THORNBOUND
Game Plot
The player character is an old mage searching a castle full of foul creatures in search for the moon flower that can heal his sick grandchild.
16
7 weeks
Horror, Combat, Stealth
My Role
LEVEL DESIGNER
Onboarding
Moon Flower Chamber
Overview
Door Placement
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Door acts as a Landmark, Visible from the dungeons and the MainHall, reminding the player of where they came from and their goal.​
Shortcut
If the players fall down from the main hall before collecting the flower, this path allows them to return without going through the entire dungeon.
The gate is locked by fire puzzle which the player has learned before reaching the main hall.​
Before picking the MoonFlower
Visual Development
Large door with flower ornaments.
The only ornamented Door
The roots on the Door will light up after the player picks up the MoonFlower.
After picking the MoonFlower
The player enters the castle and sees the Main hall, learning that there are places to explore.
As they move forward the floor collapses dropping them into the dungeons.
Player sees a huge door with flower ornaments.
A nearby note hints about leaving through this door.
Chapter 1: Remember The Door
Design Iteration
In the alpha version, players collected health pickups but rarely healed themselves.
After the playtest I decided to have the player start with low health and receive a health pickup early on. This made them notice the brightness changes and use the healing control.
Evaluation
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Players remember how to heal and use it more often.
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Players also usually ignored the HUD UI.
Possible Improvements
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blood splatters overlay
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blinking health bar
when the player's health is low, the environment shifts to grayscale and darkens, so healing yourself is not only important to survive but also to be able to play properly.
Chapter 2: Please Heal Yourselves
Most players are familiar with “Shift to run”. However zombies can hear the sound of running.
Players must walk to avoid detection from zombies and get close enough to perform a Backstab(Stealth kill)
Encounter Design
Players can hide behind Covers (bars and broken walls, etc) to wait for the zombie to turn it’s back, so that the player can backstab them.
Evaluation
It is also possible to move past the zombies and run away from them. resulting in players not using the stealth mechanic.
Chapter 4: Hide For Your Life
This section focuses on stealth gameplay, encouraging players to hide behind obstacles,observe the enemies and plan their movement to backstab them.
Most players are familiar with “Shift to run”. However zombies can hear the sound of running.
Players must walk to avoid detection from zombies and get close enough to perform a Backstab(Stealth kill)
Evaluation
In most cases this sequence was successful and the players wouldn’t run before encountering the zombie.
Possible improvements
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Adjust the walk animation to appear more like sneaking.
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Make the sequence longer to have more chances for walking before facing the enemy.
Open door and Backstab gif
Teaching BackStab
The player has a knife for stealth kills on unaware zombies.
The zombie is positioned with its back facing the player.
To prevent players from rushing, I added a door interaction( press "E" ) right before reaching a zombie facing away. This slows the player and leads directly into the backstab prompt.
Chapter 3: Take it Slow & Backstab
Design Iterations
V1:
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Teach puzzle trigger and then combat.
V2:
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Added stealth.
V3:
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Similar to current version Without the one way door. some players would wander around other parts thinking that they had missed something like a key to open the gate.
Blockout V1
Playtest Insights
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In this version, players saw the gate before obtaining the crystals.
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They saw the tutorial for aim and attack near the gate, which caused confusion.
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Players learns backstab and stealth kill enemies before returning to the gate with the crystal.
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Pros:
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Showing the locked gate before finding the crystal
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Cons:
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Confusing.The tutorial should have been near the crystal rather than the gate.
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Blockout V2
Final Version
Evaluation & Possible Improvements
Some players considered the skull as decoration.
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Visual clues that the puzzle trigger and the gate are related (e.g., a skull drawing on the gate, a vine connecting the skull and gate)
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Getting soft lock
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A solution: respawn pickups if there are non in an area.
The player is locked in a safe space to Learn Lightning Spell and how to use it for puzzles and combat.
Chapter 5: Lightning
After onboarding, the player follows the path to the Main hall. Seeing the opening where the floor collapsed upon entry.
The flower door is visible from this point. After encountering some enemies and solving puzzles, the door to Moon flower chamber opens.
Chapter 6: The Holy Path
Encounter Design
To design this part I sketched the line of sight for the player and the zombies.
fallen columns as cover. It is possible to plan the hit on patrolling zombies.​
the awakening zombies are placed to wake up as the player explores the area.
Visual Development
The space is symmetrical to feel more sacred. A part of ceiling and some columns have fallen to show that the space is not safe and stable.
Blockout
Final Version
Waves of Zombies getting up After picking the flower
Encounter Design
to prevent the enemies from swarming the player, multiple waves of enemies have been planned.
After Picking the flower, the area is blocked to Guide the player toward the exit door.
Camera shakes along the path have been planed to urge the player to get out faster.
The Glowing Door
After leaving the Moon Flower Chamber, the player reaches the Main hall that they had already passed through.
Now that the flower is picked the door and its roots are glowing with VFX.
The fallen stones have blocked other passages so this is the only place to go.​
Evaluation
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Some players missed that it was an Escape Sequence and tried to fight all Zombies.​
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the players remember the door, and they are attracted by the VFX.
Possible Improvements
I think this part will benefit from being longer.
and having some destruction happen as the player proceeds.
​This part has been design as a escape sequence. The player can not kill all the enemies.
The ground is full of delayed awakening zombies. As the player reached the flower and picks it up, there is a cinematic scene showing the castle shaking, stones falling and zombies waking up one by one. The player rotates towards the exit door to show the direction they need to go.
Chapter 7: Run For Your Life
Level Planning
The onboarding had a fixed beginning and ending that would enter the next level. In the next level, the space was extended around the first version of the onboarding area, meaning that I had to fit a bigger space into the available space.
Clarifying Mechanics &
Following the Feature Freeze
In this project, I revised the onboarding sequence multiple times because we had not fully decided on the mechanics from the beginning. (e.g., stealth, AI hearing"). This caused problems because the space was not meant for these mechanic.
Level Metrics & Modular Assets
We had not decided on the metrics before starting the blockout, so we had to rebuild all levels after talking to the artists. I used modular floors and walls to build the 3th Version of the Onboarding level. This made my work and the artists' work easier and more cohesive.
Key Takeaways
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Decide on metric early.
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Buffer space around levels.
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Flesh out the mechanics as much as possible.
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Respect the content and feature freeze schedule.
Mistakes Made And Lessons Learned
Thanks for Reading