First person fast paced parkour experience
Idea:
What originally was meant as an auto-runner level project was reconsidered to an idea of a parkour level, where the player would have full control of their movement inputs. I tweaked the template metrics to fit my flow and the intended playable space.
I wanted to create something fast paced to keep the player on their toes and while I have only played Mirror's Edge demo at its release it was a logical choice for source of inspiration and starting point.​
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Project overview:
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Production Time: Around 70 hours
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Inspiration: Mirror's Edge
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Template: First-Person Parkour Starter Kit
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Engine: Unreal Engine 5
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Top down
Game beat curve
Office
​The level begins with giving the player an establishing shot, getting a good view of the end goal of the level, with
it being the highest skyscraping under construction.
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It is framed nicely in the window with the blue sky background behind it making it stand out. Together with the yellow accented cranes surrounding it, it makes for a good point of interest.
Rooftops
The first rooftop section serves as the introduction to the players different movement mechanics in a safe area.
1. Slide mechanic.
2. Climb mechanic.
3. Jump mechanic.
4. Ladder mechanic.
Enemies
As the player is unarmned, the enemies act as obstacles that the player must avoid confrontation with. In the first encounter, the player will be surprised by two enemies when kicking a door open. A curved wall catches the players eye and guides them in the right direction.
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In the next example, bait & switch design technique is appiled, prompting the player to turn around to reveal an alternative route to avoid enemy contact.
Spa building
The player enters the spa building by jumping down through the roof glass, landing safely in the pool area.
This is followed by another enemy encounter with the bait & switch as shown in the clip above.
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The player navigates to the roof and will eventually come to a halt at the first breather of the level.
Pause
With the nature of a fast paced level, where you never slow down I wanted to give the player some breathing space through out the level.
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The first breather is in a window cleaning elevator on the outside of a building, giving the player some time to look around, and observant players may even spot the escape vehicle - the helicopter waiting on top of the highest skyscraper.​
Skyscraper 1
After the breather and a very short section in Skyscraper 2 the player will have to make a very long jump to Skyscraper 1. Here I added a slow-down effect to the music and the world accompanied with a heart beat sound effect to establish a wow-moment.
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At this stage, the level will throw different combinations of enemies and requirements of movement at the player to overcome.
Rooftop bar
To break up the environment a bit from the recurring theme of construction I decided to add a rooftop bar as it fit the overall level from an aesthetic viewpoint. Another set of enemies awaits the player as soon as they land on the rooftop which follows with a quick interior section where the player again gain height in the level, giving some good views over both skyscrapers under construction.
Skyscraper 2
This area begins with the second breather in a longer elevator shaft that the player will ascend. This is followed by a series of difficult jumps and movements required to progress.
The player will traverse in and out of the building, using platforms and containers held by the big cranes surrounding the skyscraper. Once the top is reached, the heliopter will be in sight and the player can exit the level when the last jump from the crane to the helicopter is made.
Design techniques
Color coding
Interactable parts are highlighted with a red color, in true Mirror's Edge fashion, to help guide the player where to go next.
Other colors used are yellow for the big cranes to help the player orientate
themselves better on a bigger scale.
To break up the prominent gray color of the world slightly, brown was used at some parts, on boxes and scaffoldings for example.
Leading lines
Leading lines are prominent through out the level. With the use of pipes, planks, cranes and other types of assets, they point the player in the right direction.
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Open doors are pointing the player to the right path. Closed doors will open in a way that gives the player a natural feeling of where to go. For example if the player is supposed to go to the left after a door is kicked open, it will open to the right.
Guiding lights
Different lights help to direct the player.
In the dark interiors of the taller skyscraper
I used fitting construction lights to light up the path.
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Certain interior areas use bright emergency exit signs which guides the player.
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In outside areas I utilized the directional light to highlight platforms and legdes that the player needs to spot in the hasty moments of the level.
Full play through
Reflections
I am quite satisfied with the project with the limited time I had to create the level. I found a good balance between continuous fast game play with small breathing section and a good mix in the general game flow regarding enemies and the different movement mechanics required by the player.
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Given I would have more time I would have probably made the ending of the level more bombastic as I feel that the level may have flat lined a bit towards the very last stretch, but I might be overthinking it.
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In retrospect it would have been fun to script a mechanic for take-downs on enemies, perhaps coming up behind them to knock them out. This would allow to have added more varied enemy encounters without it being stale.