Cultist Castle
Unreal, First Person Shooter
Cultist Castle
Unreal, First Person Shooter
Cultist Castle
Unreal, First Person Shooter
Cultist Castle - First Unreal Project
Cultist Castle- Purpose
Created in Fall 2019, Cultist Castle is a First Person Shooter, designed around an Attack/Defense theme. After completing projects like Unity's Roll-a-ball tutorial in Spring '19 and toying around with their free 2D and 3D game kits, I wanted to try and learn other industry standard tools and tackled Unreal Engine 4.
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This project focuses on designing a First Person Shooter level, with enemy combatant AI's using the same tools as the player. Originally designated to be a multiplayer arena level, the core gameplay is similarly structure around the player moving throughout the area and fighting enemies from nearly all-sides.
Gameplay Video
Final version of Cultist Castle
Singple-Player Papermap for "FPS Game"
Papermap
As always, design and brainstorming work begins in a papermap. While initially I struggled to put myself in the head space for a multiplayer arena, I worked with mirroring and rotation to develop some of what I think were interesting spaces, using elevation, long line of sight, and "shortcut" pathways to sneak up on enemies.
After discovering I would be unable to work with real local enemy players, I pivoted the level design into a single-player experience.
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My intent for the level is to have to player begin in a pseudo-assault style mission, to clear the base from enemies. Then to capture the MacGuffin, and spend some time defending their position. The assault half of the mission should bring some exploration and develop familiarity with the level, then the defense would force the player to use what they remember of the level layout to find advantageous positions.
Whiteboxing
In order to prototype my space and get playtesting feedback from my friends, the next stage of development is to whitebox/greybox.​
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I made use of Unreal's Box Brush tools (BSP) to draw out the spaces as I designed them in the papermap. Some minor changes were made to accommodate the tools and my knowledge of how to use them, and the map remained mostly faithful to the plan.
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Some larger changes were made while creating the whitebox space, including moving the side-stairs in the lower left of the map to above the "Temple Room." I also enclosed the outside "Scaffolding" area to ensure the players did not fall out of my map.
Prototyped Level, Whitebox
Art Pass Week One: General Details
While my original theme/narrative pass for the level was along the lines of Indiana Jones stealing the Crystal Skull from the large warehouse,
due to asset limitations it transformed into a Cave/Castle, with a special Relic Room that had undertaken some environmental damage.
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In the first room of the level, the player sees the castle as it was, nearly pristine aside from the new mercenaries and their supply crates they leave lying around.
First area, Castle Exterior, General Art Pass
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The second room of the level is inside of a cave-space connected to the castle. Perhaps the castle was built into the nearby mountain for defense, and now in its destitute state the cave walls seem to have crumbled in an returned to nature.
The large statue prominent in the scene is foreboding towards what is to come. The final boss (found in the third room) is of a mystical nature, and this eerie horned man might make the player begin to wonder...
Second Area, Cave Shrine, General Art Pass
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The final room was left incomplete at the end of the first week, an area that needed some special touches in week two of the art pass. At this point, the cave walls extend into the ruined courtyard, with pillars crumbling all around. The Golden Relic (MacGuffin) awaits the player, seemingly undefended. Once picked up the final boss will spawn.
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For Week Two of my decoration phase, I fixed up the final room and begin seeding the evidence for the boss battle that awaits the player. By placing signs such as dead, charred corpses, and cryptic writing on the walls, I allude quite heavily about the explosive qualities of the boss.
Third Area, Ruined Courtyard, General Art Pass
Art Pass, Week Two: Narrative Pass
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I completed the rest of the asset drag & drop process to fill out the visuals of the level, and began placing smaller assets to help glue together the narrative of the level.
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I began back in the first courtyard, replacing the generic blocking volumes with crates and boxes. I hope this helps carry the message that these mercenaries have set up camp in a ruined castle, bringing modern equipment with them.
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I also interspersed the level with these boxes wherever I placed useful pick-ups, to tie in the idea that these are materials the mercs just left around for the player to use against them.
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I also added diagetic light source assets to most of the lighting in the level, including flaming torches in the more intact castle areas, and glowsticks in the rougher cave areas.
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Due to some constraints I was under during development of this project, I could not figure out the decals system in time for when I wanted this project to be done. I had to omit my plans for specially marked instances of crates, and signposting blood and other markers onto the walls.
Front Courtyard with Crates
"Ammo Room" with Glowsticks and other assets
What's Next?
After completing this level, I have sealed this away in a vault. Possibly to look back on and mark improvement over time, or possibly to pick up and transform into something more.
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I feel like I missed some opportunity to make the level both longer in gameplay, and more interesting and diverse throughout the gameplay. In my original design I intended to have each room self-sustaining in a way, and make the player stay in each room for a time, defending against waves of enemy spawns. Each room would somehow lock its doors, or have some boulders crumble and block them in, until the wave was defeated, then the player might find a key or open the next door. Then after fighting in each room, it would open up and become freely accessible for a final wave.
If scope was not an issue I would want to have small objectives in each room the player would have to defend, such as a Communications Terminal, or something special the mercenaries might steal away from the player. Something to pull the player into each room. As it stands, the enemy AI was not adjustable to make them do what I wanted and would simply roam around randomly once spawned.
Map Showcase
Visual Walkthrough of Level Design Elements
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