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ALCATRAZ (WIP)

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A level design inspired by the Last of Us part.2, which takes place on Alcatraz island reproduced on Unreal Engine 5 in 1:1 scale.

 

Infiltrate Alcatraz Island in search of the Director in order to get informations about Abby's location.

 

Fight your way through the infected that roam on the island because of the damage caused by the recent storm and try to kill or outsmart the guards in order to reach the director's office.

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Once the island alarm is sounded, rush to the docks followed by a horde of infected now free from their cells, steal a boat, and sail to Abby's location.

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INTRO

"ALCATRAZ" is an ambitious project which aim at creating a fully playable level inspired by "The Last of Us part.2" and that can fit into the main plot of the game.

My goal with this one was to get a V0 of the level in 3 months, while learning Unreal Engine.

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But before that I had to do a lot of research on The Last of Us part.2, Naughty Dog, Alcatraz and its prison, as well as Unreal Engine.

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Once the research was done I had to imagine and design a mission that could fit into the main plot of the game while giving it meaning and originality.

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Then, I was able to design and blockout the level in its entirety as well as realizing a first pass of lighting and level art.

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One of the major challenges in producing was to make sure that the location where the mission takes place is not just a "set" but really makes sense. Alcatraz returns a strong image, full of history and so it was necessary for the level to highlight that history and how you could feel there once you play it.

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You will find below all my work on this project step by step.

Ancre 1

01

Research and documentation

  • Realised intentions documents in order to know where I wanted to go

  • Realised moodboards to define the global mood and atmosphere as well as getting reference for Alcatraz island.

  • Conducted research on, how this level could be implemented in the main plot of the game. 

  • Conducted research on the camera present in the Last of Us part.2 (positioning and behavior)

  • Produced documents on Alcatraz island and a spreadsheet listing all dimensions of the island and its buildings in 1:1 scale.

  • Realised an "emotion map" over the level (WIP).

  • Created a timeline for the level in order to define what happen, where and why (Mission design).

  • Conducted research on Unreal Engine and how to use it properly for Level design.

TIMELINE

Ancre 2
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02

Level design

  • ​Conducted research on the structure of the levels already present in the game to provide a level offering the same experience (including the lost levels available in the remaster of The Last of Us part.2).

  • Conducted research on every technics used by Naughty dog in their levels in order to use them in Alcatraz (bait and switch, never break a lign of sight, how to tease a dangerous zone, etc...).

  • Realised 2D plan, highlighting the golden path and the critical path.

  • Recreate Alcatraz island at a scale of 1:1 with the "Terrain" tool of Unreal Engine 5 from a 3D model.

  • Blocked-out the full map as well as the necessary buildings and interior at a scale of 1:1 (sometimes in order to prioritize the gameplay this scale of 1:1 is not respected and a little tweaked).

  • Realised numerous early playtest in order to see what didn't work with the basic blockout and fix it.

  • AI integration and management of their behavior (this management was only tweaking some value thanks to the IWALS project made by Jakub including some AI) in order to reproduce the one present in The Last of Us part.2

  • Realised the first lighting of the entire map

  • Realised the first level art pass.

  • Realised the first complete V0 of the level (currently working on the V1)

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2D PLAN

LIGHTING

Ancre 3

03

Narration / Cutscenes (Sequencer)

In order to add some context to the mission I also imagined and prototyped some cutscenes which allowed me to create some "moment to moment" scenes.

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  • Realised 4 cutscenes using the UE5 Sequencer : 

    • Arriving on the island​

    • Discussion between the director and the teacher

    • One-on-one in the director's office

    • Escape the island

  • Added the "prototype / first version" of the dialogues and voice acting intended in the One-on-one cutscene.​

  • Animated all the cutscenes.

Ancre 4

04

Programming

IMPORTANT : The entire programming except for the features below comes from :  IWALS by JAKUB.

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  • Programed some useful features not present in the project for the mission : 

    • Keypad ​to lock doors (unlockable with the good code).

    • Prison lights.

    • Collectibles letters in the levels, telling a story.

    • Cheats menu (In case of majors bugs).

  • Modified the controller of the project in order to reproduced the controller from The Last of Us part.2.

  • Modified the camera already present in the project.

  • Optimized the project (mostly graphics optimization, still WIP).

  • Integrated sounds and musics as well as elements to trigger them.

WATCH THE GAMEPLAY

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