Link to mod: https://bethesda.net/en/mods/skyrim/mod-detail/4265318

As GAM230 draws to a close, I want to take some time to reflect on the new skills I have developed and how I have grown as a designer over the past eleven weeks.

The biggest challenge I faced when undertaking this project was learning an entirely new engine. I had previously only worked in Unity, so I wanted to use this module as a way to prove that I can step outside of my comfort zone and develop within a new context. I feel that I succeeded in this endeavour, as I now feel very familiar with the Creation Kit, and would even like to pursue further modding within the engine. Furthermore, the process of learning this engine led me to re-tread a lot of the fundamentals of game development and design, consolidating a great deal of what I have learnt up to this point. In the future, I would like to extend myself into more game engines, possibly experimenting with Godot or Unreal.

I feel that I largely succeeded in my attempt to create a level that promotes exploration and backtracking. Acquiring gold is essential to the player’s progression, and gaining enough to sufficiently upgrade weapons and equipment requires the player to thoroughly search every area of the level as loot is often well-hidden. The interconnected level design also requires that players open shortcuts back to previously accessed areas, with the level become more easily traversable as the player does so. Additionally, I feel that the inclusion of ‘strongboxes’ greatly promotes backtracking, as players may be compelled to revisit rooms to attempt to unlock them after reaching a Crypt of Refuge and purchasing lockpicks.

On the whole, I am satisfied with the amount of modifications I was able to make to Skyrim‘s (2011) systems. By stripping the player of their belongings and requiring them to engage with the Crypt Mechanisms in order to improve their weapons and equipment, and purchase resources, I feel that I largely changed how the experience is played in comparison to the base game. Their inclusion also means that the level has a self-contained progression system separate from the rest of the game. I am happy that I was able to get the Crypt Chests to work, however as I was unable to find a way to limit the player’s carry capacity, they have little use within the level. If I develop this mod further, a priority of mine will be to figure out how to greatly reduce the player’s carry capacity so that engagement with this system is required. By implementing these systems I learnt more about programming, and learnt the fundamentals of Papyrus, Bethesda’s scripting language.

Prior to this project, I had very little experience of working with lights in 3D spaces. The process of lighting this level taught me a great deal about the principles of lighting. In particular, I was very surprised at how effective lights are in drawing the players attention to salient areas and guiding them along the critical path. The brightness, hue, and size of a light can also have a great impact on the atmosphere of spaces within levels, and can be leveraged to evoke certain emotions from the player to great effect. This emotive potential is further accentuated when lights are used in conjunction with volumetric effects such as fog and mist.

In order to ensure I was making the best possible design decisions, I undertook a great amount of research into level designs over the course of this module. I feel that through doing so, I learnt a great deal about effective level design, and reporting my findings here on the blog ensured that I consolidated this knowledge. This, coupled with the research undertaken for my GAM210 essay into level design and navigation, means that I feel I now have a firm grasp of the topic and I am confident in my application of these skills. Because of this, if I were looking to specialise in the future, level design could well be the route I choose to go down.

One element I sadly was unable to implement was the inclusion of narrative and world building. Originally, I wanted to include collectable text documents that the player can find and read to gain a greater understanding of the location, its residents, and its history. I feel that this would have greatly elevated the experience and made the player feel more connected to the space. Unfortunately, I ran out of time to write these documents and implement them due to other aspects of the mod taking longer to complete. During the cluttering stage of development, I tried to mitigate this somewhat by including elements of environmental storytelling, however the exclusion of explicit narrative can certainly be felt during a playthrough. If I take this mod further in the future, I will be certain to include these elements as a priority.

Overall, I feel that the production of this project over the course of this module has taught me a great deal. By learning a new engine, and engaging with new areas of game development that I had little prior experience in, I was able to extend myself and grow as a designer. While there were certainly challenges faced throughout development, I feel that each of them served as useful learning experiences, and through overcoming them I was able to learn and apply new skills in a variety of contexts. I am very proud of what I was able to produce in eleven weeks, and I would like to further develop my mod to become a more enjoyable, ambitious experience. Furthermore, regular research and reflection, alongside weekly reflective blog posts have pushed me to critically reflect on my progression, and my role in the industry as a whole. I will take this knowledge and experience forward with me into the final year of my degree, and beyond, as I endeavour to become the best designer I can possibly be.

References

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. 2011. Bethesda Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks. 

Lighting

As of last week, I finally had a fully functioning level that the can be played through from start to finish. However, without the presence of lighting, the atmosphere felt flat, and there was little guiding the player through the space other than architectural forms. Due to this, I knew it was important that I made time for a lighting pass as it would greatly elevate the experience. I was unprepared for how much it would change the final product for the better.

First, I re-watched Bethesda’s tutorial video on lighting within the Creation Kit (Bethesda 2012), to reacquaint myself with the tools. After refreshing my memory, I set about lighting my level space, starting with setting the level’s ambient light by selecting from a list of templates. After some experimentation and trial and error I found that the ‘BleakFallsBarrowMedium’ template fit the atmosphere best, creating an atmospheric fog with a slight blue hue. I feel that this contributes to an otherworldly atmosphere, and creates a sense of mystery as some elements of the level are shrouded in fog (fig. 1).

Next, I set about lighting the scene by placing individual lights in the level space. This was relatively straightforward as many of the light sources had been placed last week while I was cluttering the level. Wherever I had placed sconces or torches, I used a bright, warm point light, as they are often used to signpost the critical path, and draw the player’s attention to doorways and exits (fig. 2). For the candles I decided to use a slightly colder light, mainly to differentiate them as they are often drawing the players attention to loot or the entrances to Crypts of Refuge (fig. 3). Any time I placed a light, I was able to control it’s scale (s + mouse) and brightness (ctrl + alt + s + mouse) for maximum control over how it lights each area.

As the Crypts of Refuge are intended to be a safe haven for the player, I wanted to light them appropriately. In order to achieve this, I decided to make the entire room bright and well-lit with warm, inviting point lights that invoke feelings of comfort and safety (fig. 4).

I have found that lighting works particularly well in conjunction with the use of atmospheric effects. This is because within the Creation Kit, any effects automatically inherit the colour of the nearest light source. In many areas, I used the ‘FXMistLow’ effect, which I feel adds an element of mystery to the atmosphere, as well as adding some dynamic movement to the level space, making it feel less static (fig. 5). In the various cave spaces of the level, I have also used ambient beams of light, emitting from gaps in the ceiling (figs. 6 and 7). This not only allows for a natural method by which to light a cave, but also means that I can signpost salient areas of each room. In an early area, I was even able to alert players to an easily missable hole in the ground by using an ambient beam of light (fig. 8), which has since helped playtesters become immediately aware of its presence.

Overall, I am very happy with how much the inclusion of lighting has improved my level’s atmosphere and navigability.

Final touches and bug fixes

As the deadline for submission draws ever closer, I have spent a large amount of this past week polishing the level, adding final touches, and fixing various bugs that have occurred during playtesting.

One feature that I am very happy I was able to implement is a way through which the player can regain the items that are taken off of them when they initially enter the dungeon. Now, when the player has their items removed, they get sent to a chest located at the end of the level, rather than disappearing forever. There are still stakes to the experience, however, as the player must defeat the final boss and loot the chest key in order to access these items. This functionality is great as it means the mod can now work within an actual playthrough of Skyrim (2011), as the player can now enter and leave the level with their items intact.

I have also added in some more tutorial messages that pop-up when the player enters particular spaces for the first time. Using the same triggers system I created back in week six, the player is now tutorialised on the first Crypt of Refuge they enter (fig. 9). This was important to include, as they are a central pillar of the dungeon’s design, and are required for progression so it is crucial that the player understands how they work. There is also a final message that is presented to the player when they enter the final Crypt of Refuge, alerting them that they are about to confront their final opponent and they may want to make sure they are well armed for the conflict. Similar messages appear in many other games, giving the player the opportunity to make any final preparations and experience any optional content they may have missed before ending the experience.

I have also made the difficult decision to remove one of the shortcuts within the level. This decision has come as a result of multiple playtesters giving feedback that the extra pathway adds more confusion for the player, rather than benefitting them with usefully interconnected level design. Often, players would walk past the door that advances the critical path to unlock this shortcut, before realising that they have arrived at a previous location, and being unsure of where to go next. It is a shame that I had to remove this element of the level, but a good designer must take playtesting feedback seriously, as the player is who we are ultimately crafting this experience for. If I had more time, I would likely try to implement better signposting and navigational aids to help the player in this section, but for now it seems this can be chalked up to another example of design by subtraction.

Research

As part of my research this week, I watched a GDC lecture discussing tips for lighting 3D level spaces (Yang 2018). The talk touched on many foundational and intermediate elements of the topic and greatly benefitted me in lighting my own level. Yang discussed four different types of light (ambient light, directional light, spotlight and point/omnidirectional light), as well as how they can be used in conjunction to light a level that guides the player and creates the desired atmosphere. He also drew attention to the importance of lighting the critical path as a priority, before moving on to use lighting to highlight NPCs and set pieces.

References

BETHESDA. 2012. Creation Kit Tutorial Series [YouTube tutorial series]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDKivlGmia4 [accessed 28 March 2022].

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. 2011. Bethesda Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks. 

YANG, Robert and David SHAVER. 2018. Level Design Workshop: Blockmesh and Lighting Tips [GDC talk]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09r1B9cVEQY [accessed 1 April 2022].