I've been trying to come up with a good introductory level design to an RPG I'd like to create. Here is what I've gotten so far. Protagonist Kyle Morales is a tall, spare man with a swarthy complexion, in his early 30's. He has sad, downcast brown eyes, dark hair, and a perpetual five o' clock shadow. He has light, tousled brown hair. He typically wears a tweed jacket, and generally dresses conservatively, like a writer. His clothing usually has a navy blue color scheme. He has a long-faced, doleful look. Kyle is a pretty good-natured guy, though he likes to natter on about little things, but beneath his likable exterior hides a very scared man. Everything Kyle does in his life, through what appears to be no fault of his own, falls apart around him. He goes through every task he does, from school to his job to his home life, with reservation and hesitation, which often results in the self-fulfilling prophecy of failure. Graduated from UCLA with a degree in International Relations and, at the start of the game, is a freelance writer for the L.A. Times. Speaks Spanish fluently. His home life revolves around his family; his wife, Sonja Brighton Morales, and his two children, David and Sandra. His father was killed in circumstances not immediately revealed to the player, and his mother lives in a beach house in Orange County. Antagonists The Cadre is a domestic terrorist group based in the northwest part of the United States, advocating the overthrow of the American government. They have steadily gained influence among the lower-middle class and even made inroads in traditional suburban neighborhoods, culminating in the events of Dark November, where riots broke out condemning the Chadwick administration for its foreign and economic policies, and martial law was declared to restore order. Although martial law is no longer in effect, certain areas of major cities are currently being administrated by the Department of Homeland Security, until the civil unrest abates. The DHS has successfully withdrawn from most of these areas, with the notable exception of about half of Los Angeles. There has been no such coordinated movement amongst Cadre sympathizers since; however, the group has changed its focus to a more grassroots political approach, gaining support in local and state governments. In more populated areas, the Cadre has become the loudest voice in condemning the "federal military occupation of our nation's great cities." Recent polls have indicated that 60% of young voters and college students now regard the Cadre as a political movement and not a terrorist organization. This influence has begun spread outside America; many countries blame the Chadwick administration for allowing the Cadre movement to take root in their own citizens, particularly the young and impressionable. Kyle Part 1 Kyle Morales is a man in his early thirties who works as a freelance writer for the Los Angeles Times – although not terribly well-known or successful. He’s not the breadwinner in his family – his wife, Sonja Bright Morales, has a high-paying desk job working at a large financial firm. When the game starts, Kyle is at the Los Angeles airport with his family. Things have been going well for them lately – Kyle got a new article published and Sonja got a promotion, so, they’re taking a well-deserved family vacation to Japan. His daughter Shelley, a brown-haired precocious toddler, is excitedly orbiting around her mother, as she fusses with her cell phone. His son David, a more reserved preteen, is shoving quarters into a nearby arcade machine. ENVIRONMENT: • Advertisements and banners about the new unveiling of the Dockleeds Starliner, a new aircraft comparable in luxury to most cruise ships, and able to transition from atmospheric to space flight. “THE DAWNING OF A NEW ERA – brought to you by Dockleeds Aerospace.” • A man complaining that the airline overbooked his flight. • Disc-shaped service robots are flitting about, keeping the carpets clean. Shelly begins to chase after one of them. If you pursue the matter, one of them breaks, and one of the janitors comes out to yell at you. • Pollsters asking what your voice in the Chorus is. • Advertisements for hot tamale bars, the perfect traveler’s snack. • A harried family hustling their luggage through the airport, shouting at each other in Hindi. • A large transparent glass pane showing the future Los Angeles, the smog creating a warm glow around elevated structures, highrises, and long, lighted superhighways built decades earlier to alleviate traffic conditions. There’s a chain of beacons in the distance; the huge wall dividing the city in half. • A brown-haired young English woman is walking through the terminal carrying some sort of a scanner. She will be stopped by a couple of security guards. You can overhear the conversation and decide whether to help her or not. • A traveler is snoring loudly on a nearby bench. • A Sufi evangelist offering words of wisdom and a free pamphlet to anyone who walks by. • Some well-dressed businessmen are freestyling over some hip-hop beats at the deli. • DHS security forces sit at the local coffee shop, talking about worldwide political events. It would seem innocuous enough, if not for the assault rifles strapped to their backs. If you stick around, one of the local rent-a-cops (you later recognize him as Hall) complains that they’re not allowed to have those on this side of the city, least of all in the airport, that this area is outside their jurisdiction. An argument ensues. As Kyle and the player takes in the busy environment of the international terminal, he sees his friend waving at him. It’s Lucas Schiaparelli, and the two of them go all the way back to high school. They talk a bit. You find out, if you haven’t already, that security is a lot tighter at the international terminal; there’s a ceremony outside rechristening it into an interspace terminal. A bunch of celebrities and dignitaries are going to take the initial flight to an expensive space resort built in orbit, just for this occasion. Kyle mentions that he’s doing a story about his trip, and asks Lucas if he could tell him anything more about the event. Lucas offers to take him down to the main event. You can ask Sonja if you have time to go with Lucas. She will gripe about risking missing the flight, but Kyle can say that you have plenty of time. Lucas says that there are some security issues, but that he’ll vouch for you. You go down to the security office and meet Hall. Hall and Lucas are both security guards and work together; Lucas brings him down a bag lunch from one of the fast food joints in the terminal for him. Hall is dubious about you, and must be convinced to let you go to the tarmac where the president of Dockleeds is giving a speech. If you talk to Hall once more before you leave, he mumbles something about the security systems not working quite right, and picks up the phone to call his supervisor. As Kyle is about to leave, you hear gunshots. *** CHOICE: 1) Lucas is going to go check it out. You can try to go with him. After several dialogue entries of arguing (Lucas will not allow you to do this) Lucas eventually leaves with a blaster and slams the door shut. 2) Go back to the terminal. Kyle will say something to the effect of “I have to find my family!” Lucas will tell you that he and Hall will take care of that, and to just stay in the security office where it’s safe. You can refuse, and go back up to the terminal. There, people will be screaming and running, and the atmosphere will take a distinctly darker turn. You’ll see the DHS officers get cut down. When you get to the location that your family was at, you’ll see the Cadre rounding up travelers and marching them to some other location. Kyle will hide behind a nearby object and go into “sneak mode.” Kyle will mutter things to himself about sneak mode so you know what to do. You can make your way back to the security office (skip down) or you can follow the Cadre who is herding the travelers outside onto the tarmac, as hostages. Once you make it outside, you can listen in on the Cadre’s plans. Eventually they’ll get too close for comfort, and Kyle will crawl into a nearby duct. If you continue down this duct, you’ll come out in the security office where Hall is. 3) Hall will start ordering you around if you hesitate too long. He’ll say that the security system is being hacked from an outside client, and the only way to cut off access is to find out where the network is being tapped into, and remove the connection. The network is supposed to be completely internalized. He’ll ask you to man the security cameras while he tries to find the source of the connection on a nearby terminal. You’ll switch to the security cameras and see people running and screaming, Cadre terrorists swarming the airport. No sign of Sonja or the kids. Hall will give up in frustration and say that the only solution is to reboot the network. Kyle mentions that if they’ve stormed the airport this quickly, the security office would be a primary goal for them. Hall checks the screens and finds it odd that no Cadre terrorists are around. He tries to open the door – only to find that you’re locked in. Kyle realizes that they’re probably going to come around here eventually. Hall says that Kyle can escape through a ventilation shaft in the wall to the tarmac, and maybe make a run for it. He hands Kyle a two-way radio and says he’ll stay and monitor the cameras, make sure that Kyle’s path is clear. Kyle will hesitate; he’s not a cop, he’s just a guy. You can go right or left at the ventilation shaft – right leads to the tarmac, left leads to the maintenance area. Coming out to the tarmac if you just came from there shows a couple of people (later identified as Lieschblume and Garrison) setting up a network uplink right outside the shaft. This is information Hall would like to know, and if you go back and tell him, he comes up with a new plan. The terminal has old generators in the maintenance area in case of emergencies. They’re not used often, but they give off tons of EM interference; enough to blot out a network uplink. Activating the emergency generators sends a flurry of Cadre activity to you. You can’t make it back to the vent, because there are a bunch of mean guys with assault rifles standing around it. Taking the front door exit to the hangar is the only way. There are guards patrolling in that area, so you must observe their movements and sneak through. Hall notifies you that you’ve only bought some time – the Cadre will soon find a way to shut off the generators. However, he’s managed to locate the source of the internal tap; a direct wire splice from a service line, behind a news stand in the terminal. If you can reach the tap, you can cut off the Cadre’s security system access. Of course, there is one catch; the Cadre has secured the terminal and has patrols all over the place. There are two ways back to the terminal; backtracking the way you came, or climbing onto the plane in the hangar, walking over it, jumping to a ledge, and shimmying along the roof to a boarding ramp. Either route will take you back to the main terminal. When you reach the news stand, there is a Cadre technician working on it, and a Cadre paramilitary eating a sandwich. He has his gun in his lap. If you wait a couple seconds, the paramilitary will get up to throw away the trash. This allows you to sneak up on the technician and disable him in a creative manner. There are other ways to deal with the situation, including picking up some hot coffee from the coffee shop and tossing it in his face. Hall will attempt to step you through the disabling process. However, it is unlikely that you will be able to “cut the right wires” before the paramilitary or his friends return. Kyle will eventually be given the option to just smash the circuitry that the Cadre technician was working on. This is the correct solution. The other approach is to disarm it the way he told you, which is difficult; a Cadre tech will return and fix whatever damage you do, every time you run and hide. It can be done if you are quick. The advantage to doing this becomes apparent later. Smashing the circuitry alerts “Mr. Jefferson,” the apparent leader of this Cadre operation. “Mr. Jefferson” contacts “Mr. Lincoln” and tells him to fix the uplink. This time, the Cadre tech will show up with one of the Cadre commandos; Hall will hiss at you to get away as fast as possible, and you are not given a choice here; a Cadre commando would notice you, no matter how well-hidden you were. CHOICE 1) You can go through the boarding ramp and hide on the Cessna being worked on in the hangar. You can eventually manipulate the controls of the Cessna to drive it out of the hangar, and crash it into the uplink. This gets rid of that problem forever, and opens up some options for you later. It also makes the Cadre really pissed at you. The Cadre will storm the hangar, and you’ll have to escape to the vent exit at the tarmac. 2) You can take a new route; down the main hallway to the other terminals. Previously, this was not an option, due to either excessive Cadre activity, or the security checkpoint. Going down to the security checkpoint prompts a puzzle; while nobody’s manning the metal detector, there are additional security devices preventing you from just hopping the fence. Occasionally a Cadre patrol will head through, set off the metal detector, and ignore it. Your objective is to get through without setting off any of the detectors. After you get through, you can access the public area of the airport in its entirety, except for the main gates and terminal 6. The main gates are heavily guarded, and terminal 6 is caved in. Hall will send you a message after making it past the checkpoint. 3) You can go down to the security offices. Hall has managed to unlock the other doors, meaning you can go to the upper maintenance level and the loading dock, two previously inaccessible areas. The upper maintenance level triggers an event where you can see a SWAT team maneuvering through the lower area where the generators are. The loading dock shows passengers being moved out onto the tarmac, where they appear to be loading them into the massive Dockleeds Starliner. If you get caught and surrender to the Cadre, you’ll end up here waiting. If you’re gutsy, there is a puzzle here which lets you try to free those people. Be prepared to get out of Dodge when you do it, though. If you decide not to try, Hall will send you a message. Hall will tell you that he’s managed to tap into the Cadre communications net. He managed to intercept what looks to be a morphic cipher they use for internal comms. If you can get one of their comm headsets, Hall will be able to interface with it and let you listen in on their conversations. That becomes your next goal. Cadre paramilitary have headsets. They can be identified by their behavior. There is one paramilitary in each terminal and two in the loading dock. The paramilitary in the international terminal is next to the Cadre commando and inaccessible – Hall tells you it’s probably not a good idea to go back to that area. KYLE “I didn’t know I had it in me.” You may acquire a gun through this part of the game, typically by disabling the paramilitary in front of the data tap in the news booth. This gun will be locked and unusable. Hall will comment that the safety mechanism can only be unlocked if you have the proper code. It’s a safe bet that one of the Cadre technicians has it – or knows where it is. Another event is spying on a Cadre paramilitary, who will remark about a security guard causing trouble in terminal 6. He will receive orders not to cause too much trouble in terminal 6, because it would throw the operation off. His physical description matches that of Lucas. There are two possible ways to get this code. One is to get a Cadre technician alone and unarmed, and surprise him. After you do this, however, it will trigger the SWAT team attack. The other way is to go to the auxiliary linkup in the meeting rooms in terminal 4. You find out about the aux linkup by getting a headset and spying on the female hacker tech working outside on the network uplink on the tarmac. Hall will ask you to get back to the security office so he can upgrade your headset. It will now show more information for you. Upon doing that, he’ll notice the good guys have finally arrived; there are SWAT vans and police officers in front of the main gate. Kyle will either spot the SWAT team infiltrating the lower maintenance corridor or tell Hall about it. Kyle will try to go down there to meet them. CHOICE 1) Access lower maintenance through the ventilation shaft. If you use the shaft, you’ll hear “Mr. Lincoln” talking with “Ms. Roosevelt” preparing to ambush the SWAT team. Kyle realizes that coming out through lower maintenance is a sure way to end up in the line of fire, and retreats through the vent. 2) Access upper maintenance through the service hallway. You’ll have to do this anyway. You’ll watch a cutscene here as the SWAT team fights with two Cadre commandos. It’s more like a slaughter. The SWAT team is utterly annihilated, and as “Ms. Roosevelt” inspects the carnage, one of the team members, injured and near death, pulls the pin out of a grenade and tosses it at her. She looks up with surprise, catches it, and realizes what it is. Boom. “Mr. Lincoln,” will have an… unpleasant reaction to the death of “Ms. Roosevelt.” He will notice you watching the scene, and jump up and begin to chase you down. You must run for it. Kyle will run to the security doors, only to find them locked down tight. Hall will radio frantically, saying that the Cadre are attacking from both sides. The only way out from here is the loading dock. You run to the loading dock just moments before “Mr. Lincoln” comes hurtling like a torpedo into the double doors. You can hear his body slam against the door like a battering ram, but don’t worry, he’ll soon be distracted with other matters. Contact from Hall is static-filled and abrupt. There are automatic baggage handlers that can be activated in the loading dock, but a Cadre technician is manning them. You have to find a way to activate the baggage handlers, then jump into one of the baggage compartments. That will move you to the baggage claim at the main gates. Midway, the baggage compartments will stop moving. A Cadre terrorist has noticed your handiwork. You come out just below the boarding ramp at the international terminal. This is where you will get your last message from Hall. Hall will mention in his last communiqué that if the Cadre are storming the security office, they probably aren’t in the international terminal. You can try to escape to the roof through the boarding ramp, which has been retracted by the Cadre. From the roof, you can jump from building to building until you end up at the main gates. Cadre terrorists will begin emptying the baggage compartments, one by one. You must escape from the baggage compartments, make a run across the tarmac, and climb up to the boarding ramp, which has now been retracted. If you wait till the last minute, there will be an explosion in the distance. You’ll overhear on your headset, the Cadre saying that it came from Terminal 6, apparently the only terminal they don’t have control of. Hall says something about Lucas’s handiwork. Either way, you can’t get to Terminal 6 yet, so take advantage of the opportunity to run for it. Once you get to the cover near the walls, you can shimmy across the ledge of the gate window and climb onto the roof. Once you get on the roof, the view will switch to a couple of Cadre terrorists. One has a pair of binoculars, the other has a rifle. Take note of what they say. Kyle will eventually end up at the main gates building. Climbing through a grate, you’ll end up climbing on the support beams overlooking all of the main gates. You can’t get down from here, but this gives the player a good chance to look over the situation. You can use the advertising banners, however, to come down almost anywhere at the main gates – the trick is, finding a spot where you won’t be noticed immediately. The ticket counter provides you with excellent cover from the roving Cadre patrols. Simply sneak behind the counter all the way down. Kyle will observe the main gates and think of possible ways to escape the airport. From the computer at the ticket counter, you’ll learn that there’s a parking garage at Terminal 6 that the Cadre hasn’t taken control of. From the main gate, you can reach the front doors, and it’s a straight shot to the police perimeter and freedom. Out of nowhere, “Mr. Lincoln” will show up, guns blazing. Once again, you need to get away from him, because he’ll chew you up and spit you out. Run to the baggage claim, and you’re now in the baggage conveyor area. You have to shake “Mr. Lincoln” from your trail by jumping from belt to belt and throwing pieces of luggage at him. You’ll know you’ve lost him when he loses his balance and falls off the belt. If he gets close to you, he’ll pound you, so don’t do that. Once he falls, a brief cutscene will play, and Kyle will come out in the lobby… right behind a whole group of Cadre terrorists receiving orders. If you go down the escalator, you’ll end up behind the Cadre barricade. In front of the main gates, there is an awning where limos and taxis load up. There is a police barricade directly in front of it; but it’s impossible to reach, since the Cadre have their guns all trained in that direction. However, there appears to be an exitway that’s less well guarded. If you can put additional stress on this weak point, you may be able to make a run for the parking garage through the skyway concourse. Once you make it to the skyway concourse, the view once again switches to the sniper. Do not let Kyle fall into the crosshairs of the sniper. Use cover and duck and run; this part is a sidescroller. Simply keep evading the sniper’s shots. As soon as you reach the end of the skyway concourse to the parking garage, “Mr. Lincoln” will walk out and block the way. That’s your cue to… run the other way. CHOICE 1) If you shoot the two support suspensions holding up the skyway concourse before “Mr. Lincoln” can follow you, the skyway will fall and “Mr. Lincoln” will fall with it. You’re still screwed, though, since you needed that skyway to reach the parking garage. The sniper will stop to reload now, giving you a bit of time to react. The group of Cadre moving to cut you off will corner you and you will have to dive out. You’ll fall a couple of stories and take damage, landing in some bushes. The sniper will put his sights on you again, and this time Kyle will be limping, so you’ll have to be extra careful. Once you crawl out of the bushes, you’ll come upon another boarding ramp. This one has collapsed to the ground, and leads directly up to another terminal – entering the collapsed boarding ramp changes the view back to Kyle again. As you make your way through the collapsed boarding ramp, it will begin to shake violently, and if you look behind you, you’ll see a disgruntled “Mr. Lincoln” attempting to collapse it. If you reach the end of the ramp, you’ll end up in a burning lobby with rubble lying everywhere. 2) If you just keep running in the opposite direction, you’ll see a group of Cadre move to cut you off. You’ll be pressured into a room with only one entrance and exit… and a ventilation duct. After Kyle dives into the duct, you’ll hear “Mr. Lincoln” say something ominously smug. There’ll be a huge fireball chasing you through the duct after a few seconds, and it will begin shaking violently, and just before it reaches you, the duct will collapse and you’ll fall into a smoke-filled room. Kick down the door and the smoke will empty the room, revealing it to be a gift shop. Fires are burning all around and the place looks wrecked. Welcome to Terminal 6. *** Any impressions so far? [Edited by - Beige on March 18, 2005 5:11:49 PM]

Great start to a novel. Thats not level design though... and thats alot of action for an RPG. Im interested on how you would do the camera angles for stuff like this, and alert the user there is a sniper, and when hes reloading, etc. I find it would be hard to know when a snipers reloading unless you clearly see him, which is something a sniper tends to avoid. On top of that, if you are looking at him, its going to be tough to run, and you will have very little timeframe. A great bit for like a CG sequence or something, but I think it would be a little to difficult to make it playable.

Quote: Original post by PaulCesar
Great start to a novel. Thats not level design though... and thats alot of action for an RPG. Im interested on how you would do the camera angles for stuff like this, and alert the user there is a sniper, and when hes reloading, etc. I find it would be hard to know when a snipers reloading unless you clearly see him, which is something a sniper tends to avoid. On top of that, if you are looking at him, its going to be tough to run, and you will have very little timeframe. A great bit for like a CG sequence or something, but I think it would be a little to difficult to make it playable.

The idea is that you are looking from the sniper's point of view down at Kyle, and you have to dodge the crosshairs. Sort of like that game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time, when you have to fight Shredder, and he's trying to grab at you.

Original post edited for additional storyline background.

I didn't realize TMNT:TiT (heh) had ripped that boss off till I played the original Battle Toads. Li'l offtopic there. Sorry.

I'm a little curious as to why you think it wouldn't be playable; every part of this was intended to be gameplay. The conversations as branched dialogue, exploring and talking to people in the airport terminal before the terrorists take over, running away from Mr. Jefferson.

I like it, it has a kind of Deus ex feel to it :)
I love games that have a lot of detail like this.

I know I wrote this level design like a walkthrough; but I'm really not sure how else to write them. Is there any sort of general accepted format to this kind of level design?

Battletoads. Folks I know say that game will break my kneecaps and leave me for dead out in the desert. I'll have to try it.

Forgive the bump.

I think you did well analyzing everything you could've for the level design, kudos on thinking it out so thoroughly. My biggest qualm is the motivation, it just seems a little herkyjerky for some reason. Despite being a reporter, I don't think his first instinct would really be to get involved. A middle aged man who basically amounts to a nerd wouldn't suddenly become solid snake when faced with a dire situation. I think maybe if you wrote a little more about his mentality, how possibly insecure he is about not being the breadwinner, not being solid snake, and not being rambo, but wanting to prove himself and save his family.. that would work out well. With such a solid beginning, it'd be tough to do anything BUT add value.

This sounds well thought-out.