Blind Predator

Level Designer

July 2019 - August 2019

My design goals in this level were to:

Build a linear singleplayer/co-op level that has the player(s) kill specific targets and escape to a destination area.
Build a level that accommodates 2 different playstyles (stealth and non-stealth).
Encourage the use of stealth with a ravine that provides cover from enemies.
Guide players to a cultist camp where the target objectives are.
Create an exit point for the players to complete the level after eliminating the objectives.

Blind Predator is a published Bounty Hunt map made in the Far Cry 5 Arcade Editor.

I wanted to create a level based off the Cliffhanger level from Modern Warfare 2. The level features a portion where the player is in such a blinding snowstorm that it is almost impossible for them to see enemies ahead of them. In MW2 the player has a heartbeat sensor that allows them to spot enemies on a screen attached to their gun; Unfortunately Far Cry 5 does not have this feature so I had to provide some level of visibility to balance the difficulty for the player.

Cliffhanger level from Modern Warfare 2 (2009)

What went well:

After playtesting I feel like the layout of the ravine achieved the desired emotion that I wanted players to feel. It felt like a dark, creepy, and misty space that players felt vulnerable to be in

After doing a lot more playtesting I was able to find a fair balance for stealth playstyles. Giving the players the option to use binoculars allowed players to highlight enemies and create a strategy on how to approach situations.

If players chose to directly fight with AI in the main camp, the cover systems placed throughout the camp were spaced nicely with the metrics I used (2-3 meter seperation between covers).

What didn't go well:

I feel that the player flows are relatively simplistic, especially for the aggressive path. The aggressive path has the player running down a long, linear hallway with nothing to do for quite some time. They would fight the enemies at the choke and then continue down another long straight line. What's in it for the player? Nothing made this route exciting and worth taking over the stealth path.

One issue that I faced with AI was that I was not able to script specific paths within their navmesh. The editor only gave me bounding boxes that AI are restricted to stay within. If I was able to script specific paths I would have scripted the gaurd dog found in the main camp to patrol the entirety of the camp.

Another tech issue that I faced was that there can only be a certain amount of AI spawned on the map. This meant that I was only able to work with a limited number of AI for each of my combat encounters.

What I learned:

My University courses taught me to keep project scopes small and working on this project allowed me to learn that the hard way. By designing for 2 different playstyles I kind of neglected the aggressive approach and put more effort into the stealth path. I learned that I could've scrapped the aggressive path and kept the level more linear rather than trying to funnel both paths into one point. I could've dedicated more time towards the stealth approach and potentially played with a lot more AI in the area.

Another thing I learned with stealth encounters is to provide a vista-like view which I could've done with the main camp. By forcing players to take a small uphill ramp into the area (as shown to the right), I prevented players from seeing the layout of the camp space and also prevented them from devising a plan (and this is an essential level design principle that I missed out on)!

Lastly, I wish I played a lot more with guidance techniques such as lighting, color, signposting etc. to guide players to the objective. There are moments within the gameplay where I found missed opportunities for lighting that could've caused players to look in a desired direction I wanted.

Overall, I learned a lot from designing this map and will implement the lessons I learned going forward in future projects.