Cold War Base

After playing Ghost Recon : Breakpoint I decided to take the plunge and try my hand at level design, creating a blockout from scratch in Unreal.

Personal Goals:

I wanted to challenge myself by designing a space, from start to finish, for a game that is by a studio that I would like to one day work at. The key objectives I wanted to focus on was designing a space that fitted into the Ghost Recon Universe. Meaning a spaces that:

supports a mission objective with replayability
allows for different play styles, like stealth or aggressive
is fun to play as a single player but could also support co-op 1-4 players
allows the player to feel a sense of mastery of the space as they are able to leverage the environment to their advantage

Level Objective:

The player must infiltrate an abandoned Cold War Radar Base on the island of Auroa as part of Ghost Recon Breakpoint universe. The base has been taken over by Sentinel who are using the space as a communications hub, the player is tasked with entering the base and recovering vital intel. The base is located in the area of the boreal forest of the Auroa island and is surrounded by a steep cliff at the back and mossy, green alpine forest flanking the sides and entrance. Depending on the time of day and weather the gameplay experience will be unique each time.

Designing the Level

References:

Before starting to design the space I gathered as much reference as I could to give me a greater understanding of how I wanted the layout to look and feel. The Buildings within the area will look similar to these Cold War period buildings

Since I was designing a space for a specific game, I gather references from Ghost Recon Breakpoint to ensure I was designing something that would believably fit within the world of Breakpoint:

The Mission

Most spaces in the Ghost Recon: Breakpoint contain intel that the player needs to collect, either as a way to progress a mission or to gain blueprints for better equipment. I’ve include both types of intel for the player to find, the mission specific intel needs to be interact with to be documented while the blueprints can be found in loot boxes through out the base . To complete the mission the player must make their way into the hostile base and recover five pieces of intel spread throughout the area.

As the base is a communications hub for Sentinel, the intel the player needs to find and document is vital for the player to find their next target, allowing them to progress a large storyline. In order to complete the mission the player will need to:

Locate all 5 piece of intel, this can be done by exploring the level or by sending a drone to recon the location first.
Then they will need to interact with the each piece of intel separately, such as taking pictures of physical documents, hacking a computer and backing up the contents to a memory stick.

Layouts

Playstyles

This level has been designed to support multiple playstyles, from the slower stealthier approached to the more direct aggressive route.

By utilising the cover of the environment, the player is able to approach the base in full stealth. This will take the most amount of time but will limit the possible damage to the player and means the mission can be completed without alerting the enemy to the players’ presence.

The player can also take the direct combat approach, such as launching a rocket at a group of the enemy AI, this will not only take out a group of enemies but also use the chaos to their advantage to aggressively push through the camp. The player can also enter the base via the guarded entrance for a direct and aggressive combat approach.

Game Play Possibilities and Opportunities

In order to enter the base, the player can:

Breach the fence if going for a stealthier approach
If the player has access to a helicopter/plane they can fly over the plant and parachute in for a stealthy or aggressive approach
Walk or drive through the guarded gate for an aggressive combat approach

Once in the base the player has a number of options. If they wants an advantage over the enemy they can sabotage the generators, at night this will knock out the exterior flood lights connected to that generator, giving the player an advantage. Exploding the generator can also be used to create a distraction, drawing the enemy to that one locations allowing the player to sneak around the facility or pick them off in the one spot.

To kill the lights, the player can:

Combat approach:
- Throw grenades at the generators to blow it up
- Shoot the generators from a distance to blow it up
- Attach C4 to the generator and then blow it up from a distance to distract the enemy and use the confusion for a surprise ambush
Stealth approach:
- Approach the generators and sabotage though this will alert the enemy AI to
  your presence but not the players exact location
- shoot the lights out individually, this will make the enemy closest to the light aware of the players location but will not reveal the players location or notify the whole base like sabotaging the generator does.

Small, mobile generators attached to individual lights will need to be shot or destroyed with C4/grenade and cannot be disabled by sabotaging the main generator.

Completing the objective will result in the player gaining resources and better equipment; with the intel recovered providing the player with the location of other outposts or areas of interest.