Assignment Brief

This was a piece of group work done for a University Assignment. The team was made up of five members; three team members were games design students and two artists. The assignment brief was to analyse the look and feel of Left4Dead/Left4Dead2 in order to plan and then create an expansion pack for the game. The team decided to use Left4Dead2 and then played through each level multiple times to break down the mechanics behind the game. Once this was done a plan of the expansion had to be submitted before the levels could be created.
From the analysis of the Left4Dead franchise, it became clear that an expansion campaign would need between 3-5 levels, with the story progressing through each. The team decided to base the expansion around the University of Bolton campus, to get accurate measurements I tracked down a copy of the buildings blue-prints and then marked on the level paths, specific spawn locations, choke points and other bits of information to help implement each level. Some artistic licensing was used during this phase as some rooms which do not appear at the University where added to fit more in-line with the American setting of the campaign.
Once the level layouts had been completed, the artist started work creating assets which needed to be created for the level such as work desks, whiteboards and later in the projects development, basketball nets and hockey goals. I was in charge of creating the first three levels for the campaign, as well as the beginning and ending cinematic and the combining of the levels/safe room creation. The layouts were white boxed and tested by the team with only the default textures and AI added, which allowed us to get a feel for the levels speed as well as position obstructions along the path to force players down different routes.
After the level layout and paths had been tested, the level was meshed to look like a university with rooms being dedicated to different lectures such as science rooms, maths rooms and geography rooms. Appropriate decals and objects were used to give each room a distinct feel before each room was destroyed with tables, chairs and other objects being littered around to look like a struggle had happened. Scattered throughout the campaign are rooms which had failed resistance barricades set up. Finally blood and bodies were positioned to finish the look and feel of the campaign.
During the level design process the team decided that to fit in with the American setting a basketball court would be added. The artists working on the project created a ball and some nets, however after importing the ball the team observed some unexpected behaviour when they shot at the ball making it moved around the court. This was quite fun but didn't have any way to score or gain points so the team added an ice hockey ring which allowed the four players to slide around and shoot the ball into the goal with a scoreboard updating when they managed a score.
Once the levels were near completion the team went through and added a number of small details such as doors only opening 80degrees, as most doors in the real world do not open 90degrees. Signs and lighting changes were added to help guide the player down the correct path. Finally signs got added such as the University Logo and the seams of the carpets placed under doors to mimic the real work and keep the player more immersed.