Project Abaddon
Abaddon
Breath of The Style:
Open World Level Design
Open world action RPG inspired by 'Legend of Zelda Breath of The Wild'​
Project Details
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Duration: 2 weeks
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Team Size: 1
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Software: Unreal, Photoshop
Level Goals/How to Win
Hunt down and defeat the Three Bandit Kings:
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Bandit King Ken
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Bandit Lord Bando
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The Bandit Brothers
Level Gameplay
Maps
Layout Map
Zones of Interest
Map of the general layout of the playable space
Map highlighting geographical points of interest across the level
Beginning the journey
Path To Ken
Entrance To Wellthane
The journey begins with the player in the tutorial area 'Sol Crater'. In the ending portion of the tutorial the player is given their goal: to hunt down and defeat the three bandit kings. Exiting the tutorial is also where the world opens up and reveals its size. Any of these bosses can be fought in any order, but Bandit King Ken is the closest & by far the easiest of the three.
While hunting Ken, the player can obtain some power ups in the form of armor equips, 'The Hero's Trousers' and 'The Hero's Shield'.
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To Bando's Hold
Path To Bando
Wellthane To Bando (Paths)
Travelling down south from The Town of Wellthane, the player can take two separate routes to get to Lord Bando's Hold. Lord Bando has many dangerous enemies that occupy his hold, but they stand and patrol in plain sight. They're ripe for being picking off with arrows to offset their large numbers.
Here the player can find 'The Hero's Gauntlets'. Using range to dispatch of Bando's goons, the player can travel up into the hold where they'll find Bando at the top floor, looking out over the land of Stylia. He's accompanied by a loyal attendant (an archer). Bando is more difficult than Ken due to having a ranged enemy accompanying him.
The Final Boss(ES?!)
Path To Temple
The Groundskeeper
Travelling to the Northwest of Bando's hold, the player can find the Bandit Bros temple overlooking Cragg's Nest. Taking a path up the cliffside, the player must survive a walk through the temple garden.
The garden is brimming with enemies that leap from the trees and bushes. At the end of the path, the player encounters 'The Groundskeeper'. He is a mini boss & final challenge before the player can fight the Bandit Bros - the most difficult encounter in the game.
Designing for an open world
Alternate Paths
Because this is an open world game, alternate paths are very important. There should always be something to do - some new thing to find, or some new challenge to overcome. Since this level design is inspired by Breath of The Wild, it's also set up so that the player can go challenge the final boss as soon as they complete the tutorial section... although I wouldn't recommend new players do that. The challenges that lead to the final boss are far more difficult to overcome without better armor, weapons and potions.
Combat & enCounters
Combat encounters are designed to be approached from multiple angles. Because the player has tons of major and minor variations in the path(s) they can take to complete the game, combat encounters need to be approachable from many different angles.
Ambush spawns are particularly effective in forested areas where I can set up triggers to spawn in enemies a set distance away from the player. Alternatively, triggers that alert nearby enemies are used when players get too close when coming from certain pathways.
The most common way of aggroing enemies that I use is by using patrolling enemies that have wide spheres of awareness & idle enemies with simple lines of sight. This allows the player to sneak up on idling enemies and feel stealthy or attack from creative angles (a la Breath of The Wild).
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If the player sneaks up on a group of idle enemies that have specific sightlines and kills one of them , the other enemies will be alerted and seek out the player (because it'd be quite strange if they were ok with their buddy dying right in front of them & this isn't how things usually work in Breath of The Wild).
Unique Items
The level is littered with all sorts of useful items - far too many to see on one single map, but unique items must be earned by exploring. These items are hidden within high threat areas or in tricky to reach places. All items have a little glint and glow so that players can see them & wonder what they're going to get next.