Level Designer
Narrative Designer
Puzzle & System Designer

Team Size: 1 developer

Software: Creation Kit

Platform: PC

A single-player standalone quest in the game Starfield that emphasizes narrative exploration and puzzles. The player sets out to investigate a double-homicide in the renowned Dr. William Ford’s modern mansion, built in the frozen mountains of Jemison, “Mount Ridge”. At the Ford’s annual dinner party, beloved college friend George was found dead, and Mrs. Cordelia Ford was found shortly after.

The level takes on a modern Clue-like experience with emphasis on environmental exploration and in-depth narrative. The player will speak to a variety of characters as they try to piece clues together and eliminate suspects one by one. Players will also engage with documents and terminals in small puzzles, requiring skills of inference and deduction to help progress the mystery.

Before Night Falls

Design Goals

Building Sleuth-Supporting Narrative

Allow narrative to progress and new possible NPC interactions based on clues and reports uncovered in investigating.

Content-Important Puzzle Creation

Creation of gameplay systems that coincide with the story, serving as more than blockers

Establishing Cost of Error

Appling weight to players' engagement with narrative and deductions with potential for worse ending outcomes.

Design Implementation

Circular, Easy-Access Layout

As some of the quest objectives support more of a robust, flexible order, I wanted the architecture to allow access to other areas fast

I developed flow between spaces that supported smaller and larger loops the player could easily travel through
Created unique identities for different locations, so the player could easily orient themselves and have a clear mental map of the design

Content-Important Puzzles

I wanted the gameplay to hold narrative importance that would contribute to the story, rather than just needed actions that stood between the player and key info.

I created logic puzzles that required deductive reasoning of provided information to piece together previous crime scenes
I hinted at character relations, leading the player to inductive conclusions on different motives, keeping the mystery while enforcing the player to investigate in order to confidently solve the level

Building Sleuth-Supporting Narrative

I wanted to make a level where the investigation procedure felt realistic by allowing more opportunities, with clues and NPC dialogue, after the player makes new, valuable discoveries.

I crafted complex, branched dialogue options, only enabled by certain variables
I set up conditional clues, that would only reveal new information if the player had collected the relevant contextual understanding
I dispersed clues and puzzles evenly throughout the space to create the feeling of an in-depth investigation, encouraging exploration of all areas

Establishing Cost of Error

I did not want the player to just solve/ complete the level by default, but still have to piece together the right solution to the case, knowing the stakes were still high.

I created multiple choice solutions for the player to select from
I set up penalties, in terms of emotionally-powered narrative and monetary consequences for wrong selection
I fostered pressure and tension on the player from surrounding NPCs and the environment

Postmortem

What Went Well

Iterative passes on dialogue and pacing of information, cognitive load
Narrative evidence revealed through clues and environmental storytelling
Achieving intended difficulty of level solution, while keeping the narrative interesting to the player

What Needs Improvement

Additional iterative passes on the camera work and ending for increased quality
With more time, I would have liked a more polished ending that would support the player getting the solution wrong, with a tense reveal that would have allowed an additional level to come out of the story

What I Learned

Use of global variables and structures for conditional dialogue implementation
Mixing linear and open progression, while keeping the level stable and robust
Differentiating the environment to support clear, distinct player associations

PEYTON WALKER

Level Designer

Before Night Falls

Design Goals

Building Sleuth-Supporting Narrative

Allow narrative to progress and new possible NPC interactions based on clues and reports uncovered in investigating.

Content-Important Puzzle Creation

Creation of gameplay systems that coincide with the story, serving as more than blockers

Establishing Cost of Error

Appling weight to players' engagement with narrative and deductions with potential for worse ending outcomes.

Design Implementation

Circular, Easy-Access Layout

As some of the quest objectives support more of a robust, flexible order, I wanted the architecture to allow access to other areas fast​

I developed flow between spaces that supported smaller and larger loops the player could easily travel through

Created unique identities for different locations, so the player could easily orient themselves and have a clear mental map of the design

Content-Important Puzzles

I wanted the gameplay to hold narrative importance that would contribute to the story, rather than just needed actions that stood between the player and key info.

I created logic puzzles that required deductive reasoning of provided information to piece together previous crime scenes

I hinted at character relations, leading the player to inductive conclusions on different motives, keeping the mystery while enforcing the player to investigate in order to confidently solve the level

Building Sleuth-Supporting Narrative

I wanted to make a level where the investigation procedure felt realistic by allowing more opportunities, with clues and NPC dialogue, after the player makes new, valuable discoveries.

I crafted complex, branched dialogue options, only enabled by certain variables

I set up conditional clues, that would only reveal new information if the player had collected the relevant contextual understanding

I dispersed clues and puzzles evenly throughout the space to create the feeling of an in-depth investigation, encouraging exploration of all areas

Establishing Cost of Error

I did not want the player to just solve/ complete the level by default, but still have to piece together the right solution to the case, knowing the stakes were still high.

I created multiple choice solutions for the player to select from

I set up penalties, in terms of emotionally-powered narrative and monetary consequences for wrong selection

I fostered pressure and tension on the player from surrounding NPCs and the environment

Postmortem

What Went Well

What Needs Improvement

What I Learned

As some of the quest objectives support more of a robust, flexible order, I wanted the architecture to allow access to other areas fast