Far Cry 6
- Open World Level Design
Open World Level Design is a broad term, it's hard to describe the exact work that it entails. What I’ve taken from my time as an Open World Level Designer on Far Cry 6 is that it requires the developer to understand how the world and it’s content will be experienced by the player. Making collaboration and communication with associated teams necessary to creating a world that welcomes the player, guides them properly, encourages exploration, adds excitement between locations and showcases the content and designs from other developers in the best light possible. It's a vague job title, but it’s worth it.
01
Triada Blessings
- Yaran Story Mission
• Planning, prototyping and developing the side mission within the existing world.
• Using visual scripting to develop and execute the flow of the mission.
• Taking into consideration existing technical structures and limitations.
• The mission makes use of tracking player progression, multiple mission start methods, multiple dialogue sequencing and combat with a unique AI type in close quarters.
• Balancing the idea of having the mission slightly hidden and a surprise for the player while still making it fairly easy for them to stumble upon so it didn't go unnoticed, through mission discovery methods, the location discovery methods and the narrative context.
For this mission to be developed smoothly it required communication and collaboration with the other OW Level Designers who designed the Treasure Hunts, the SHA team who developed the unique animal AI, the Level Art/vfx/lighting team who helped strengthen the vision of the cave, the game design team who created all the associated loot/gear items given to the player as they progressed as well as the narrative and visualisation team to ensure that the lore of the Yaran Triada religion was showcased properly to the player.
02
Mythical Animal Dens
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Prototyped and developed ¾ of the mythical animal dens. Working with the unique behaviors of the animal and building from the existing land formations to create intriguing locations that supported the combat but also told a story.
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Working with the animal design team in SHA to understand how the animal behaviors worked and our intentions on the experiences we were creating in the design.
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Mamutito (Hog)
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When designing this location I focused on the player’s line of sights and visibility. Mamutitos height is the same level as the tall grass, so creating patches of tall grass keeps the player alert. One advantage the player has is the ledge climb ability, with this in mind added ledges on the sides of the tunnel to give the player a quick way to get up and down while Mamutito has to take the long run around. The tunnel also provides Mamutito protection from long range attacks and supremo missiles, encouraging the player to engage in combat within the den.
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Venodiente (Crocodile)
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The design of the location where Venodiente is found focuses on the balance between water and rocks, with large looping paths and ledged corners for quick escapes. As a crocodile Venodiente has the advantage over the player when traversing in water, however while on land Venodiente leaves behind a trail of poison gas. This game space gives the player options on how they want to handle combat with this poisonous animal as well as providing extra opportunities to play with this poison by having many of the dumped poison barrels around the den.
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