Objective of this Project
In the original level, the player enters Mausoleum of the Arbiter in the middle of warring Covenant factions, effectively making them a pig in the middle of the war that both sides want dead, but the player can avoid being caught in the middle of the conflict by staying back and letting the Covenant factions fight each other and the player finishing off what’s left of the battlefield.
Following a deep analysis of the original level, I wanted to create further ways for the player to traverse the level through object placement, creating additional areas for the player and enemies to use as cover and/or use to gain an advantage in combat (i.e. getting on the higher ground). A further improvement I wanted to make was to create a much darker, sombre scene using lighting methods.
Moodboard of the original interior of the Mausoleum of the Arbiter from Halo 2
Moodboard of the exterior of the Mausoleum of the Arbiter from Halo 2 and Halo 2 Anniversary
I analysed the original Mausoleum of the Arbiter level, noting down the level flow, breaking down the layout of the environment, including looking at places for cover and/or possible places for the player to navigate the level, and critiquing the original level for possible improvements to be made, such as looking into creating a version of the level with darker lighting. View my blog post containing a detailed analysis of the original the the process of making the level blockout here.
Following the analysis and listing out the requirements, I began to create the level blockout in Unreal Engine 4 using BSP Geometry brushes and a Blockout Tool containing primitive shapes. Afterwards, I worked with the level lighting and adjusted it in terms of brightness, light range/distance and colour until I achieved a dimly lit environment where it was still possible for the player to see without difficulty while maintaining the illusion of a much darker environment. This was followed by placing physics-based objects, specifically primitive objects such as cubes, and weapon pickups for the player to use and interact with as they play the level.
The final top-down of the level, showing enemy placements, weapon placements and intended player routes
What Worked?
➤ Deconstruction of the original level to work out how the level should play and inform the base blockout
➤ Achieved improved lighting that created the intended effect of a darker level without having a negative effect on the player's ability to navigate the level
➤ Making use of blockout tools to recreate the original environment in addition to making further additions to improve the level feel
➤ Achieved the intended reflective recreation of the original level and added further additions to the level for the player to use as cover
➤ Placed objects in ways that the player could use to open new paths in the level, an example of this is the use of two physics-based objects placed by a wall that the player can shoot down to create a new ramp up to higher ground
What could be improved?
➤ Looking into alternative methods of blocking out the level, such as making more use of blockout tool plugins and/or primitive shapes built into Unreal Engine 4 due to risks of performance issues when using BSP geometry, particularly when running builds on older hardware, however, this shows abilities in optimisation and making the level more accessible to a wider range of hardware and audiences.
➤ Creating a level mockup using image manipulation software such as Photoshop or GIMP to plan the level before building it in engine to better plan out object placements and working out the level's exact scale.
➤ During the polishing stage, I found that the level had a lot of wide-open spaces in addition to potentially boring scenarios where the player is walking in a straight line at the beginning and end of the level. This was resolved by placing additional objects to use as cover and/or obstacles for the player to navigate around
➤ Progress on the level design was slower than anticipated due to putting attention on programming elements, but this is not an entirely bad thing as it demonstrates my ability to script gameplay elements into my level designs.