- Used Unreal Engine's Blueprints to create retro first-person shooter combat systems
- Designed and iterated on a complete level pipeline, from top-down sketches to a fully realized space
- Used lighting intentionally to guide player movement and experience
- Implemented environmental storytelling to communicate tone and world context
- Utilized GitHub for version control and development tracking
Star Patrol Alpha is a vertical slice of a larger action-adventure game concept. It began development purely as a personal project, but much of the work was done for my Level Design class at WSU. My goal was to create a simple, yet well thought out level that emphasizes player decision making and deliberate spatial flow inspired by classic FPS titles such as DOOM.
The combat is fairly simple, which inspired me to get creative with the level design to make the experience as interesting as I could. The level was designed through multiple passes, starting with top-down sketches, to a full block-out which realized the flow and spatialization of the level, and progressing toward a finished level. Images of the level throughout development are in the 2nd half of the video on this page.
The first half of the video shows what a playthrough of the level looks like. There is a portion of the level that the player can choose to skip by shooting a locked door open instead of getting the key for it. This gives the player the option to trade off their own ammo (as well as any more ammo they might find) to progress through the level faster.
I used lighting throughout the level to define the mood and guide the player. While most of the lighting has a cold blue tint, I deliberately lit some rooms with a greener color to separate feel of different parts of the level. My goal was to make every room in the level feel completely unique and easy to remember, despite that I used a lot of repeated sprites for the walls.
I used 3D assets to create a sense of a lived-in environment. Large crates, chairs, and empty bottles are left around haphazardly, making spaces for the player to hide behind while also telling the player about the habits of the enemy.
Made with Unreal Engine 5
Textures and Models used:
