Theme:
Escape the desolate desert occupied by an overwhelming enemy force.
Player Goal:
Find a fuel source for an escape vehicle by scouting surrounding points of interest.
USP:
Player has a technology advantage over the enemies and can choose to set up ambushes, rush the objectives or try a mix of both to clear different areas and find fuel.
Objectives:
Level has two initial objectives. See G and N. After arriving at N player sees a helicopter fly and is prompted to check out the objective H. At H there is a fuel truck that the player needs to drive back to the start position.
Enemy Distribution & Difficulty:
Most enemies patrol designated areas in groups of 5. Their loadout does not present a challenge when engaging in a long range firefight. However, players can be overwhelmed in CQB.
The main challenge was scripting and timing enemy encounters. In an open world players are free to do whatever they want unless they are restricted or guided. I tried both approaches by using player leashing and creating convenient approaches to specific objectives, so that the players use those instead of wandering around. Additionally, a more simple solution has been found later - minefields or a kill trigger around the border of the playable area.
I worked a bit with narrative for this mission but not to a degree that I wanted. The mission was intended to utilize the open world but I still managed to sneak in some scripted character monologues. I also used them to guide the player in some areas. It felt natural for the character to react to certain events. I couldn't make the character react adaptively to the environment, so I tried doing that artificially by placing triggers around places where scripted moments would surely happen.
All in all, this project served more as an introduction to a new tool. I did not get many playetesters as some assets were from too many mods. For my next map, I will aim to limit the use of modded assets, so that I can get players to playtest more easily.
