Level Designer
Batman Arkham Knight
Learning Objectives: For this project I wanted to create a melee combat level that wouldn’t involve stealth, to learn the best ways to create a combat situation.
Game Engine: Unreal
Plugins: Blocking starter pack, Spawn system, Polygon Prototype and town and
heist and city.
Level Designer: Luke Nuttall
Design Document
Research Images
When I was doing much research I was looking mainly at different Batman Arkham Knight levels that I wanted to create. So when I went to design my level I struggled as I couldn’t find anything original cause I was Looking too much at these Batman Arkham knight Knight levels, I went back to do more research but this time looked at shopping malls in real life and not in Batman, this helped me get past this barrier and design a level I was happy with.
Once I was happy with the research I had done I then started to design my level with pen and paper. I designed a few different options for myself and went with my last design which I felt was the best one. My original design for this level started very small but as I started building in the engine I knew I had to make it bigger and bigger. So there was a lot of progression from the early design work.
Once I was happy with my plans I went into an unreal engine and started being up the outline of my level following my plan. I wanted to try to stick as close to the metric in my design as I could.
This is an early look at when I first started to block out my level, I originally had a cage above the room with the enemies but I changed it to a vent so it wouldn’t revel everything to the player straight away.
After getting an outline of my level and adding in the AI, I realised I needed to make the level bigger, as I had you starting in an almost random hallway I needed to show how you got there and where you ended up as I had nothing behind the door you need to go thought to end the level, so I had more work to do.
Floor = Black
Wall = Grey
Enemies = Red
Interactable = Green
Goal = Yellow
Vents = Blue
_gif.gif)
Here is a progression gif of the hallway, I added piping to add focus to the next vent and the joker for some environmental storytelling.
_gif.gif)
This gif is the progression of the mall strip outside of the enemy room, I made some landscape to block the end of the hall to make it look like rubble and mainly used this area for environmental storytelling, like adding some benches around and stairs that would usually go to different floors, also adding shops that you can enter like the sports shop which the enemies are in, a tech shop where a riddler trophy is, and a toy shop where the vent leads out of.
_gif.gif)
Here is a look at the progress in the enemy room, I went originally had a wire cage on top that the player could walk around on, but this didn’t leave much room for explorations in the mall strip, so I added a vent to connect the player to a room of the side and to allow exploration. The last thing I added was when you enter the room the Joker is talking to you from within the vent the player was in, to again add to the environmental storytelling. I wanted to make this into a sports shop where the enemies were hiding out so that I could add different things for them and the player to use like bats and such.
I originally had the player start in the little hallway, but realised you didn’t have an idea of how you got there, so I changed it so you start on the roof of the mall, and added this sign to showcase where you are.
I added this skylight on the roof so the player can see that it is heavily fortified inside, I originally had this as a flat window that you could walk across, but I later changed it and acred it so you can have a better view inside.
So I added this vent on the roof that will lead the player to the hallway that was the original starting point. I made a vent door to showcase where to go, in the real the player would need to pull this off the vent to progress, but for this block out I moved it to the side. I also added a riddler trophy over the vent if the player looks around.
This is the hallway when you exit the vent, the joker is on a pipe talking to the player which is all in Batman's head, I added pipes to add a bit of life into this corridor, and doors that are all blocked off, with the vent in the top left the way to progress. I made the vent door hang off the wall to show where to go but to also show this building is falling apart and isn’t in the best of shape.
Once you enter the vent you crawl across the sports shop where the enemies are, there are little windows of vision that are given to the player so they can have a little peek of what they are up against.
Once you exit the vent you enter a toy shop with one lone enemy in there, the player hears how he’s looking to take a toy to bring back to his son when the job is over. But the player can sneak up behind this enemy and interrogate him to tell the player where Jim Gordan is. I made him green as this is the colour for intractable, with green in Batman Arkham being used for ridders agents that the player can interrogate. I thought I’d keep the same colour for this.
Here is the mall strip once you leave the toy shop, the player is looking for the sports shops but there are other stores that the player can enter and I added a few easter eggs with some of the store names.
One of the shops I added in this shopping mall was a tech shop that the player can enter, I used this store as an area to add riddler trophies and riddles for collectables.
This one is a riddle outside of the store, the riddle is to line up the question mark to make it fit.
When you enter the store there are different things like TVs and stereos, but there is a riddler trophy in the room.
This is the sports store where the enemies are, the way in is to grapple in through a hole in the wall, with there being a pole for the player to rest on above the enemies.
As you enter the room the player sees the enemies below and the vent crawls through on the other side, but this time around the joker is in that vent talking to the player. I did this with a bit of blueprinting in the level blueprint.
I put a trigger box over the hole so when the player goes through it will trigger a new level and add the joker to the vent.
This is the view before the player goes though.
After the player goes though.
There are different enemies the player will face in this room, melees, medics who can resurrect fallen enemies, ninjas with swords, and brutes with riot shields. There are also different objects the player and enemies can pick up like bats and guns for the enemies, there is also a mannequin that the player can grab and throw at enemies and also rip off arms or legs of the mannequin to use as weapons or throw.
Once the player has defeated the enemies they will find this door and keypad behind the tills, this will be a puzzle to help them progress. The player will need to figure out what the number on the keypad is to get through the door. To help with this I point all the numbers on the wall and underline what the numbers the player will use being 189 and highlight on the keypad with dirt on these numbers to highlight this again. The password is 1988 which was the year Jason Todd died who we later find out is the Arkham Knight. For this level, the door will be open.
Once the player has figured this out they will enter a stock room with service life, the level will end when the player enters the service lift to progress.