Office Assassination

Fast Paced First Person Shooter Level

What is this?

It's a level from a game I'm currently working on using the Unity game engine.

Why make this?

I wanted to improve my ability to make a fast-paced and fun level.

Summarize for me!

It is a fully playable mission with a timer and an end goal, to kill the target.

Made in Unity 2022.3.19f1

Quick context

It's work in progress!

A quick brief of what the player can do since I'm using my game as the base template for the level.

It's a first-person shooter game with a mission-type structure.
Each level is a short mission with a dedicated timer.

The Weapon is real!

You can do all the basic things you'd expect from a first-person shooter game, additionally, you can use your weapon to climb up ledges.

The player weapon in this game is actually an object that interacts with the world.
This means by looking up and down you can climb up ledges.

Arial Acceleration!

I didn't want the speed boosts to come from holding down a button.

Instead, I wanted the players to work for the boost by keeping themselves in the air.

By this, I turned the speed increase into an active gameplay element rather than a stale one.

There are Dangers!

In this Level there are two types of enemies;
-Shotgun guards
-Machinegun turrets

The guards always try to catch up to the player and strafe around them, trying to shoot them with a shotgun.
The guards back up if the player gets too close.

The turrets are stationary and shoot a stream of bullets once the player is within its detection radius.

Paths of Rooftops

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Iteration sensation

I started with a very basic shape of rooftops and an office building with 4 floors.

The first step was to make sure that the player never got uncertain of where they could jump/walk.

I also wanted to shape the level with a clean flow.
The player should be able to keep the speed they build up.

I made a safe path to make it possible to get through the level no matter the skill level.

The second path is faster but you encounter some risk of falling.

The fastest path requires you to build up a lot of speed before you jump across the huge gap, this is risky business.

Can I make this jump?

During the first playtests, people had issues seeing how far they could jump from each rooftop.
So I added balconies at the edges between the roofs.

I also put the starting point at a higher to make it easier to see the gaps between the buildings, especially in the beginning.

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Player pathing?

To make the path clearer towards the office building I added small ledges on each roof except for where the balconies were placed.
I also added small structures to make the path smoother for the player and an additional function was that they also could be used as cover.

Breadcrumbing turrets

The enemies on the roofs are only flying turrets, they're used as ''breadcrumbs'' to further clarify the path that the player can take.

I disabled their movements to make it easier to destroy them in a flow.

Into the Office

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We got more than one floor!

The original plan was to go down, but after playtesting, It felt better to move up the building.

I started with the lobby, then added floors and a rooftop.

The challenging part of this was to make each floor distinguishable. I wanted to avoid things getting too repetitive even if the player only spends 2 to 5 seconds on each floor, working with the 10-second rule in mind.

If the player happens to miss the jump, they still have a second chance on the lower floors to save their run.

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First, we arrive to the Lobby

I needed a way for the player to enter the building and decided to go with an open lobby which the player could conveniently jump to.

The first version of the lobby was very open.
This changed during playtesting because the players were unsure where to go.

To circumvent this issue I added a wall and refined the main outline of the door.
By this, I created a clearer signpost.

Into the Cubical Lane!

The idea with the first floor was letting the player get familiar with the shotgun enemies and with the fact both the player and enemies can break stuff around the office.

There's enough space to move around and breakable covers and non-breakable to hide behind.

Strolling across the Balcony

Starting with the second floor I had to change the layout. I couldn't just repeat the cubicle layout for each floor so I turned this floor into a balcony room.

Hanging in the middle there is a ''modern'' piece of art that can be used as a shortcut if the player climbs on it.

This floor is more open than the previous floor but there are still a few things to take cover behind.

The covers will not last for long so the player needs to be quick here.

Climbing the Mezzanine!

Creating the shortcut between the second and third floors, made them similar so I had to make some changes to keep things varied.

I Present the player with two choices on this floor;

-Run into the ''Low refuge space'', and dodge the bullets using their movement at the risk of falling to the previous floor

-Take their time and hide behind the ''high refuge zone'' to clear out the room before proceeding.

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Second Lobby confusion

Reaching the Fourth floor I wanted to make a lobby before entering the target office.
This came with the issue that people simply ignored to enter the office since the path to the stairs was more open and inviting.
So had to block it off, just like I did with the lobby downstairs.

The Boss Office!

I wanted to capture the grandiose and symmetrical nature of this target, framing him in the middle of the entrance.
So I created statues of the man looming over the middle path and added two beefy shotgun guards, ready for action.

Only to let the player break this whole scene by bursting in and killing everything.
There's no speech. No drama. Just simple violence till the bitter end.

How it was made?

Playtest is king!

I can't stress enough how important playtesting is.

When making this level I always ensured that someone tried every new version even if it was just a small block change or positioning of enemies.

When constructing this level I did take some inspiration from how Mirror Edge designed their roofs including how they created their level flow with the guiding shapes.

Even if the level is very straightforward I still wanted to offer some choices that welcome players to try different things, different paths, and shortcuts!

Since the level was designed with speed in mind I had to think about how to lead the player as fast as possible, what to use to catch their attention, and to make sure their flow wasn't disrupted.

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And In The end...

In such a small time frame?

There's always room for improvement and always room to learn more but I am okey with what I managed to push out before the deadline.

Next time I would like to improve some of the base textures and coloring to make it easier for the player to see the enemies and the enviorment clearly.

Some of it melts into the background and at times it might be a little hard to notice when something is currently attacking you due to the feedback from getting hit.

What I introduce right now is the very basics of the game itself.

It would've been fun to build something with more technical oumpf like; Interactable doors, moving enviorment and crowds of people.

Maybe give the players more freedom in how they could approach the main office!

Turn the whole level into an Immersive sim to make everything feel more alive!

But that will be for another time.

Thank you for checking this piece out and hope you have a wonderful day!