Introduction & Development Objective
My goal for this piece is to attempt mashing together two game concepts. Having very different exciting game loops, but with similarities in visual style, I challenged myself to see what I could concoct using Mirror's Edge and SuperHot as a base.
The result is a fast-paced movement game sprinkled with memorable slow-motion sequences.
Summary
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Solo project
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Development duration: 3 weeks halftime
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Focus on level flow, visual language and functionality prototyping.
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All functionality, design and meshes were made by myself using Unreal Engine 5 and Blender.
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Assets used:
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Blockout Tools Plugin,
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AnimStarterPack
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Game Rig Tools
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Playthrough
Level Design
Level Overview
Top-Down
Level Beats
Hover over the images to see the in-game perspective.
Start
The player sees the end objective, followed by a sequence of traversable rooftops.
Warehouse
The player finds themselves inside an building area with various choices of ways to clear the enemies within.
Fire Escape
The player's ascent towards the goal begins.
Elevators
The player gets a breather as the elevator brings them higher still, lowering both tension and pace.
Crane Wall​
The player has to dodge gunfire while leaping between buildings – enemies on the other side are in for an explosive surprise.
Zipline
The player gets a callback of the area traversed, and is thrown right back into action at the end of the zipline, building tension back along the way.
Ambush
The player is baited by a door, but quickly needs to reconsider their plan as gunmen storm through it. The player turns and finds a convenient stairway to the right allowing for quick escape.
Cranes
The player leaps from the buildings onto cranes, requiring some input (turning) in order to help the player reach the final area of the level.
End
The player reaches the last platform, and is presented with a clear path to a door into the goal building.
Tension Graph
Though the intensity throughout this level is kind of high, it is important to manage it as not to fatigue the player. By adding in sections where the player gets a chance to breathe and enjoy the scenery, we ensure this does not happen.
Design Principles
Affordance
I wanted to keep the natural flow that Mirror's Edge has as a staple in my level. To aid the player in knowing what to do and where to go next, I therefore designed with affordance in mind, using implicit information and signposting.
By highlighting select objects on the critical path with a strong yellow color helps guide the player on their way at a glance, avoiding the need to slow down to figure out where to go next.
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To make it clear what objects can be interacted with, they too have a strong color, indicating their properties.
"10" Second Rule
Using SuperHot as inspiration, I wanted to give the player a new impression at least once every 10 seconds, and generally more frequently. To accomplish this, I designed all spaces to accommodate either enemies or another interesting sequence.
Pacing
Although this is a fast-paced piece, I still wanted to convey a feeling of progress throughout the level. To do this, I built the level with an hourglass design, alternating between wide, open areas and tight corridors. Reaching a new large area feels rewarding, and the tight spaces gives an opening for emergent narratives where the player gets to be quick on their feet to get past unexpected obstacles.
Features
Player
Slow Motion
The most characteristic feature of SuperHot is slow motion. Being such a central feature, and conveniently being so easy to work with in unreal, it was a natural implementation early on in the development of this piece. I tried various implementations of this Including connecting it to movement and jumping, but none of them fit quite right.
In the end I gave the player complete agency in deciding when to activate slow-motion using right click for maximum coolness.
Kick
The player can deal with enemies by kicking them directly or by strategically maneuvering kickable objects in their general direction. I did not want combat to interrupt the flow of the level significantly, and therefore I decided a kick is perfect as it naturally comes with forward momentum. As the player generally has to move forward to use it, it effectively allows them to never stop moving.
Wallrun
The wallrun is central to the gameplay of Mirror's Edge, and adds an intense flair to the the player's movement capabilities. It also allows for more freedom in the distance between the buildings that the player jumps between, as it allows the player to jump further than normal.
Zipline
The zipline is not only an iconic Mirror's Edge feature, but in my level it fills an important function. It is used to increase the tension after the calmer elevator, and gives the player a nice vista of upcoming parts as well as a nice callback to earlier traversed areas.
Environment
Destructibles
Though the player has no access to any kind of firearms, I did not want to entirely strip them of the possibility of attacking foes from a distance. I simply decided going down the path of least resistance, adding objects that the player would be able to kick. Having them fracture on impact much like the enemies also makes the world feel a little bit more alive.
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Moreover, they serve to give the player increased agency in how they want to deal with different situations, using the objects as cover or taking advantage of their kickable properties.
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To increase the coolness even further, some interactive objects (colored red for readability) explode upon impact after kicking.
Cranes
The cranes are signature pieces in the Mirror's Edge Games, taking the player away from the buildings and rooftops, and requiring the player to tread carefully while managing the height vertigo that standing on a small object high above ground inherently brings.
In this level, three cranes are implemented into the critical path in various ways:
Early on in the run, a crane's load is used as a wall-run surface.
Later on, another can be turned in order to let the player leap onto another one, which finally leads the player towards the end of the level.
To further breathe life into the level, the crane made to turn can be seen crashing into a high-rise building.
Enemies
Purpose
The enemies are the bread and butter of SuperHot. Seeing the crystal shards of once animated bad guys fly in all directions – especially in slow motion – is satisfying. And I would argue having them violently explode is even more so!
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They also serve to increase the difficulty, which brings with it tension and the need to play strategically when deciding which paths to cross.
Functionality
​Creating the enemies and making them look great was a fantastic little challenge for me.
I created the mesh in Blender, rigged it using Game Rig Tools and imported it to Unreal.
Unreal's Fracture system then provided me with a great base for the destructible properties. Fine-tuning the explosions however not only gave the game an extra flair of awesome, but constructing the system was also rewarding for myself through the lens of learning.
Reflections
Project Planning Summary
I was very time-restricted in creating this piece. That meant I had to be very effective in choosing what areas to put time into planning, and what to figure out as I went along.
I consulted my friends and discussed the basic idea - fusing Mirror's Edge with SuperHot. From the inspiration I gathered in those discussions, I started figuring out the overarching world in which this piece would take place.
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The piece started out being divided into three parts, but after the first draft I instantly understood it would not be feasible to create it all within the time constraints:
1. An outskirts area used as a tutorial, putting the player at the beginning of the adventure. This would also serve as a way to describe the world in which the player finds themself.
2. A rooftop running sequence where the player gets to practice using their abilities, making their way to a central building of a city.
3. A boss battle fighting an A.I. core within the building.
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In the end, I settled with simply creating the second step, the rooftop running sequence, as this best captures the iconic vibe of Mirror's Edge.
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With a better understanding of the scope of this project, I started prototyping different ideas, with the intent of testing which mechanics were worth putting more time into.
A major one being a third type of enemy – A rocket-launching turret whose rockets could much like the interactable objects be re-targeted. Sadly, I ultimately had to scrap it after finding no suitable way to use it.​
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I want to thank Maximilian Stockhaus for the great discussions and inspiration in bringing this piece to life.
Final Thoughts
I believe I made the right call in keeping the planning to a minimum in this project, instead focusing on finding the fun. Barring a few outliers, I did not waste much time working on things that I did not feel fit the project, and as a result I managed to give the features that made it into the game a higher level of polish.
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However, I started actually putting time into refining the level design pretty late in the process. Had I started this earlier, I would have likely had more time to gather feedback from my fellow level designer classmates and friends, meaning I may have figured some things out earlier, and possibly some more.
At the end of the day I am happy with the result, especially considering the time constraints.
Thank you kindly for reading.
Emil Bokstam Wilhelm
I am part of The Game Assembly’s internship program. As per the agreement between the Games Industry and The Game Assembly, neither student nor company may be in contact with one another regarding internships before April 23rd. Any internship offers can be made on May 5th, at the earliest.