Hills of Arda | Josephine

An open world experience

The establishing shot presenting the long-term, mid-term and a short-term goal.

INTRODUCTION

My ambition with this project was to create a small-scale open world that was fun to traverse with and without a vehicle. I wanted to design a dynamic experience that would be fun for different kinds of players. I focused on movement and how to guide the player with various types of goals and paths. I also planned for future implementation of puzzles and secrets to uncover in the world.

PROJECT DETAILS

7 weeks half time
Created with Unreal Engine 5
Template Thief of the Wild by Oliver Mathrani

PROCESS

INSPIRATION

My primary source of inspiration was the background I created for a Dungeons & Dragons character. I asked myself where the character would have come from and what challenges the character and their community would have faced.

The playable space nestles beneath a mountain range. The setting derives from the rolling hills of The Shire and the abandoned city of Dale from The Hobbit. I also studied the game Hogwarts Legacy to see what I could learn from their worldbuilding and how they incorporated player paths for walking and flying on a broom, which, in my case, would be a horse.

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NOT STARTING FROM SCRATCH

The project took hold during a school assignment that focused on building an open world with different biomes that would suit traveling with or without a vehicle.

I always start a project by gathering reference images, making a napkin sketch, and creating a first draft of game beats. Parts of my old pre-production were still valid for where I wanted this new level to end up. This allowed me to dive deeper into the project's concept, answer questions about worldbuilding, and iterate on or change the level's objectives. I found the main issue to be a lack of both findability and discoverability, so I wanted to make it less linear and add player agency.

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From napkin sketch to finished level.

Old vs new player path.

AN ITERATIVE PRACTICE

My priority was to work with the flow of the level. I concluded that the piece was too big and started working on a new main path to see what I should cut. It helps me to get a sense of scale and flow when I start with the player's path from the player's perspective. Next, I worked on sightlines: what do I want the player to see, and in which order should they see it? I ended up with a new layout and a different placement of refined and new goals. I was flexible with the narrative while staying true to the original high concept.

I changed the views the player could see to better prepare them for going to the Hub.

I wanted to use a frame in a frame to guide the player better and avoid choice paralysis.

I made the optional path easier to access by moving it closer to the center but still keeping it in the background. You can also see part of the ruin, which will reward the exploring player.

OVERVIEW

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DESIGN PHILOSOPHY

PATHS & GOALS

I worked extensively with different kinds of paths and the surrounding landscape to open up more discoverability and add more player agency. I wanted to avoid railroading the player, so I made a design that led the player to believe they were discovering the world independently.

I made sure that something new would happen at a steady pace, either in movement, different gameplay, or vistas, to avoid fatigue. I always came back to the player's point of view to make sure every frame was thought through. It's meticulous work that adds a layer of detail to the gaming experience.

I worked with verticality throughout the level, both for the composition of vistas and to create vantage points where the player can plan out their journey without being overwhelmed. Points of interest and focal points were used for the player's mental map.

GUIDING THE PLAYER

To find the atmosphere of an open world, the player should feel like they could roam free. To offer guidance, I worked with blocked and unblocked sightlines, guiding lines, focal points, and landmarks. For player agency, I wanted to simply nudge the player in a direction following the intended flow, opening up for breaking of said flow while still reminding the player of their end goal at the right time. I wanted to implement an hourglass design into the main path to make the players experience a varied road. Funnel Before Reveal is a good complement to make players feel like they are moving into new spaces. It also helped me define different areas and make them distinct.

Funnel before soft reveal.

The dead tree will draw in the player and, later in the game, remind them which direction they came from.

PLAYER CHOICE

In this example, I guide the player forward by reminding them of their long-term goal; the foliage created a natural portal for the city. There is a desired path in the middle which leads to the bridge. Three choices are quite a lot, though, so I made the ruins to the right highest in the hierarchy because I am rewarding the player with an easier path to an NPC if they choose to explore rather than take the quickest road to the city. Guiding lines propel the player forward towards the ruin. These ruins are placed in several areas, working as modular short-term goals.

Exiting the Hub the player are faced with a choice.

NARRATIVE BEATS

AREA 1 - THE GROVE

The player starts in an enclosed space by their campfire to create a safe space and find their bearings.

The player can see the abandoned city where the long-term goal is, the hub where they will get their horse, and a puzzle in the form of ruins.

The player is exploring a grove where they will find the first of three puzzles.

AREA 2 - THE ROLLING HILLS

Separating the two areas is a fallen tree, which other people could have conveniently placed.

The villagers will be glad to sell you a horse. The player can choose to revisit if they want to upgrade the horse.

The first clear, rewarding vista of the city is by the NPC house. It introduces yellow trees to foreshadow the next biome.

AREA 3 - THE ABANDONDED CITY

Exploring the fringes of the city, the player is rewarded with a view of the entrance to the mountain.

The people have deserted the city. Follow the yellow trees to reach the end of the level.

The player has found the entrance into the mountain where the next level will occur.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

This project was my second venture designing an open-world level. I leaned into what I've learned at The Game Assembly to explore pacing, composition, and traversal in a more open setting. And it was both a fun and rewarding challenge!

In my spare time, I gravitate towards smaller games and tend to get overwhelmed by open worlds. Therefore, I approached my design with two player types in mind: one that reflects my playstyle and one that contrasts it. This helped me create a more flexible experience that welcomes different ways of playing.

I would have loved to develop the environmental storytelling further to show who lives in the village and why the city has been abandoned. Given more time, I would've explored additional features like fishing and hunting to push the space planning further. But focusing on traversal felt like the right decision this time.

I am pleased with the level's flow and atmosphere. I left this project with a clear vision, valuable insights, and lots of ideas for the future. Thank you for checking it out!