MeltDown
Honors Winning Thesis Project
Level Designer / Scripter
GAME: Fallout 4
ENGINE: Creation Kit
DEV TIME: 2.5 Months
GAME MODE: Single Player
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Design Doc
Planning
Tables and Tools
Before I began designing "Meltdown's" story, structure, or spaces, I explored Fallout 4 and Creation Kit compile a list of all the ways the player can interact with the game, as well as tools I had to affect those interactions.
Planning Table
I started by listing each of the basic verbs of the game. I then listed each of the variables that affected these verbs which I had the ability to change. Finally, I categorized each of these variables by the type of Game Feel experience they were related to, and by the tone of gameplay their poles of tuning create. The process of creating this list gave me a greater understanding of the possibilities of Fallout 4 and its engine, as well as what kinds of gameplay experiences it is best at delivering, namely ones relating to Freedom and Control.
Plotting Experience Goals
After compiling my table of tools, I moved on to plotting the gameplay experience I wanted to player to have in my level. Since I had already learned that Fallout 4 works best when affecting the player's feeling of Freedom and Control, I decided to base my level around these two experiences. Research into other action games showed that players are more engaged when gameplay is divided into multiple scenes lasting between 5 and 15 minutes; thus, based on the scope of the project, I decided that "Meltdown" would have three scenes.
Scene Table
I then laid out the Game Feel experience I was targeting for each scene, as well as the tone for the beginning and end of the scene. By setting these goals, I gave myself a yardstick by which to measure all design decisions made in the creation of the level. I reinforced these goals by explicitly listing the design parameters I would follow in each scene in the table below.
Gameplay Tuning by Scene
While this process was thorough and I was often tempted to simply begin making "Meltdown" without completing it, it proved to be very useful as I built the level. First, by understanding the possibilities and limitations of Fallout 4's engine before beginning work, I was able to avoid over-scope and to make a level that fit with Fallout 4 as a whole. Furthermore, by listing out the design parameters of each scene, I was able to identify and solve problems more quickly.