Medical Meltdown
Design Pillars
Realism.
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The Last of Us has a very realistic setting. This means I wanted to design the hospital space to be realistic, and then inject clinical gameplay into the space.
Exploration.
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I noticed in The Last of Us every space is like an adventure. You never truly know what you will come across and I tried to embody that with a constantly changing situation throughout the mission.
Resourcefulness
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The Last of Us features some very resourceful characters (Joel and Ellie in particular) who always seem to have the solution to every problem. I believe I created an environment that allows the player to showcase their ability to be resourceful by utilizing their surroundings to accurately solve the situation at hand.
Backstory and Intent
This hospital is meant to be a small town location.
My intent with this space was the following.
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Create a functional hospital space with all of its usual necessities to give it realism.
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I intended for the gameplay to switch on the player half way through. So i wanted the space to be playable from start to end, and end to start.
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Make stealth the optimal completion route, but combat another option as well.
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Showcase future escape paths during the first half of the mission.
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Optional paths rewarding players with items for an easier completion.
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Slowly introduce stealth elements to get the player used to the space first.
Approach
In the beginning I did a lot of research on hospital layouts. I navigated blueprints and identified key elements of hospitals to bring them into my own layout. The other research I did was watching a lot of The Last of Us' gameplay.
To ensure the intended gameplay experience. i did the following.
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Made enemies obvious before stealth began which allowed the player to plan their future interactions.
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Interactions with AI often outnumbered the player 2, or 3 to 1 which would persuade the player to choose stealth.
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The players path would intersect with future escape routes during calmer times of gameplay.
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The initial rooms features 0 interaction with enemies to allow the players to get a feel for the space.
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Swap the gameplay from a stealth mission, to an escape from the swarming infected half way through.
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Smaller side rooms contained items players could use to distract the AI.
Challenges
The challenge I faced was designing in third person. Since the camera is detached from they player my level had to undergo certain design changes to compensate for the camera.
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I had to widen hallways, doorways, and raise ceilings so the camera didn't clip through, or interact with its surroundings.
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Make sure my design doesn't focus on players utilizing a 'third person peak' to get information.