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Tel: +46 76 188 86 39
Mail: fabianadlertz@gmail.com
Fabian
Adlertz
game & Level Designer
Stockholm, Sweden
About
Memory of Ashes is a narrative driven FPS about life, not death. This project was our final degree project and the team consisted of me and three other designers. This was our most ambitious project as we really tried to add a comprehensive narrative with fun and satisfying gameplay. In the beginning of the project we used Action blocks to come up with fun and interesting gameplay sequences.
Storyline-
In the game you play as Ri who together with her AI friend Dave are two custodians of a space station designed to pave the way for a future human colony. Ri has suppressed her memories after a dramatic event and this drove her to join the space development project which meant transferring her mind into a machine. She has been asleep for many months and has been having a recurring dream about the past while Dave is monitoring her and running the station.
Playthrough
Details
Roles:
Level Design
Genre:
Story Driven Atmospheric FPS
My Responsibilities:
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Level Design from sketch to final iteration
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Polishing and decorating levels
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Game design
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Participated in gameplay and narrative discussions
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Worked with the team on the general gameplay design
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Playtesting
Year:
2022
Engine:
Unreal Engine 4
Platform:
PC
Project Length:
7 Weeks
Team Size:
4 Designers
Play Length:
30 minutes
My Contributions
Level Design: For this project I created the majority of the levels inside the station by using action blocks ideas and tech designed by our technical designers. Me and the team also created template rooms and corridors from the assets we used to speed up the design process and keep a consistent look through the entire game. I also polished and cleaned up areas(car sections) that didn't have the required flow or had other issues.
Collaboration: I worked closely with my team to always get feedback on my levels and to make sure they fit the gameplay, narrative and the overall feel we aimed for. I also gave feedback on the other levels made by my team members. Worked together with the rest of the team to nail down the gameplay and what the games atmosphere should be.
Core Game Loop
Exploration
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The player have to explore the station to figure out what´s wrong with the station.
Extinguish Fires
Proceed
When the fires are extinguished the player can find their way to the exit and proceed through the game
The Player need to extinguish fires before they spread further in the station.
Level Design
I designed and helped to polish the majority of the levels in the game. One of our main goals we wanted to achieve was to create a seamless experience through the level design with a minimal amount of loading screens to create a fluid gameplay experience.
For this we first created a lot of smaller levels which we later connected using premade corridors to create the feeling of this massive station. This was a change from our earlier plan that was to use more level streaming which worked at first but created tears and lag when loading in certain segments. So sadly we had to "cheat" a little and instead used "fake" elevators to hide the tears and lag, we purposely made the elevators very dark so that the ugly tears wouldn't be seen or noticed.
Tutorial- Learning the ropes
The player gets out of an elevator and is introduced to the Water blaster.
The player picks up the Water Blaster and gets an objective, to water the plants, they look dry.
After the player gives the plants some much needed water they look much better and the door upstairs open up.
When the player gets upstairs they see machine of some sort and some droids greeting them. Everything seem fine here, nothing to worry about. When the player reaches the middle of the catwalk it breaks after an explosion shakes the entire station.
By breaking the cat walk we give the player some room to not instantly die from the droid which explode when it gets close and to also teach the player that they can jump to get back to the platform and put out the fires.
After leaving the room with the generator the player enter a corridor and the station gets hit with another explosion. This causes some of the droids to be put on fire.
While on fire they are trying to flee through the corridor, this is a test for the player to show that they learned how to extinguish fires and also to keep the player on edge.
The tutorial level ends with a small test in movement, the player gets instructed to crouch and need to crouch and jump under and over broken doors to reach the door. The door is blocked by a water tank which the player have to fill with water, this will make the tank go down in the floor and allows the player to progress.
Garage- Introduction to your Car
In the garage the player gets introduced to their vehicle which will take them to the highway and to the next station. The Car is placed in the middle of the room in an elevator give it an epic entrance and since this room has little gameplay I had to make sure it still fit the overall narrative and world.
When I designed the garage I started of with a big box and made it smaller and smaller until I was satisfied with the size. Then I wanted some verticality to make it visually more interesting so I added a staircase at the entrance so that I could make sure that the player would get the correct view. By doing this I wanted to give them a clear goal and direction. Car, road, gate.
Desert on Mars- The Drive
Very early on in the project we decided that we wanted a car driving section with some epic music to add some atmosphere. This was also added to split apart the different stations and give the player a break both visually and gameplay wise. The landscape and the first version of the road meant to be taken was made by another designer in the team and I jumped in and redid the road.
The reason that I jumped in and redid the road was because the road that was designed at first didn't feel nice to drive on. It looked really good but it was a lot more restricted and had some meshes with edges which the car collided with disrupting the game flow.
Since we had tried to make a very linear path with the earlier road, I wanted to keep this a lot more open and free flowing. This to allow the player to feel like they could play around a bit with the car. To be able to build up speed and maybe even make some jumps, to let the player have some fun. I wanted the beginning of the level to establish this by adding a short bit of road were the player can build up speed and shoot themselves of the edge at the end.
Guidance
Since we decided to give the player a lot more open space to travel in we decided it would be smart to have a clear language to guide the player. We therefore added these light posts to give the player clear and simple waymarks to make sure they're headed in the right direction.
Narrative
We wanted this road to look like its been in use for a long time by the robot workers. We therefore put out a lot of destroyed, dead and working robots that roam and are scattered around the area.
We also added road plates close to the end of the level and made it look like the lights had been affected by the erosion of the road. This was also meant to communicate to the player that they are closing in on another station and are going in the right direction.
The station- Final Level
The station is meant to be the finale of the game with several different challenges and scenarios. The station is set in a lot of darkness to create contrast with the flames and architectural details that light up like emergency lights or energy still flowing throughout the station.
The station starts of with with player entering the garage with the car. I placed a couple cars in different parking spots and left a few open. I did this to make it natural for the player to park the car and continue on foot.
I designed the garage with a sci fi but still realistic look in mind. I wanted a lot of details so I placed lights and used emissive materials to achieve this look
The garage leads the player in to a Reception area, when I designed this I continued using the same details like I did in the garage to keep the looks consistent with each other. The lobby area leads to a corridor that is meant to build suspense for the upcoming reveal of the stations lobby and show its scale.
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