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Camryn

Level Overview

Fallout 4

Engine: Creation Kit

Time: 4 Months

Quick Summary

"Camryn" is a horror single-player quest in Fallout 4 where the player learns about the disappearance of a family while being attacked by the horrors of a house. There is a demonic presence that is constantly tracking them down. The player must make their way through the house, using a camera at their arsenal, dodging demonic monsters, and solving puzzles to escape the house while learning about a little girl, Camryn, and her camera and drawings.

Base Parameters
  • 1 Main Quest

  • Use Camera to uncover hidden symbols or materialize objects

  • Have certain puzzles based on perspective

  • Horror based environment

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Map

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Design Goals

1. New Mechanics through Scripting
2. Incorporate the Fundamentals of Level Design
3. Horror Theme with Interesting puzzles
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1. New Mechanics Through Scripting

I try to push the boundaries of each engine I'm given by implementing new mechanics through scripting and seeing how much the engine can handle.

I wanted to implement a camera like mechanic within Fallout 4. I took inspiration from the game "Visage" and "Madison" and tried to have a similar mechanic where the player uses the camera to uncover secrets.

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The Script

Manifesting Scripted Mechanic

Players can take pictures of objects to cause it to reveal hidden secrets. This can be drawings on the walls or even destroying walls entirely.

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2. Incorporating the Fundamentals of Level Design

Sight Lines

Conveyance

Teaching the Player

3. Designing a Horror Level in Fallout 4 with Interesting Puzzle Designs

Because the theme is "horror" the level can get away with some area of disbelief. So I incorporated that while using the main mechanics of enabling and disabling objects with the Camera

Parts of Objects to Make a Whole

Some puzzle designs I had was to place part of an object onto a drawing of the object and taking a photo to create the object.

Shadows

Other puzzles I wanted to utilize shadows and creating objects that way.

Perspective Puzzle Scripted Mechanic

If the player looks at certain objects a certain way they will be able to reveal the entire message or object.

Camryn Full Gameplay

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Postmortem
What Went Well?
  • Coming up with interesting and new mechanics and ideas.

  • I wanted to showcase scripting in Creation Kit and I was able to do so by having multiple scripts all interacting with each other.

  • Able to quickly action-block and get the mechanic working.

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What Went Wrong?
  • I did not have a solid plan for puzzle design. As I am mostly a combat designer, coming up with multiple multi-step puzzles all interconnecting set me back significantly.

  • I did not have a solid LDD at the beginning which push me back about a week or two in deliveries. I was basically coming up with a new layout on the fly while iterating on it.

 

What I learned
  • I learned that you don't need to do too much to make a puzzle memorable. The simplest puzzles can also be the best

  • Having the action-blocks and growing out from them helps significantly and allows me not to have to start from scratch when creating a level. 

  • I learned more scripting techniques within Creation Kit.

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