A solo Level Design project inspired by FPS map designs and ancient cambodian architecture in Unreal Engine 5.4. Created from August - December 2024 as the solo developer. Primary focuses for this project was studying FPS architecture and level design exploration. The final product can be described as a walking simulator, allowing the player to freely explore the map without having to struggle with learning any complex mechanics.
I was going into this project knowing I had 15 weeks to create a solo level project from scratch. The end goal of Ruins was to have a visually appealing piece using 3rd party assets to successfully create a map that follows the architectural standard of modern day first person shooter games. The focus of how to present this project is by looking through the lens of physical world structuring instead of being totally transfixed on visuals. Successfully structuring these environments would make it easier for players to naturally navigate the map without directly telling the player what to do.
The first 2 weeks of the project were spent conducting research of assets and deciding where geographically Ruins would be located. Ultimately I had decided on my project being based around the Temples of Cambodia for 2 reasons. Those being the architecture found in the real life ruins better matched my vision, and the chosen asset pack featured content that can be found closely related to their real life counterparts.
Weeks 3-7 were spent creating the first rendition of the larger scale greybox environment. This included lower quality objects to help highlight key areas. This part of my process allowed me to prepare for the implemention of higher quality assets and make sure that my map structuring was in line with my vision. Creating this greybox environment also allowed me to see any flaws I had in my early map designing that could be iterated on.
Weeks 8-10 was spent primarily making adjustments to the greyboxed environment to be as close to the final product without having all the necessary implemented assets. This small period of time also allowed me to do cross comparative research with each part of my map with inspiration sections from the different maps seen in VALORANT. These comparisons helped guide the final stage of development and set dressing.
The final weeks of 11-15 were spent replacing the greybox environment with final assets used from the Unreal Asset Store. During this part of development I started to struggle with being able to provide a transition between the key areas so that players could easilly tell where they were from a quick glance. This was then solved by creating blend areas where I would start merging the elements seen across the map to include both elements of hand made constructions, and more natural landscapes.