the return of the king
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The Return of The King is a Quake level with a heavy focus on curated scripted encounters. The level is set in a deserted space fortress and aims to modernize the vanilla quake experience.
Solo Project
Trenchbroom
ABOUT
Project responsibilities
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Engine and game research
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Concepting and pitching
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Scripted sequences and encounter design
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Organizing playtest sessions with peers and community players
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Blocking out and iterating
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Art and light pass on the level
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Simple puzzle design
02
This level is set on an ruined castle in space, inspired by Doom's sentinel's architecture. Players will try to make their way to the throne room, but will have to disable two energy generators to be able to do so.
This level introduces two new mechanics; jump-pads for traversal, and power sources that the player will have to destroy in order to progress through the level. The level is designed following the kishotenketsu structure.
Overview
03
Concepting
sketching
I like to start my projects with sketches, it helps me set the scene and create a vision in my head for the level. I was interested to create an abandoned space castle, frozen in time. Sketching is a tool I have come to rely on a lot when it comes to concepting and communicating my ideas.
research
Research was a crucial step in this project. I analyzed the target game and its audience, studied the evolution of the modding scene since 1996, and examined the engine’s capabilities and limitations. This allowed me to make informed decisions and gather inspiration for my level design.
testing
Using a gym level was instrumental in gathering metrics, testing interesting set-ups I could create and exploring the scripting possibilities of the engine.
My focus was on finding the fun, to use that as a guideline whilst creating and concepting my level.
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Implementation
There was a constant iteration cycle throughout production, which was informed by data gathered during playtests. See how some level beats evolved through the iterations !
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Making a level that sticks
Modular
Using a symmetrical layout for the level and creating a modular asset pack drastically streamlined my workflow by reusing content and ensured I could deliver a more polished and ambitious level.
Game Flow
The original quake excels at putting players into a state of game flow, which is something this level aims to recreate and push even further by creating circular rooms, inviting players to enter the dance and strafe around the rooms.
Framing
Chokepoints in this level are used to frame the goal for the player, establishing an overview and destination for the upcoming level section
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Scripted sequences
Scripting possibilities are quite primitive with Trenchbroom, despite that I was interested in seeing how to structure combat encounter and add more depth to the gameplay.
Scripting was also a lot about understanding and predicting how the players will act, and it was a crucial tool for me to fix the door problem.
Spawning monster and opening the cage after defeating the first wave of knights.
Monsters jump on the player when they grab the shotgun. The second wave jumps down when the first one is defeated
Destroying the crystal drains the power and opens the door, triggering the guards.
Pressing the buttons in the proper order explodes the crystal, letting the player progress.
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Retrospective
This level has been a delight to work on, I loved playing Quake and learning about Trenchbroom. The limited capabilities of the engine made scripting and modelling a lot more challenging, but the active Quake mapping community was extremely helpful. Seeing what other mappers made was so inspiring and motivating!
Spending time experimenting with the engine at first helped me develop a lot of confidence for the rest of the project. Finding unique ways to use vanilla features, and scripting my own gameplay elements helped me bring flavor to my level. I do think that I still got a bit carried away, focusing my level on a single interesting gameplay feature would have helped the level be more cohesive.
Going through the full process, from concepting, all the way to modelling and texturing helped me get a good grasp on the full level design pipeline. This overview will be valuable in future group projects!
