Poppy Playtime - Chapter 4
Gameplay Trailer
My Responsibilities
I was a Level Designer on the narrative driven puzzle-horror game Poppy Playtime - Chapter 4:
Designer and owner of 2 game levels from concept polish.
Built several additional greyboxes from existing paper designs.
Orchestrate the communication of all disciplines in the planning and execution of level content.
Support Lead LD on crafting key gameplay moments and resolving team blockers.
Create and maintain level design documentation and maps.
Assemble all levels in common world space and create connective geometry.
Creating gameplay gyms to establish Level & Game design practices.
Mentoring a junior Level Designer.
Primary Contributions:
“No Man’s Land” - Roaming AI Level
The Doctor’s HQ
Additional Greyboxes & World Assembly
Bug Fixing
“No Man’s Land” Roaming AI Level
Concept & Layout
No Man’s Land was given to me late in preprodocution in a sad state:
No clear gameplay vision other than the roaming AI stalker Yarnaby.
No defined puzzle or progression requirements.
No supporting narrative.
No concepts, preliminary sketches or art.
During my first iterations, it had an intended play time of 40 minutes with two distinct locations, and led into a dedicated final boss level with Yarnaby. Later, the boss encounter was cut and the No Man’s Land playtime halved.
One section of the level was scrapped in favor of focusing on the area you see in the final game, resulting in the surviving designed space being moved from an intended indoor environment, to a mostly “exterior” aesthetic with organic architecture.
The final chase ending in Yarnaby’s fall was added with the Game Design team’s assistance, in lieu of a dedicated encounter level.
I designed the level around a recurring power redirection puzzle with obstacles blocking progression. The visual cues and persistence of the cable systems helps remind players of the overall goal while avoiding the roaming Yarnaby. Because the AI was new and sometimes unreliable, specific player-driven actions will always attract Yarnaby, regardless of his location. This helps reinforce the intended experience by encouraging player encounters with Yarnaby at certain progression points. Additionally, a series of hiding cubbies in the wall are strategically scattered throughout the map. They were all created from a tested greybox template, so they all have identical dimensions, shape language, and lighting to support clear player communication.
Markiplier’s playthrough (43:52 - 1:10:39)
Gameplay Implementation
After the initial greybox, I prototyped any major functionality outside of the AI for the level to be playable. Some level events were keyframed in Level Sequences for movable assets, but many were scripted in custom Blueprints with little additional technical support to reach the shipped version. Working closely with the AI programmer and technical designer, we developed our own workflows and technical setup for the roaming AI to try facilitating the gameplay I’d envisioned. It wasn’t perfect, but it worked well considering the circumstances. Overall, I played a significant role in the technical setup and execution of No Man’s Land:
Implement gameplay objects and prototype unique level elements.
Script level events not covered under the project’s event system.
Block out level sequences for pacing and event calls.
Collaborate with Programmers on bringing some prototyped elements to shipping quality.
Integrate the roaming AI into the level and script event connections.
Gameplay Video Coming Soon…
Technical Prototyping
Late in development, the original Doctor Sawyer boss encounter was scrapped, and the design team collaborated on a new high-level direction for what it would become. The Level Design lead took ownership of the new encounter’s map layout, while bringing me in to own all of the level content design and technical implementation. Due to the extraneous development circumstances, we skipped the paper phase and moved straight into the engine to start building.
Effectively starting with no defined content for the level, I rapidly prototyped various functionalities and events using a very basic follow AI:
One-off scare events
Scripted linear horror gameplay events
Tested various AI scenarios
Created custom BP instances of the character’s body for different action events
Additionally, I developed a prototype AI manager to handle the Doctor robot bodies during play. Developing the prototype myself allowed total freedom to determine what features and variables to test, tweak, and move forward with a full pass by a programmer. As a standalone Blueprint, I implemented compatibility myself for multiple game systems, including integration to the broader event system, as well as communication with the character’s AI logic. These prototypes and tests were absolutely critical to informing the design and workflow of the level’s technical setup.
Additional Greyboxes & World Assembly
Additional Greyboxes
In addition to my own primary levels, I built initial greyboxes for the Safe Haven and the sewers area. The sewers was once a much more expansive and exploratory area with some light gameplay, as well as a multi-visit scenery change and additional toy threat. Ultimately the gameplay and majority of the area was cut during scope reduction with other parts of the game.
Lastly, I greyboxed the ending level of the game, shaping what would be the look of the poppy area in the cave.
World Assembly
During the greybox phase, I was responsible for assembling all game levels into a common world space, involving:
Calculating level positions in the persistent game level space.
Moving all geometry and related actors of levels into position.
Editing individual level greyboxes to fix various conflicts, such as clipping between levels, geometry misalignments, visual and pathway blockers, etc.
In a few locations, I had authority over splicing and rearranging sections of some levels to fix major environment clipping. At most level connection points, I also took authority to exercise my own creativity while blending spaces together in a cohesive and natural manner. These efforts paved the way for level streaming, Environment Art, Design, Animation, Audio, etc. to completely realize the full game world.
