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WORK IN PROGRESS!
WORK IN PROGRESS!
About halfway, classes are getting dense right now.
About halfway, classes are getting dense right now.
I'll be sure to get screenshots and do a proofreading pass later.
Ideation
Ideation
First, I decided to assess the tools I had at my disposal. Fortnite is set in a more modern setting with some sci-fi and magic elements, so path of least resistance is to set my level in the same time. Because I enjoyed it, I decided to do take the Breath of the Wild "Ruins come out of the earth due to magic technology" story beat, put that in a modern setting and tell that story beat with only environmental storytelling.
Making Satisfying Environmental Storytelling
Making Satisfying Environmental Storytelling
Fun game design has tension and release. As such, environmental storytelling should make the player ask question, and release tension by answering them.
Good engagement alternates between intensity and resolution while continually ramping. By asking multiple connected questions over the span of a level, we can raise and release the tension these questions cause.
Pacing - 3 Act Structure
Pacing - 3 Act Structure
I decided the best approach to this was to use a three act structure, where each act introduces and answers a question.
What - What is happening?
Ruins are coming out of the ground!
How - How are the ruins coming from the ground?
There are purple glowing rocks in the ground.
This alludes to a magical reason.
Why - Why is this happening?
Some organization unearthed something and accidently activated the rocks in the earth.
Now, I take these acts and turn them into storybeats/things. I originally thought, "We should break each Act into 3 subsections!". But, I want to keep things short and sweet, and this creates 9 story beats. So, I merged some of How with What and Why, which both felt natural and brings things down to 7 story beats.
Rough Pacing Outline:
Rough Pacing Outline:
What Start
Lumpy terrain, ground uneven
What Middle
Hint of building coming through ground
What End / How Start
Entire hidden building bursts through below normal building
An ominous glow from beneath
How Middle
More cracks in the earth with lights in the ground
How End / Why Start
Funky Fortnight Purple Rocks™ out of holes
Fencing around rocks
Why Middle
Military Checkpoint
Why End
Lab with purple rocks bursting out of it
Doing this process revealed there were really 4 core "moments", The entire building busting through the ground, the rock reveal, the military checkpoint and the lab reveal. And, since so many elements are set-dressing that works as background elements, I just need to come up with 4 places. And to decide that, I started with their...
Spatial Archetypes
Spatial Archetypes
Using spacial archetypes can communicate mood and intent, so selecting 3 spatial archetypes for each area can support my environmental storytelling
Working backwards made the most sense to me.
To hide the lab and to make it feel like a final decent, I want to lean into the Pit archetype. (UEFN would change how I had to implement this, it slowly became a hollow mesa you descend into.) This also gives me a natural opportunity to use grand scale but keep it hidden and reveal it. I want to have a slow reveal as the player enters the pit.
Then, for the reveal of the purple rocks in the earth, I want to have the player move alongside a chasm. (The initial plan was that the chasm would open up into the pit, but this changes significantly in implementation.) In order for that to stand out, setting the chasm inside a valley or plains will help the giant hole stand out. The subterranean stuff gives an excuse to have it be a valley, as there's just a bunch of lumps in the ground.
Finally, to hide that from the player at the start, I need to put the player lower in the ground in a way that's different than a pit. So I went with the Hollow Archetype. This implies a more open space than I like, but I can put some rubble in the off path.
With this all picked out, I wrote up my final level plan, and got in engine!
Implementation
Implementation
So, I started from the beginning and moved forwards so I could personally test the flow.
The Hollow - Act 1
The Hollow - Act 1
Many hollows have terrain jutting upwards within, and featuring just the one creates a donut shape. By closing off one half of the donut, I can convert this into a linear space while still keeping things feeling organic. I decided that the narrative hook - something's going on underground - serves as an organic reason for this to happen. I also wanted the player to look at this, then move on, so I place a large hill on the path forwards and make a gentle trench with a trail towards the ruins.
Second Ruined Home
Second Ruined Home
I use the hill to create a slow reveal of the ruins jutting up from underground. Also serves as a place to get a vehicle from.
Leaving the Pit
Leaving the Pit
Pillars come up from underground, and a much larger ruins has rubble and cars on top, as a final clarification before moving onto "How?"
The Rift - Act 2
The Rift - Act 2
Here, there is a massive rift in the ground. I want the player to have a growing sense of intrigue as they go along. So, we go from chainlink fence (so you can see through) to shorter car barriers, to finally allowing the player to just drive or walk in. But since this isn't the way forwards, it's mostly barren. There is a variety of user behaviors, from ditching the truck to go look to ramming it into the barrier to get a closer look. This proves I successfully built intrigue.
This and the next section taught me about a flaw in my level process that I have since fixed. UEFN doesn't like making pits too deep, which I learned while trying to make the pit. But because I rendered the previous areas in such high fidelity and stuck pretty close to Fortnite's base level height, I couldn't go and fix this. In the future, I will make sure to do a low fidelity version of the whole map before progressing to avoid this. It's a pretty beginner mistake to make.
Foreshadowing Crack
Foreshadowing Crack
Crevice in the earth that foreshadows the larger crevice. Pillar both connects both conceptually and serves to flag it down for the player.
People Foreshadowing
People Foreshadowing
Who put up the stuff and so quickly? Military and men in suits seemed like enough foreshadowing.
The Pit Lab - Act 3
The Pit Lab - Act 3
I wanted to do a progressive reveal, where as you slowly enter the pit, more becomes visible to you. So, you start by revealing a research station where the cubes are being processed by a machine. The original version had a giant sci-fi building next, but it wasn't obviously connected enough, so I swapped it for a Golden Cube. Finally, a giant glowing statue reveals that the ancient civilization is somehow connected to the purple cubes, directly!
Research Station
Research Station
Golden Cube
Golden Cube
Ominous Statue
Ominous Statue
Iteration
Iteration
Fighting/Using Occam's Razor
Fighting/Using Occam's Razor
The main obstacle with such a fantastical premise was fighting Occam's Razor. How do you get players to think of a fantastical cause instead of much more benign ones?
I originally gave myself the challenge of "the player should figure out that stuff is coming up from the ground without being shown it happening" but this was significantly harder than anticipated.
Alternative Explanations in Act 1 and Why Players Assumed Them:
Alternative Explanations in Act 1 and Why Players Assumed Them:
Storm - There was too much tree and natural rubble, all explainable by a strong wind.
Solution - Implemented second destroyed house with ruins up from underneath it.
I just did a very bad job of rendering foundations - The second house was the same size and angle as the ruins beneath it.
Ouch! I'm not THAT bad... right?
Solution - Disable the auto snap, rotate and tilt the house so it's at a different angle, and make the ruins larger than the house.
Earthquake - Too much organic rubble, easily could be debris from the surrounding cliff face.
Solution - Replace some rubble with ruins assets and call it a day.
Volcanic Activity - The organic rock assets I used looked volcanic???
Honestly, close enough. The did later connect this to the purple cubes and that's close enough. The exact mechanism behind why the purple cubes are pushing stuff up isn't important and this is very close. Plus volcanos take stuff from underground and push them up. But I still
Solution - Just show it happening. Stick some pillars around a chokepoint on the way out and make them come out when a trigger activates.
Earthquake (again) - They looked away when the pillars were appearing and assumed they fell down...
How much is this my problem?
Solution - Do it again later. So if they miss it the first time, it happens one more time. I could Rules of 3 this but the deadline was creeping up, and this should be enough.
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