conversation may even remind you about the location of the Hotel Eos. Once you find the prostitute, you unlock a hidden side quest. After completing her requests, she gives you more clues and agrees to help you; this unlocks new locations (Inspector's secret chamber in the basement) and ways to assassinate your target. (Note that players could accidentally discover the chamber during their exploration of the HQ)
Not everyone likes a complicated approach; most players may never fully experience every nuance of the game. But it's important to create possibilities that reward players' creative thinking, observation, and deduction skills.
Designing an Original Ability
My first idea was an ability called Domination: It creates a bond between two enemies. Two connected enemies shared damage. So when one was killed or knocked out, the same outcome would happen to the other. Unfortunately, I didn't know there was an ability called Domino in Dishonored 2, which has the same functionality.
My second idea was called Eruption: You store your magic power inside an object (like a pistol, a sword, or a pouch), turning it into a remote bomb that you can detonate.
The Inspector will summon all his private guards to his office when an alarm is triggered. You will learn this intel while talking to Overseer Martin. Private guards dress in different uniforms. One way to use this ability creatively is to use it on one of the private guards. Then you intentionally trigger the alarm (by getting seen by guards or tampering with an alarm), which sends all of his private guards to his office. Once your "walking bomb" is inside the office, denote it and knock out everyone in the office.
The ability is strong enough to shatter the window in the office. Players can then use Blink to enter the office through the broken window.
Things I've Learned
The biggest mistake I made was creating every room in the HQ, even all the bathrooms. There are a few problems:
Creating a large space that has no use in environmental design, storytelling, or gameplay is a waste of time.
Therefore, I had to put something there that fulfilled one of the three criteria, meaning extra work on gameplay, lighting, modeling, scripting, SFX, VFX, etc.
AAA studios can afford to create the extra for a more immersive experience (no one cares about toilets, but having them there can make the place feel more natural). But it was too much for just me. I could spend those time polishing important gameplay segments instead.
Something I should do was to "wall them off." Use non-transparent windows or locked doors to seal away places I don't want players to go. The sewer system was also unnecessarily large. Although, I could add enemies there, like the infected and rats. But to make encounters engaging, it would require a significant amount of time to redesign each part of the sewer for a specific enemy encounter. It would be more time-saving to shrink the sewers down and simplify the player path.
Design Documents & Map
Level Map
Dishonored Level.docx