Land of Devouring Dunes
Synopsis
After Millennia in slumber you awaken to a world on the brink of being consumed by sand. A massive sandstorm batters at the edges of a small valley which stands protected by an ancient temple, the last hold-out in this disaster. As this world's guardian it's up to you to find the 5 elemental stones that have been scattered all over the valley and bring them back to the temple. Only then will the sandstorm end and the reclamation of what has been lost begin.
Overview/Layout
The map is focused on two prominent landmarks: the Mountain in which the player starts and the Pyramid. These two are almost always visible and help the player navigate and orient when traveling the world. All the important areas and sub-regions have been built with sightlines and visibility in mind and at least one recognizable landmark can always be visible from anywhere on the map, while at least two important locations can be seen when close to one of these landmarks.
Engine: Unreal Engine 4.25
Time: 11 Weeks part time (4 hours/day)
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World Building
In order to tell a story, even a deep and intricate one, a wall of text rarely excites a player. A better way to give the player a feel for the world is to make use of environmental storytelling. Let the player draw their own conclusions by discovering things on their own. Showing, not telling, is the way to play. But also keeping in mind how this world actually functions. My efforts to include this saw me adding a small harbour to the Pyramid settlement and fields and cannals to the one by the Temple. In addition half-sunken ruins here and there provide hints to how bad the sandstorm has been.
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Encouraging Exploration
Exploration, almost regardless of what type of game you are playing, is a fundamental part of the gaming experience. It is therefore important to encourage and reward it in meaningful ways, especially in a game that practically begs the player to explore, like a game with an open world. For this purpose I have hidden clues on how to solve the different puzzles that block the player from collecting the stones all around the map.
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However, there is another way one can make use of this. An open world is great but sometimes you want to guide the player in the ”right” way, but doing so can potentially force a linear design. By adding unlockable shortcuts not only will you be able to easier predict how the player will move and design the world accordingly, but you will also give the player a sense of progression and of the world ”opening up” and expanding.
Living World
A living world needs life. Even just a few animals can elevate what might otherwise be an empty and desolate place to something that feels vibrant and organic. Just a bird or two in the sky is sometimes enough to liven things up. Naturally the same goes for people. Unfortunately as explained further under ”Challenges” I was unable to implement NPCs to fill out the towns and villages. As it is the empty houses and streets feel rather uncanny. Just one or two people walking about would of really tied these scenes together.
Gameplay
Puzzles are the main gameplay challenge that awaits the player in this game. And these I have strived to make as varied as I can. Though the puzzles are not difficult I hid sollutions and clues to them in the world (More on this under ”Encouraging Exploration”). This to have a sort of failsafe in case a player would, for some reason, get stuck.
1: Activate pillars in the right sequence
2: Enter the correct code
3: Solve the maze
4: Hunt down the fox and bring it to the altar
Sightlines/Player Guidance
The more options a player has the more guidance they need. Maps are great, but even a detailed one can sometimes be a bit unclear. I remedied this at three levels of attention. Near, Mid-range and Far. Anything Near the player will be something the player is likely to walk to immediately, while at mid-range it is their current main goal. Anything Far away is likely an ultimate goal or an aspiration. In this project I have made use of this by ensuring that the player can always see landmarks as described above, but I have also utilized the Near and Mid-range to help show the player both where they can possibly go and how to get there. As demonstrated in the images to the right.
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Travelling
An open world usually means plenty of travel time. I have therefore chosen to incorporate a faster travel mode in my own project. However any feature that is meant to interact with the landscape should also be taken into account when crafting said landscape. Because of this I made sure to include areas which I imagined would be entertaining to move through quickly. A deep canyon, a crevice, ramp-like heights one can jump off of at full speed and grassy savanna with Zebras running before you. Travel is a necessity when it comes to large maps but can often be seen as boring. So I tried to make it as fun as I could.
Challenges
When it came to this project three things proved to give me a challenge. First of all was convoluted and difficult to use assets from the Epic Store. I've certainly learned that documenting your work is important because I sure wish some of the creators of these assets would've been better at it.
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Secondly I found myself not really able to get a landscape layout I was happy with at the start. In the end I settled for a ”Good enough” one in order to keep things rolling but the longer things went on the less pleased I was. As it stands the only reason I didn't give it a complete rework was a lack of time.
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And that is the third and final challenge I encountered; Time. I feel like I could of done much more but poor time estimation and some mismanagement combined with frustrating roadblocks ment that in the end I was unable to do all that I wanted. Most notably was NPCs, questgivers and quests. Nothing major, but having characters that actually tell you what your mission is and offer you some minor guidance would of helped immensely. Not to mention I wanted to liven up the towns and villages.