Firebase Juliet

Firebase Juliet

Firebase Juliet is the first level of my Capstone project at CG Spectrum. This level serves as an introduction to the player and teaches them the basics of their player mechanics, side quests, collectables, and general combat flow / enemy types.

I aimed to deliver an experience driven by curiosity by fighting your way into the dilapidated wall fortress and exploring the environment in the surrounding areas. The player can freely roam at their own pace and tackle combat encounters in a number of different ways.

Throughout my pre-production phase I kept one theme consistent, that was to provide players with an open ended area to explore for collectables, weapons / loot caches, and side quests. I began to plot out my project through my design board fairly rapidly to ensure I was able to deliver a complete and cohesive project and not "over-scope".

As the player progresses through this level they learn to use their 4 abilities, the weapons they can find, and using interactables in the level to aid them in battle as well. I took feedback and suggestions from my mentor to create this to provide meaningful choices during combat, as well as being suitable for

Co-Op play (1-4 Players).

Designing multiple routes that meld together within a space as pictured above allows player to lean more into their preferred play-style, no matter the area they have to fight in. Planning out this combat encounter I went for a Holistic Design approach, instead of designing multiple separate routes that aren't connected, the space fulfills all types of gameplay within the project, providing a more cohesive experience.

Some key ideas I kept in mind were, (1.) What information does the player need when they enter this area? (2) Are the enemies already present or do they arrive as sort of an ambush? (3) What weapons can be introduced into this space? (4) What new interactables can be introduced into this space? By designing with key ideas in mind, I was able to develop core pillars pertaining to the type of experiences I wanted this encounter to provide to the player

Gameplay: