Quake Level - The Necrofortress
A Quake level made using Trenchbroom set in a dark medieval castle. The focus of the level is on recreating Quake's player experience while using architectural references to design play spaces and level geometry.
About "The Necrofortress"
Level Designer | 8 Weeks | Solo
The Necrofortress is a 4-6 minute fast-paced singleplayer Quake map where the player fights through enemy strongpoints to get to the castle.
The Necrofortress is a 4-6 minute fast-paced singleplayer Quake map where the player fights through enemy strongpoints to get to the castle.
Design Intent
Before starting my work in Trenchbroom I took some time to analyze the core of Quake by creating design pillars and analyzing the 3Cs. This allowed me to better understand the target game that I am working to create a level for.
I have also gathered Quake's metrics, so that I could design my gym level later.
Pre-Production
- Sketched level plans and room layouts.
- Created nodemaps to illustrate enemy and item distribution.
- Researched Quake's metrics and explored its levels.
- Found reference images and the research of real life architecture as inspiration.
Gym
- For this project it was important to use existing metrics to recreate Quake's gameplay and player experience.
- Therefore, gym level has been created and iterated on as a part of the pipeline and the experimentation process.
Level Blockout
- Started by creating a gym with Quake's metrics and rooms for testing combat encounters.
- Created modular assets and blocked out my rooms with them.
- Merged rooms into one level before starting with texturing and lighting.
Texturing / Lighting
- Ended up texturing and lighting the entire level for it to be in a presentable state.
Iteration
- Playtested and iterated on the build every week.
- Tracked feedback throughout the project and actively responded to bug reports and suggestions.
- Completely reworked some of the locations based on the playtesting data and feedback.
Pre-Production Overview
Theme: ruined medieval fortress
invaded by the demons.
Player Goal: fight through enemy strongpoints inside
the gates and on the bridge to get to the castle
and defeat the boss.
USP: player pushes through the hordes of the undead
that were summoned by the demons
turning the level into a meatgrinder with fast-paced and action packed sequences.
Theme
I have constructed my level based on a dark medieval theme and architectural styles of various European castles. Throughout the project, architectural references were researched and implemented in Trenchbroom.
