DOOM LEVEL - PRISON

TYPE OF PROJECT

Individual

DESCRIPTION

Set in a hellish prison, the player must navigate and backtrack through the level to reach the centre.

YEAR

2024

GENRE

First-Person Shooter

SOFTWARE

DOOM Engine (Ultimate DOOM Builder)

FULL WALKTHROUGH

VIEW HERE

LEVEL DESIGN PROCESS

REASON FOR PROJECT

The main purpose of this project was to improve my level design skills in a genre I had yet to work in.

The first-person shooter genre includes some of my favourite games, such as Halo and Bioshock. But perhaps the most iconic, is DOOM.

Whilst Ultimate DOOM Maker allowed me to create a level for a game I truly love, the main reason for using this engine was the premade mechanics and assets - allowing me to focus solely on the level's design.

PROJECT GOALS

Aimed to create a level that was relatively small in scale, but felt large and expansive via backtracking.

For this to work, backtracking had to be made interesting - not just walking back through dead enemies.

INITIAL PLAN

I started by bullet pointing some initial ideas for the level, including ways that backtracking could be used.

Then, I used these guidelines to create a quick top-down sketch of the level, which acted as a good starting point when blocking out the level in the engine.

At this stage, the plan was to have three sections - each locked by a coloured keycard. The player would find the keycard in the main section and complete the corresponding subsection. At the end of each coloured section, a switch would lower an obstacle that was blocking progression in the main section.

Repeating this process a further two times would complete the level.

Initial-Plan

Initial-Sketch-01

Initial-Sketch-02

Initial-Plan

1/3

DEVIATING FROM THE PLAN

Early on in the planning stage, it was clear that the scope of the level was too large. Four separate sections that could each be a level on their own was way too ambitious for the timescale that I gave myself.

Furthermore, it didn't fit my initial brief of a small level that was made to feel much larger via backtracking.

Therefore, I decided to only create the main section and the blue section.

BACKTRACKING

The main technique employed to make this relatively small level feel large was backtracking.

To engage the player, however, going back to areas they have already played through had to be different in both layout and enemy encounters.

In order to achieve this, a switch is found at the end of the blue section that lowers (almost) every blue wall / pillar in the level - revealing new enemies and changing the level's layout.

Alongside new enemies, previously inaccessible areas are now opened up. The Hell section of the level was visible beforehand, which let the player know that they would gain access to it at some point. A famous example of this technique is the Resident Evil shotgun, which encourages players to backtrack to it once they have the necessary item to obtain it.

Switch that lowers the blue structures throughout the level is activated

Hell section before switch is activated

Hell section after switch is activated

ENABLING & REWARDING

Throughout the level, I aimed to enable those who rush through, whilst also rewarding the players that explore.

The clearest example of this is the Super Shotgun. The weapon can be found, but not obtained, early on in the level by players that deviate from the main path.

From the players who did see it early, only a proportion of them will remember to go back and grab it once the blue switch is activated.

The reward for those that do is a powerful weapon that makes the final section easier.

As a significant percentage of players may not find this weapon, I had to playtest the final section with and without the weapon to find the correct balance of enemy difficulty. This was important to make the level fun and completable for both outcomes.

Super Shotgun before switch is activated (click image to enlarge)

Super Shotgun after switch is activated (click image to enlarge)

Super Shotgun used in final section

PACING

Although DOOM is largely about high-intensity encounters, there is still a need for periods of rest - allowing the action to be more impactful to the player.

I constantly updated my interest curve throughout the development of the level, to make sure it flowed correctly.

The visual aspect of the graph allowed me to easily spot if there were too many high-intensity moments grouped together - enabling me to adjust the level.

For example, originally before the blue switch there was a large enemy encounter. However, after playtesting, I found this to take away from the impact of the new enemies revealed from the switch. Therefore, I changed the leadup to the switch to a moment of rest - which accentuates the impact of the enemy reveal.

Interest curve of level (click image to enlarge)

MANCUBUS BOSS

The player has already encountered the Mancubus' whilst obtaining the blue keycard, although now that the blue switch has been activated - their jail cell has lowered and they are free to roam around the room.

During the initial playtests of this fight, I noticed that the way DOOM's enemy system works was causing issues. As the player had been spotted by them previously, when they activated the switch at the other end of the map, the Mancubus' both left the intended boss room to search for the player - as they did not forget their last location.

To fix this, initially I added a door to the entrance of the boss fight. However, now both enemies were directly outside of the door when the player approached it - leading to a swift death.

The solution I decided upon was to have a blue pillar outside of the boss room that has a triggerable linedef on it. When searching for the blue keycard, the pillar is up and so the linedef is impossible to trigger.

But, once the player has activated the blue switch, the pillar is now gone and the linedef can be walked over. When triggered, it lowers the Mancubus' prison cell. This creates the illusion that the switch lowered it, whilst not giving the Mancubus' enough time to get to the door.