Angela Wu
Game/Level Designer
Bloody Vengeance - Dying Light Developer Tools
Project Summary
Bloody Vengeance is a 15-minute single-player custom level of Dying Light. The player plays as a retired agent, John, who is hunted by the killer company. In this level, players can follow the linear path but need to figure out how to get out of the predicament and get out of the place they are being held, use strategy to survive in this zombie-infested world, and hunt down the boss of the company.
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Engine: Dying Light Developer Tool
Game: Dying Light
Develop Time: 3 Months
Playthrough Video
Design Varied Combat Encounters
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Human and zombie enemies.
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Design combat with different verticality.
Combat is designed to allow the player to engage with multiple types of enemies: ranged, melee, and zombie.There are a variety of weapons for the player to choose from, allowing players to pick the weapon that best fits their style while fighting.The combat is balanced so that the player can think of strategies to use cover and break out of the enemy fire.
Arena Combat
Linear path through various places
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Set 4 different theme environment.
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Linear path help player to navigate in the level.
Through the gameplay, player will be in different scenes which will create new interesting experiences. Different locations are set up in the game: home, company base, sewer, and office. These other locations add to the visual interest of the game and help solve the dullness of protracted battles. At the same time, it can also be interspersed with different types of enemies.
Level Layout Overview
Level Layout Overview - In Editor
Create Cinematic Scenes to Tell the Story
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Implement start and end cinematic scenes to show the game story.
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Adjust animation and camera movement to create fluent and exciting scenes.
I designed different cinematic scenes to tell the game story directly. I try to implement the John Wick movie style story in the game. The player plays as John Wick to have the revenge.
"After the virus outbreak, the whole world is full of zombies. Not many humans are left, but they are still killing each other for resources. Gradually the human survivors formed several more significant gangs, started companies, established settlements, and ruled their new worlds. John used to be a famous killer for the most prominent company until he met his true love and gave up his daily killing life to retire and live in peace with his wife. Everything looks good, but hidden secrets follow him from his past. The company’s boss was afraid that John would cause trouble eventually because he knew too much about the company, so he ordered an assassin to go to his house and take John back to the company."
Several cinematic scenes
Post-Mortem
What went well
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I managed to combine the highlights of the John Wick movie with the gameplay
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Base on feedbacks to adjust the combat gameplay.
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Successful set different movie scenes to tell the background story.
What went wrong
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Unanticipated enemy movement paths are difficult to control in Dying Light, resulting in some battles not being as difficult as expected.
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Because there was no quick test before doing boss combat, I could not realize some design ideas in the game. For example, the original design of the final defeating of the boss was to start the battle after playing the cut scene, but because of the character I chose, it can not be in combat.
What I learned
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Design ideas require quick practice to verify feasibility. For example, when designing a level with a game engine, some ideas cannot be implemented because the game engine's features are not supported. So rapid prototyping is critical, and designing a white box to test all the functionality prevents redo work.
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Consider multiple ways to convey players. For example, during the development of this level, I often get feedback that supplies or weapons cannot be found very well. After that, I used lighting to highlight essential items while using red color boxes to attract the player's attention.
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Use cinematic scenes to try to tell the background story of the game, give players context, and help them quickly immerse themselves in the game.