Arts District

  • First Person Immersive Sim

  • Playable in Singleplayer

  • Created as a Senior Level Designer for CODEC Co

  • Not Available

  • Developed over 1 Month

  • Unreal Engine 5

  • Solo Developed

  • 30 minute runtime

“Arts District” is part of a single level demo I created to pitch to Publishers at PAX 2024. I endeavored to take an immersive sim framework created by a friend, improved upon it, and then applied it to a simple gameplay concept I had.

Level Flow

(1) Ride into the Arts District

(4) Explore the District and Discover one of three ways into the Airship

(2) Meet with your Contact

(5) Rescue your Friend

(3) Observe your kidnapped friend being taken onto the Airship

(6) Escape to your Boat

Production

I built out all of the AI and Gameplay systems. A friend handled the initial interactable and controller setup.

> Cloud Cover

A World Driven Narrative

Spaces where players don’t drive the narrative, they find it

Small Open World

Creating a level where the world feels self encapsulated

Paperboy grabbing peoples’ attention about the arrival of the Airship to the Arts District

Seeing the Prisoner

When the player peers into the telescope, they come to understand a couple things:

  • Their friend is in trouble

  • They need to get onto the Airship

The Airship becomes their focus. After viewing the scene, a key appears that allows players to exit into the world.

Goals

Exploration Path (The Ticket)

Players who want to take the direct route can immediately enter the world and run into clues about the Ticket path. The local theater’s box office has tickets that are available to gain access to the ship itself. Players can acquire a ticket by sneaking into the theater and taking an extra ticket, or by picking up coins found all around the level and paying for the ticket normally.

Once the ticket has been acquired, players can talk to the guard at the ship gangway to gain access to the Airship.

Branching Paths

Supporting Im Sim style paths that let you “Play your way”

1 Month Timeline

Limiting my blockout and scripting work so I can finish on time

Walkthrough

Introducing the World

Players start every “Mission” of Cloud Cover by Exploring the World until they’ve found their objective. In this case, I start the Player off with a short vehicle ride into the world, and a readable note that alludes to what their mission might be. As the player progresses through the intro area, they get a small taste of the world building through small vignettes along the path.

Guards preventing Player entry into the District through normal means

Prison Break Sequence

Players drop into the room holding their friend. Realizing there’s no easy escape, they have to come up with a creative way out.

Stealth Path (The Museum)

Players are presented with info in the world that a sarcophagus from the museum is being moved to the Airship.

The Museum is closed for the day, so the Sarcophagus has been moved into storage. The player must find a way into the Museum and down to the Storage rooms in the basement.

Once the player finds the Sarcophagus, they can hop in, triggering an event where the Object is taken from the Museum to the bottom of the Airship.

Getting onto the Ship

As the player explores the world, they’ll discover that there are various ways they can get onto the ship. They can:

  • Sneak into the Museum’s Sarcophagus before it’s moved onto the Airship

  • Acquire a Ticket to the Airship Viewing Deck

  • Catch a ride on the local Gyrocopter onto the Airship’s roof

Each of these options is mentioned by an NPC in the world. Players can follow up with that NPC to see what gameplay situation requires:

  • Stealth

  • Social Deduction

  • Exploration

Social Path (The Gyrocopter)

Players are able to figure out to exploration and eavesdropping on NPC conversations that a Gyrocopter is available that can be flown to the Airship directly.

The Pilot mentions upon meeting that you can take the Gyrocopter for a spin if you somehow find a part that is no longer functional.

A quick visit to the airship dock on the bottom floor of the District yields a spare parts bin with the necessary object. Returning to the pilot and interacting with the gyrocopter puts players on the airship.

Each of these paths converges on the same room in the ship. This allows me to save on the spaces needing to be blocked out.

(1) Players pull the alarm to get the guards’ attention.

Stealthy Escape

Once the player has regrouped with their newly freed friend, they begin through a series of sneaky encounters using a new tool: The Remote Trigger Gun.

The Remote Trigger Gun lets players interact with electronically controlled devices from afar.

Players go from using it to lower a bridge, to using it to distract enemies, to redirecting electricity to open the exit.

Leaving

After going through the various stealth encounters, the player and their companion board the boat the pc came in on and leave. Done. Level Complete!

(2) Players hide in one of the cells just as the guards respond to the alarm.

(2) Players sneak up to the guard post and open all of the cells, freeing their friend.

Map

The Map I made before quickly jumping into blockout. Allowed me to plot out lines of sight and how areas connected.