Week 9

Following on from last week I am considering moving the dropship encounter to the end of the level. I think this would be a better solution as it would make for a climactic end to the ambush and create a situation where the player must make one final push to escape. The sequence will evolve scripted event where a combine dropship lands outside of the apartment, leading to a final gunfight with the combine descending from the ship.

Later in the week, I have decided against making the dropship encounter because I feel that the combat would feel conventional, like Call of Duty rather than the technical and enclosed combat experience I want. By saying 'more technical' and 'enclosed' I mean fighting in enclosed spaces like stairwells and apartments, focusing on using the gravity gun to overcome obstacles and using scripted events to direct the player and create dramatic tension.

I have now begun working on an ending where the player must reach a subway entrance to escape gunfire from a pursuing combine helicopter. I am deciding to design the ending this way instead because I think it will give me better opportunities use scripted events to help create tension.

I believe that this ending also has a more logical flow and reasoning behind it. For example, the player escaping through the subway makes sense for the player if they are being chased by a helicopter or gunship, as it would allow them to avoid its gunfire. 

Figure 12: A screenshot taken from the High Overseer Campbell mission showing the perspective of the courtyard (Dishonored, 2012).

I also looked at some inspiration to help me design the layout. I specifically looked at Dishonoured because I like the detail and intricacy of level design in the immersive sim genre. While watching an analysis of a Dishonored 1 level (LEE. 2023), I was particularly inspired by a section where the player enters a courtyard and is given an eagle-like viewpoint of the area (See Figure 12). I found this section inspiring because it gives the player a clear view of where they are going and allows them to see potential stealth opportunities. Although I am not making a stealth level, this has made me consider creating a similar vantage point so the player can see the subway entrance and the route they will go on to get there. Next week I plan on starting the design for the layout of the ending section and designing some scripted events to be played within it.