2024-10-30 21:15:57
This month we’re participating in Blocktober, highlighting the work of our talented Level Designers. For our last post, Sebastian McBride and Mariusz Kubów share a behind-the-scenes look at the main quest “The Killing Moon”.
As with most of the Space Port, the Maglev station went through heavy iteration — I think I made about 5 radically different versions of it. Knowing that this would be one of the last locations in Phantom Liberty that the player would engage in heavy combat, I pushed for a more circular approach when considering movement.
The location had to have a very nice flow to it and interesting, yet simple traversal loops were top priority. All of that is focused around the control booth which I knew would be both a focal point in the space but also integral to the quest flow. — Sebastian McBride
The Viewing Gallery offers a unique gameplay experience of moving through a location while under suppressing fire from a helicopter flying nearby. It serves as an example of how sometimes we keep on iterating on the location's fundamental elements — like its layout — deep into the production cycle and way past the blockout stage. In this case, I wanted to have more player engagement during the beat and a bit of Kishōtenketsu-type structure (initially the chopper pinning us down with gunfire was the only obstacle there), so the level flow had to be adjusted to incorporate that.
There's also the Rule of Cool in play here, as the rocket hanging under the ceiling was added late during the development to add more dynamic elements to the environment, totally-not-just because I've prototyped a big, swinging object and I thought it would be cool for the turrets (or even V) to shoot it down accidentally. — Mariusz Kubów
Sebastian McBride: https://x.com/darthsebious
Mariusz Kubów: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariusz-kubow/
2024-10-23 23:59:18
This month we’re participating in Blocktober, highlighting the work of our talented Level Designers. Now up: Sebastian McBride sharing a behind-the-scenes look at the “Dicky Twister Club” location.
This blockout was done relatively quickly around the middle of the project. I wanted a location where the player could lean into a non-hostile experience that they could walk around in before switching up to more traditional stealth gameplay. The goal was to embrace the tone and vibes of stealth game staples but done the Cyberpunk 2077 way.
The idea of the main office overlooking the whole club was something I leaned into early on. The moment you enter the club, the objective is right in front of you: you see your goal and now you have to figure out how to get there. The club owner overlooking the location with the stage “'extending” out in front of him was absolutely intentional innuendo. I guess he had a bit of a complex.
Sebastian McBride:
https://x.com/darthsebious
2024-10-16 23:33:29
This month we're participating in Blocktober, highlighting the work of our talented Level Designers. This time around, Andrzej Giełzak shares a behind-the-scenes look at the Minor Quest “No Easy Way Out”.
This location was initially planned out and drafted as a Main Quest location, but we ended up adapting to the smaller location scope of a Minor Quest. Working closely with Jakub Skoneczny, our quest designer, we attempted to get the most of existing layout, allowing the experience to play out in a single open space, without compromising footprint of existing location and it's role in the district.
The first image shows the Main Hall Entrance, which was designed to create the feeling of progression through the galleries. Establishing an open space in the middle with a landmark — a giant robot statue — was crucial to providing the player with a strong reference point, as the act of going in a spiral around the gallery could easily have led to spatial confusion. It was important to design the gallery with a layout that would be logical in the “original” state of the building, while its derelict state of the building as well as the damage and modifications done by Scavs allowed us to break the open plan and create obstacles and challenges for the player to overcome. Senior Environment Artist Albertus Januardy did a great job of extending the few accents from the blockout into a full-fledged, disgusting Scavenger Hideout.
The paths for different playstyles were designed to convey that same upwards progression. In combat, enemies retreat upwards as their numbers dwindle, pulling you upwards in pursuit. For those using the netrunner path, the cameras were sequentially arranged by floors and always included a glimpse of the landmark as you hopped between them. For players focused on agility, we designed the location to feature opportunities to continue upwards using double or charged jumps.
The second blockout features the ripperdoc’s office, which was blocked out in comparatively low detail as its layout was dictated later by the needs of the Cinematics team. From the perspective of tying the location together, the presence of the window to the main gallery was crucial, with the added bonus of seeing the key landmark from it. Lighting played a crucial role in tying both spaces together, which was deftly handled by Senior Lighting Artist Marcin Stępień.
Andrzej Giełzak:
https://www.artstation.com/andrzejgiezak
2024-10-10 22:38:26
This month, we’re participating in Blocktober to highlight the work of our talented Level Designers! For our second post, Marta Dobińska shares her process behind creating an Increased Criminal Activity location in the Luxor Heights spa complex.
For the planned mini-boss fight here, I knew that I wanted to provide an open space that would allow for different approaches, including stealth, and would make it possible to circle around enemies in combat. At the same time, I wanted to use a unique theme that would allow me to shape the space believably and create a setting that is interesting in its own right. Together with Piotr Ruszkiewicz, the Environment Artist for this area, we decided on a luxurious pool complex, allowing me to use empty pool basins, rock decorations, and jacuzzi bathtubs to create stealth paths and combat spaces.
Once Dogtown was taken over by Kurt Hansen, construction in the district stopped, so Luxor Heights was never fully built. I decided to use abandoned scaffoldings to provide verticality, including higher-located paths with a better overview of the hall. The theme the location was built around resulted in interesting ideas for the mini-boss fight, with the use of water and electricity providing a twist to the encounter. Ayo Zarin, the enemy group leader, has implants that allow her to use electricity to regenerate — in the second half of the fight, she retreats to the water-filled pool and uses electricity to create a more hazardous battle for the player.
Marta Dobińska:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marta-dobinska/
2024-10-04 02:16:27
This month we’re participating in Blocktober to highlight the work of our talented Level Designers! First up is Bartłomiej Pyrko, sharing a behind-the-scenes look at the level design for the gig “The Man Who Killed Jason Foreman”.
First, I wanted to determine the dimensions and general flow of the area with an early, very basic, and raw version of the blockout. The entire boss fight was designed with a minimum of three exits from each room, encouraging continuous movement in a circular pattern — and with plenty of cover spots for the player. This design was made to give the player freedom of movement throughout the whole battle.
From the very beginning, I knew I wanted a pretty tough boss here. The entire hotel was designed to be unsettling, with a touch of horror mixed in, and for the final fight, I wanted to create a true hell on earth: a dense atmosphere with flickering, burning red lights, home to a deadly and quick boss.
During development, it was crucial for me to go through multiple iterations with an Environment Artist, Lighting Artist, and Sound Designers to ensure we achieved an uneasy and even disturbing atmosphere. The tension builds into a tense and dreadful nightmare for the boss fight — followed by relief once players discover Leon Rinder’s condition afterwards.
Bartłomiej Pyrko:
https://x.com/BartPyrko
https://www.linkedin.com/in/pyrko
https://www.instagram.com/bartekpyrko
https://www.threads.net/@bartekpyrko?xmt