Design Brief
Jersey City Medical Center
The goal was to design a level supporting a new main mission with approximately 30 minutes of gameplay following the story of The Division 2. I chose to use this area of Jersey City for the level map.
I went with the True Sons faction as the player’s enemy that controls the medical center’s main building.
Level Flow
1. Courtyard
2. Triage (Resupply)
3. Reception
4. Hallway
5. Terrace
6. Stairs (Resupply)
7. Emergency
8. Office
9. Observation
10. Corridor (Resupply)
11. Atrium
12. Finale
Intensity Chart
Each breathing room is indicated with plateaus in the graph, where players are able to stop and resupply between each battle. They have been evenly spaced out based on the architecture of real world hospital interiors and type of combat in each room, close quarters or otherwise.
Key Features
Enemy Archetypes
1. Assault
Generic enemy type carrying an assault rifle.
2. Rusher
Close range enemy equipped with a shotgun.
3. Thrower
Medium range enemy throws grenades to flush out players.
4. Sniper
Long range enemy equipped with a bolt action rifle.
5. Medic
Close to medium range enemy capable of laying down suppressive fire while mending their injured allies.
6. RPG
Medium to long range enemy equipped with an RPG to forcefully flush players out from staying too long in a cover.
7. Heavy Weapons
Medium range enemy equipped with a machine gun capable of laying down suppressive fire to pin players.
8. Tank
Close to medium range boss-type enemy equipped with a grenade launcher and shotgun.
Mission Design
The premise of the mission is to retrieve a crate of medical equipment from a band of True Sons in one of their bases of operations. After retrieval, the players are confronted by the leader of the band, the Tank archetype, who will burst in on a van of explosives that block the only exit route. The players will have to defeat the boss, pick up a remote detonator, then detonate the van, opening the exit.
Mission progress is based on triggers and enemy archetype eliminations.
Missions are created with the “EZObjectives” plugin by Lecturer Antony Cain.
Moodboard Planning
I took great inspiration from real world hospitals and architectural renders of interior design as I had some background in this area. I have been following a neat write-up done on level design principles and an exhaustive database of game design resources both written by a level designer in Hi-rez Studios named Alexander Kullman, and a level design website called the Level Design Book.
Initially, the mission was partially based on one of the first missions in The Division 2 where the players have to fight their way through Grand Washington Hotel to rescue a person. I had an idea where there would be a reverse combat situation following the order of the aforementioned in-game mission but after consulting with my lecturers, I have decided not to include this part as it may exceed the 30 minute mission limit. Instead, the boss fight in the Atrium room features 2 waves of enemies leading up to the main event after the retrieval of mission item.
Walkthrough Video
