Johan Lundgren
Level Design
![A first person adventure. Escape from the sinking freight ship. The level was created for [***Steve Lee's Level Design Jam 9.***]{#FFD029} 3 weeks of work, part time.](assets/images/gallery01/e5ae8527.jpg?v=9ffe2776)
Genre
First person action platformer
Role
Level Design
Team size
10
Time
7 Weeks
Tools
Unreal Engine 5, Perforce, Miro, Jira, Figma
Concept
FLESHBOUND is a fast paced demon-slaying action platformer.
You traverse unique and dangerous environments by utilizing abilities like dash, wall-run and grapple.
Explore the environments vertically through launchpads and see the world from a different perspective through the gravity flippers. Slay vile demons all along the way.You play as Endo, a human incarcerated in Hell inside the fleshy walls of the Manifold, cocooned in place and slowly morphing into a demon. One day a parasite attaches itself to Endo and begins communicating with him, offering a chance to escape his prison.. Run!
Level Design
As the sole level designer on FLESHBOUND, I was responsible for crafting the game's environments and ensuring they supported the fast-paced gameplay, blending challenge and exploration.My main goal of the Level Design was to make sure that the levels would fit both the gameplay and the narrative beats and hopefully achive a sense of flow.Level Design Pillars:Flow: Through fast movement, clear mechanics and paths the player should feel a sense of flow.Excitement: Traversing the levels should feel fast and exciting.Mastery: Playing through the game multiple times, the player should feel the joy of increased mastery.Power: The player should feel their power increase from the introduction of new mechanics.Vertigo: The surroundings moving and time altering should give a sense of vertigo.
Process
Once we decided on making a platforming game I started researching similar games similar games for level design inspiration.
I found some great talks from the Neon White team and especially from the team behind Ghostrunner.
Some notes I took regarded linear levels, clear paths, creating small segments of the level (arenas).
I got inspired by Ghostrunners level structure, splitting the levels up in distinct parts. and having clear goals for the levels.Once we had the first gameplay mechanics somewhat nailed down, I started testing scale and getting measurements for platforms, wallrun-walls etc.
Getting the rough metrics down quickly made designing the levels much faster and simpler and the artist could get to work on environment assets quickly.
I then started making level layout sketches, again focusing on the mechanics first. The sketches were first made on paper but in order to keep the group updated I made versions in Figma and put it up on our Miro.In collaboration with the artists, I helped establish a color scheme. where yellow would guide the player’s path. I specifically requested yellow props to ensure a clear visual language that directs player navigation.The first level I made was the testing area, the "Gym" or "Gameplay garden" where we could test and tune mechanics and get a sense of how the game would look and play.
I then blocked out the levels one by one, saving the Tutorial and Boss levels for last. Tested and iterated upon the levels and eventually made the first artpass where I swapped out meshes.I designed the levels as a sequence of mechanics/moves first and geometry and environment second, effectively creating obstacle courses:
WALLRUN → GRAPPLE → GRAPPLE → DASH → WALLRUN → DASH
The Levels
Tutorial Level "Pupal Colony"
Introducing the mechanics , I wanted the level to be linear and introduce the mechanics one at a time.
The player should be able to try the mechanics to progress and then practice them a second time.
A low amount of enemies and they should be placed in locations beneficial for the player.
Level 1 "Bilious Rapture"
The player should be able to hone their abilities and skill. More enemies are introduced, adding another layer of difficulty for the player.
Level 2 "Subsumed Anguish"
Further ramp up in difficulty. The player is facing more enemies and can use the mechanics to traverse the level more freely.
More verticality. There are platforms higher up and further down the player can reach.
The end of the level is a tough parkour climb up to the boss.
The climb is indicating to the player that they are ascending to a significant moment in the game.
Boss Level "Cor Cordium"
Panopticon arena. The boss is in the tower overlooking the "prison". The player needs to destroy the parts of the tower to expose the boss and kill it.
The boss should challenge the player and make them use everything they have learned along the way.
Splitting up the levels in different sections
I split up the levels into different sections.
By utalizing sublevels I could move sections around to establish good pacing with peaks and troughs.Sections:
1. Movement/speed where the player traverses the environment in varied ways and get to explore the different mechanics, grapple points, wallrun, launchpads and gravity flips. There could be some enemies in these sections but traversal was the main goal of these sections.2. Combat where the player needs to clear an arena of enemies in order to progress, here the goal was to explore combat in different ways. I would have liked to put more of these sections in but the functionality of the enemies where defined quite late into the project.3. Narrative The narrative sections were supposed to be very lite on platforming and have no combat so that it wouldn’t interfere with the narrative conversations. For these areas the goal was to make interesting locations with vistas or small narrow corridors so the player had something to look at and do. I think I could have added more lite platforming to keep player engagement but after initial game design discussions this was not as appreciated.
A dynamic timeline of the game where different sections could be moved around.
Retrospective
All in all I am very happy and proud of what me and the team managed to achieve in 7 weeks.
There are however some things I would have liked to improve or change.
Combat areas
Some players were confused by having to clear the combat rooms of enemies to progress.
I could have resolved this by having a smaller area in the tutorial where two or three enemies would be placed in front of a locked door and had to be slain in order to progress.
Buttons
The buttons were first introduced in the boss level. The player had to shoot or press the buttons in order to expose the boss and make it vunerable.
This was not clear enough. I would have liked to introduce the button mechanic earlier on by "Gateing" meaning showing the door before the key or in this case the button.One solution I implemented was placing glowing vains that pulsated from the buttons to the boss, indicating that the buttons would effect the boss in some way.
Branching paths
I initially aimed to incorporate more branching paths to enhance player exploration. However, refining the design to focus on clearer and more direct routes ultimately proved to be the right decision, considering the scope and timeframe of the project.
This approach allowed for a more streamlined experience while maintaining the core gameplay's intensity and focus.
Genre
First person stealth
Time
2.5 weeks
Team size
Individual Project
Tools
Unreal Engine, Miro, Trello, Figma
Concept
The level was designed as a stealth experience where players must navigate tight spaces, solve environmental puzzles, and avoid guards to reach freedom.
The level emphasizes environmental storytelling, with cues that convey the prison's history and the player's desperate situation.The gameplay include moving objects, sneaking past patrols, and exploring multiple escape paths to reach freedom.The primary objective is to create a tense, immersive experience that rewards exploration and situational awareness.
Process
I started out by researching prison architecture and gathered photos and videos for references.
This provided great inspiration for layouts and escape scenarios and ensured architectural plausibility.I then started planning the level in text, throughout the project I revisit the document and update it.
In the text I am stating my goals, questions, ideas and most importantly "the sequence" or how the level will play from start to finish.I then started sketching out the rough layout of the level, and revisited it and improved upon it.
The level blockout focused alot on flow and sightlines.
Playtests were conducted after each iteration to fine-tune pacing, player guidance, and difficulty. Environmental storytelling elements, like scrawled escape plans and discarded inmate belongings, were added during later passes to enhance immersion.
Level design
Prison Cell & First Escape: The level begins in a confined cell, introducing the player to the escape theme. A visible hole in the wall behind the bed encourages exploration. Through the window, the guard tower is highlighted by a searchlight, serving as a landmark to orient the player.
Ventilation System: Crawling through vents creates a sense of claustrophobia and introduces environmental storytelling via a peeping hole that shows guards talking.
Boiler Room: The player navigates under pipes to avoid detection, with lighting guiding the path. Two exits offer a choice: a direct but riskier route or a hidden path that rewards observant players.
Delivery Room: Guards unload supplies in a well-lit area. The player stacks boxes to reach the rafters and sneak above the guards, creating tension and offering vertical gameplay.
The Yard: The escape route is visible near the guard tower, with searchlights adding urgency. Players choose between two paths: climbing onto a guard hut to avoid detection or sprinting to a shed leading to a tunnel.
Breif
We had to adhere to a set of rules:
A footprint no greater than 100m by 100m
No more than two levels of verticality
There must be a way out of the level, and this way out must be located through exploration
The exploration must be supported by elements of environmental storytelling (consider the space, how props are used, lighting or sound)
There must be a theme to the space(why does it exist, and how is this reinforced through the composition of the space)
Research and follow basic architectural principles relevant to the theme
I interpreted these constraints by designing a compact prison space with interconnected rooms and corridors.
The guard tower served as a central landmark, reinforcing player orientation. Exploration was rewarded with hidden paths, alternate routes, and narrative clues embedded in the environment.
Architectural realism was maintained by referencing real prison layouts, focusing on narrow hallways, security features, and utility spaces like the boiler room.
Retrospective
While the level effectively guides the player and creates tension, some areas could benefit from greater interactivity and replayability. For example, the boiler room could include more complex pipe navigation or a small puzzle to enhance player engagement.Additionally, the yard’s layout could be more dynamic, with debris or obstacles to provide more cover and exploration opportunities.Feedback from playtests also suggested that the guards’ presence could feel more active, even without AI, through audio cues like radio chatter or footsteps. In future iterations, I would experiment with more dynamic lighting and sound design to amplify immersion.
Genre
First person adventure
Time
3 weeks half-time
Team size
Individual project
Tools
Unreal Engine, Github, Miro, Trello, Figma
Concept
The level was made as an application to Steve Lee's Level Design Jam 9Set aboard a sinking cargo ship in the midst of a violent storm the player must traverse the ship from the bridge area at the front, to a lifeboat at the stern.
Navigate through the hazardous environment and solve simple environmental puzzles.
Highlight environmental storytelling with the ship’s damaged state and chaotic atmosphere.
Level with a small footprint, more verticality.
Use traversal mechanics and environmental hazards to build tension.
Incorporate environmental puzzles that teach mechanics.
Create a sense of progression from confined spaces to a open and grand.
Level Design
I tried to structure the level so that the tension is steadily increasing.The player begin near the bridge, the end goal of the lifeboat is framed from the very start.Early on, a blocked doorway introduces and teach the mechanic of picking up and moving objects.
Reaching the bridge it is revealed via CCTV that the ship is taking on water, hurry!The path to the lifeboat features escalating challenges: platforming across cargo containers, a collapsing floor as a dramatic "point of no return"
and a flooded, claustrophobic corridor.
In the engine room, players face loud, disorienting machinery while moving boxes to reveal a ladder. Finally, in the storage area, players must stack boxes to climb through a vent, reinforcing the carry mechanic: teach, test, twist.The level concludes with the dissoriented player getting back up on deck finding their bearings and a climactic ascent to the lifeboat.
Process
The design process started with planning the level in text, stating my goals, questions, ideas, the sequence of the level/beats and mechanics needed.
I then started gathering references, looking at different types of ships as well as ships in other games, I then started to plan the layout of the ship.When planning the layout I wanted the ship to make sense and feel like a realistic freight ship whilst maintaining a clear focus on player experience and pacing.When blocking out the ship I started by creating the rough layout of the ship first and then tweaking and populating it to support the gameplay. I tried to incorporate confined and tension-filled spaces and more open spaces.Iteration was key. Regular playtesting with classmates gave adjustments to traversal mechanics, the puzzle design, environmental hazards and the clarity of the player path.
Technical Implementation
To really sell the feeling of being on a ship it had to move in a realistic way.
I designed the entire ship as a parent blueprint. This allowed me to manage the ship's movement and integrate interactive elements seamlessly.Parent-Child Blueprint System:
The ship blueprint acts as the parent, with child blueprints for interactive elements like doors, a collapsing floor, ladders and other gameplay objects. This system ensured modularity, making it easy to manage and update individual components.Dynamic Ship Movement:
I used a timeline within the parent blueprint to simulate the ship’s movement, mimicking the effects of rough waves during a storm. This added immersive and unpredictable feel to the level.Blockout and Blueprint Workflow:
During the design process, I placed a static blockout of the ship alongside the blueprint version. This allowed me to iterate on gameplay, ensuring precise alignment between level design and functionality. The blockout served as a reference for proportions and flow while refining mechanics within the blueprint ship.
Retrospective
I am happy with the result of the level and how the Level Design Jam went. However, there are areas for improvement.
The goal was to make a small level, yet I believe there is a lot of underutilized space. The level is also very linear. If I were to redo it I would use the underutilized space to create optional exploration paths to give players more agency and variety.
I would lean in to the environmental storytelling more. I had a narrative planned out for the level where the player would find clues to what happened to the ship, where the crew went and how the player ended up in this position. I think a mysterious narrative would add much to the experience.
The flooded corridor, while effective in creating tension, could benefit from additional interactive elements to break up its linearity. The transitions between certain sections, such as the engine room and storage area, could feel more seamless with stronger visual and environmental cues.
I would explore more dynamic environmental effects such as rising water, more collapsing/moving parts and time pressure to further heighten the stakes.
Post-mortem feedback from Paris, (ex-Arkane level designer, now at Valve.)
Some insights based on feedback from Paris;
The level effectively captures the architecture of a sinking ship with strong theming, varied locations, and an engaging opening vista. However, the stakes could be better conveyed through gameplay rather than dialogue such as flooding rooms forcing quick reactions. The ship’s instability could also be emphasized further with physics hazards, timed sequences, or underwater sections. While the player fully explores the ship, adding more friction and reactive challenges would enhance tension.
Genre
Third person stealth and action
Time
4 Weeks
Team size
Individual project
Assets used
AdventureGameLocomotionSystem (AGLS)
Blockout Starter Pack
Tools
Unreal Engine, Github, Miro, Trello
Concept
A stealth-combat experience set in a tucked away naval base. The player must infiltrate the base, sabotage a submarine and escape under heavy pursuit.I try to encourage improvisation, and create rewarding strategic stealth and intense combat encounters.
Infiltrate → Sabotage → Escape
Level Flow
1. Exterior Approach: Scouting enemy patrols and possible infiltration routes.
2. Storage Area: A strategic ambush opportunity where players can observe and plan, turn off lights for cover of darkness. tension is increasing.
3. Courtyard: Multiple entry points encourage dynamic movement, with a guard tower posing a major threat.
4. Logistics & Control Area: A tense interior space offering stealth or close-quarters combat.
5. Submarine Dock: The mission’s climax, transitioning from controlled ambush to desperate escape.
6. Lighthouse Escape: The climactic vertical finale, forcing the player up to the lighthouse.
Intended tension - graph
Level Design and Techniques
Cover Placement & Combat Encounter Design
Balancing stealth and combat required carefully placed cover. Too much and players feel safe, too little and they feel forced into combat.The cover placement manipulates enemy vision and patrol paths. Different types of cover encourage dynamic use.The level is structured around distinct combat encounters, each designed to challenge the player in different ways and support multiple playstyles.
Combat Encounter 1: Storage Area
The player has the upper hand, able to study enemy patrol-patterns before engaging.
Combat Encounter 2: Courtyard
The player is given multiple approaches, each with different risks. A clear stealth route around the heavily guarded center.
Combat Encounter 3: Submarine Dock
A shift from stealth to chaos as the alarm triggers an enemy response. The player must either hold their ground or flee, using cover dynamically.
Foreshadowing and Points of interest
The lighthouse acts as a reccuring landmark, visible from multiple points in the level, it helps the player with orientation.The intro sequence helps foreshadowing parts of the level aswell as making the goal of destroying the submarine clear.Framed from the very start is:
The submarine entrance.
The hidden path into the base and its guard patrol.
The lighthouse, where the climax takes place.
Contrasting spaces
I tried to create distinct spaces that contrast in size, openness and enemy population, creating dynamic pacing and flow.Confined Spaces:
Tight corridors and rooms in the logistics and control area heighten tension and encourage stealthy navigation.Expansive Spaces:
Open areas like the courtyard and submarine dock allow for strategic planning and improvisation.Transition Spaces:
Areas like the exterior approach or the courtyard shortcut ease players into the next space, providing opportunities to reset and strategize.
Pre-production
Reference Gathering
Planning
The first steps of the project was planning the project in text, stating goals, elements and the sequence.I planned out different layouts using bubble diagrams. The layout had to make sense and play well.
I used Trello to keep track of my tasks and progress.
Research
Insights from The Level Design Book influenced key design decisions:
Combat Level Design: Levels should consist of multiple and varied combat encounters to maintain engagement.
Stealth vs Combat Cover: In stealth, cover is used to manage vision, movement, and positioning. In combat, cover is used for protection and tactical engagement.
Variety: Levels should support multiple approaches, avoiding a single "best" strategy.
Tactics: Encounters should allow players to improvise based on their style and available tools.
I took great inspiration from games like Splinter Cell and Sniper Elite. Sniper Elite influenced the emphasis on reconnaissance with longer sightlines. Splinter Cell inspired me to allow the player to turn off lights.
Both games highlight the importance of player agency, rewarding careful planning while allowing for improvisation when things go wrong.
Layout
Iterations
Top down
Blockout
Gym level
Before starting the level blockout I created a gym level where I defined metrics, tested scale and different mechanics.
I went back to the gym level throughout the project whenever I needed to test new mechanics or scripts.
Initial Blockout (Whitebox)
The first pass of the blockout focused on defining the overall structure of the level, establishing key locations, and ensuring a logical flow between areas.
The main goals were:
Establishing the major spaces (Storage Area, Courtyard, Logistics & Control, Submarine Dock, Lighthouse Escape).
Framing the submarine entrance, using the terrain as subtle guiding lines.
Making sure the lighthouse landmark is visible from multiple key points.
Ensuring a strong balance between open and confined areas to control pacing.
Iteration & Playtesting
Later stages of the blockout focused more on tweaking enemy patrol-paths and cover placement, trying to balance difficulty and supporting both stealth and action.After playtesting and feedback several key adjustments were made:
Adjusted transition areas to create better breathing room between encounters.
Dock overlook: The player is guided to a position where they get an overlook of the dock, initially you had to backtrack to the storage but based on feedback I created a shortcut to the courtyard. This made the level flow better.
Courtyard: Improved visibility of stealth paths and refined cover to make sneaking more viable.
Logistics & Control: Introduced tighter spaces and alternative routes to emphasize tension and slow down pacing.
Dock Area: Adjusted enemy placement and cover to reinforce the ambush aswell as increasing the amount of enemies spawning. This ensured players felt like they had to escape.
Retrospective
Overall I am happy with the development process. The thorough pre-production and research allowed for a smooth and well structured 4 weeks.
I belive the level successfully delivers on its core design goals, offering multiple playstyles and a good balance between stealth/combat.
Iterations throughout development refined the experience, but with more time, further AI improvements and more interactive elements could elevate the level even further.
What went well:
Pre-production and research played a big role in shaping the levels pacing, encounter design, and the stealth/combat hybrid approach.
The blockout captured the intended level flow, providing clear combat beats and transition areas that balanced tension and player agency.
The project was well organized and followed the schedualed plan.
Playtesting helped refine sightlines, cover placement, and movement options.
Areas for Improvement:
While the level encourages player improvisation, additional interactive elements such as environmental traps, explosive barrels and distraction objects could further enhance emergent gameplay.
Providing more tools for players to manipulate their surroundings would deepen both the stealth and combat.
The enemy AI functions well within the level design, but further exploration into enemy behaviors, could create a more immersive and challenging experience.
This page is under construction!
Genre
Third person action horror set in the DEAD SPACE universe
Time
1 weeks of pre-production and 2 weeks of level blockout and iteration
Team size
Individual project
Assets used
AdventureGameLocomotionSystem (AGLS)
Blockout Starter Pack
Tools
Unreal Engine, Github, Miro, Trello
Concept
The level is based in the DEAD SPACE universe.
DEAD SPACE is an action horror game."You are Isaac Clarke, an engineer on the spacecraft USG Ishimura. You're not a warrior. You're not a soldier. You are, however, the last line of defense for the remaining living crew."As the player wakes up from a coma they will soon realize that they are in grave danger. The player needs to find a way to escape.
The design of the level is centered around creating dynamic and unpredictable combat scenarios by leveraging the distinct behaviors of different enemy archetypes.
The goal is to immerse the player in an environment where each enemy type interacts with the space in unique ways, forcing the player to adapt and use the environment to their advantage.
The design is split into two distinct phases: a traversal sequence from Point A to Point B, followed by a high-stakes defense section where the player is gradually overwhelmed, requiring quick, strategic decision-making.
Goals
The level was created during the Advanced Level Design course at Futuregames. The main focus of the course was design rationale and Design Framework. Research → Plan → Prove the fun → FinalizeThese were the level goals provided by the teacher, tailored for DEAD SPACE:
Design a level that leverages specific enemy archetypes to create dynamic, unpredictable combat scenarios. Each type of enemy should be used to exploit different aspects of the environment, making the player think on their feet (You don’t have to use all archetypes, focus on interesting pairings and combinations)
The level should contain a get from Point A to Point B part and then a defend part that overwhelms the player forcing in-the-moment decision making by the player.
Pay particular attention to the pacing and how the defend part ramps up in stress-level/difficulty and how different AI archetypes are introduced and combined as part of this experience.
The fun should come from mastering how to use the environment to manipulate enemy behavior, creating unique, emergent scenarios where the player can turn the tide of battle by managing how to deal with the different archetypes and in which order and from where.
Explore the problem → Decide what to fix → Test potential solutions → Refine final solution.
Level Design Framework
Following the Double Diamond Model we needed to understand the problem in order to create the solution.Starting off with The Problem Space I where encouraged to diverge in the beginning through research and analysis of the game and explore different options.
Next, converge by defining choices through planning, paper designs, scale tests and peer reviews.The Solution Space once again starting off wide, testing mechanics, blocking out a rough version of the level, test different solutions and iterating.
Then converge, polishing the blockout, further iteration, placing enemies and patrol paths and eventually lighting.
Pre-production
Reference Gathering
I Gathered alot of references for general inspiration but also for specific parts of the level.
Planning
Planning the project in text, stating goals, mechanics, enemy types and multiple potential level sequences.
Research
Playing Dead Space (Remake) I analyzed level layouts, enemy encounters, and pacing. Notes on room transitions, enemy spawn points, and environmental hazards.
"The making of Dead Space - EA's official making of series.
Game Maker’s Toolkit "The Spooky Level Design of Dead Space" - Breakdown of spatial design, pacing, and tension building techniques.
Dead Space - Storytelling through Level Design - blog post by Joey Simas
Dead Space Wiki - Deep dives into enemy types, weapons, and lore.
Level Layout
Level iterations
I created three layout variations, ultimately selecting the one with the strongest combat flow and pacing. While my initial layouts shared similar elements, I experimented with repositioning key combat sections to explore how spatial arrangements impacted player movement and encounter dynamics.
This iterative process helped refine the level’s structure, balancing intensity and exploration.
Blockout
Iterations
The fun of the level comes from the players ability to turn the tide of battle through use of the environment. Whether it’s luring Crawlers into explosive barrels or using verticality to avoid Spitter attacks, the level encourages experimentation and rewards creative problem-solving. Encounters should feel like a dynamic puzzle for the player to solve in their own way.
The iterative process driven by playtesting and peer feedback, has been essential in refining these ideas. Each change from widening corridors to adjusting lighting for better visibility, was made with the player experience in mind.
Defence Section: I tried multiple different layouts for the defence section. Different sizes, multiple floors and changing the placement of enemies and traps.
Crawler introduction: The first iteration felt messy, it was too narrow and the space was hard to navigate. In the latest iteration the player first gets an overview of the space, the path is a more defined “S” shape that is easier to navigate.
Level Design and Techniques
Leveraging enemy archetypes and environmental design
The core idea was to create meaningful and varying interactions between the player, the enemies and the level itself.
For instance, the “Crawler” enemy type is introduced in a dark, cluttered space to emphasize its stealthy nature. By placing the “Crawlers” low to the ground and in hard-to-see areas, the players situational awareness is challenged, especially in confined spaces. This forces the player to carefully navigate their surroundings, paying close attention.In contrast, the “Spitter” enemy is placed on elevated platforms. The verticality and the “Spitters” ranged attacks create a natural multitasking challenge. The player must decide whether to take out the “Spitters” immediately or manage the “Crawlers” below, creating a layered combat scenario. I originally planned on having a “Charger” enemy type as well with more health that you could easily kite into traps.
Iteration and playtest insights
Through multiple iterations, changes were made to balance pacing, visibility and combat flow. The “Spitter” introduction area was first widened to ensure players could better spot the enemies, reducing frustration and giving players more room to maneuver. It was still too cramped so I eventually ended up removing the enemies from this space, it instead acted as a buildup for a new combat space at the bridge crossing the tram track. It was an interesting choke-point where the player had to hold their ground.
Based on feedback the walls were made thicker to make the space feel more realistic, like they are actually supporting heavy pressure. The ventilation shaft sequence was scrapped as the initial design felt too narrow and the tight vertical climb was uncomfortable in the third person perspective.
Moving the vent introduction to the tram area allowed for a smoother experience.
Pacing and the Difficulty Ramp-Up
Alot of attention was given to the pacing, trying to balance moments of tension and release. Starting of, early enemy encounters are sparse, with isolated enemies serving as tutorials for their behaviors. As the player progresses, enemy pairings become more complex, gradually ramping up the intensity.
I scattered breather sections without combat where the player could explore and find loot, but never really feel completely safe.
The defend section is designed as a stress crescendo, with enemies attacking in waves that force the player to constantly reposition, use the traps/environment and prioritize threats.
Level Flow
1. Enemy sequence: As the player steps out into Medical bay a sequence is triggered of a Necromorph attacking a human.
2. First fight: Approaching the collapsed bridge, the player is jumped by a Necromorph.
3. Crawler introduction: The player must find a new path, introduction of the "Crawler" enemy type.
4. Delivery area: Use explosive barrels to kill the Necromorphs.
5. Crawler fight: Dark section were the players situational awareness is challenged.
6. Bridge crossing: The player must fight their way across the bridge, multiple enemy types at once.
7. Tram track: Moving down the tram-track the player is introduced to the fan trap. Necromorphs charge into the fans.
8. Defence section: The climactic finaly. As the player calls the tram they have to hold out until it arrives, surviving three waves. Utilize the traps and environment to survive.
Hi!
My name is Johan Lundgren,
I am a Level Designer located in Stockholm - Sweden.I love crafting immersive environments and memorable experiences for players to explore.
My design philosophy revolves around blending creativity with functionality, ensuring that every space tells a story and challenges the player in unique and interesting ways.I enjoy problem-solving, whether it’s finding innovative solutions to design challenges or collaborating with teams to overcome development hurdles.During my spare time I am an avid reader who enjoys acclaimed novels, biographies and history.Always eager to learn!
