The Catacombs

My development process so far can be described as experimental. By this I mean that I do not have experience with this kit and the different pieces within it and so whenever I need a new room I look at all the different types of pieces I could go for. This has lead to some quite interesting designs, you can see I have begun to add shafts and catacombs into my dungeon.

Later on through my level design I will bring in a couple of friends to test my level and get their feedback and make changes appropriately to fit with player needs and to get a real idea of how people like to play my level.

Bland

After having a quick test run of my level, I begun to notice a common theme. Everywhere looks so... boring, like no one has lived there, like nothing has ever happened there.

Now this is something I was already aware of but for the blogs sake I shall show you what I mean.

In this picture you can see that the room is just dead, the step which will come later on to combat this is called "cluttering", this involves adding random objects such as shrines, lights, crypts, rubble and so on to make the dungeon look believable. 

For now I shall continue with the overall layout.

Big improvements

I have now got my first big battle room and begun to maze some of the paths in order to make sure the hero has to explore and to try keep the level from being too linear.

Catching up

It didn't take me very long at all to get a few start rooms up now and what I have figured out since my last version is that I want the hero to be led round in one giant circle once he has completed the dungeon...

By this I mean, in the picture below you can see a door to the upper right, this door is right next to the start of the dungeon but will remained locked until the hero has defeated the boss and it will be a shortcut directly out of the dungeon system, this will allow the hero to not have to back track all the way through and will ensure the experience the player has with my tomb won't be spoiled by the memory of trying to find the way back out.

Big Set Back

Well the reason I haven't done any work on this for awhile is the fact that my mod file decided to be a complete pain in my side and when I was trying to resolve the issues I was having I accidentally ended up deleting my whole level, I'm still not quite sure how I managed that...

So now it's time to start again, good job I didn't really make all too much progress really isn't it?

First Steps

I have started putting together some of the basic architecture for the entrance hallways for my level. To avoid a world hole (a player being able to see or enter the void) I had to bring in an extra boulder to block a hole which was in one of my hallways, you can see what I mean in the picture below:

Concept Ideas

After messing around in the creation kit and having it crash... sigh, I decided to draw out a couple of ideas for a map and start thinking about a basic quest idea.

- - - - - - Map - - - - - -

You can see in this picture I am trying to keep the layout fairly complex whilst still trying not to confuse the player, the idea I want to go for is to have a fairly realistic seeming structure whilst still maintaining a natural feel of play through for the player. I am thinking about achieving this by having lots of side rooms coming off of the main corridors, basic rooms that I can populate with enemies, bookshelves, alchemy tables, rubble and much more aesthetically pleasing items.  

- - - - - - Quest - - - - - - 

So far I have been thinking about the idea of having a boss called "Onstwon" inhabit the dungeon along with his loyal followers (some being Drague and some being Necromancers). The player will hopefully receive a quest from someone in a nearby town or from a pick-up such as a diary and will have to go through figuring out what happened to a previous adventurer that dared the tombs.

To aid in this experience I am thinking about littering the tombs with various skeletons and bodies and have the player searching through them trying to identify a certain previous adventurer.