Meteor Museum
Level Design Jam project created in Hammer++ with sci-fi survival horror themes.
Project Intro
This project was completed as part of Steve Lee’s Level Design Jam #8, with the themes being Evolve and A Special Place.
It was my first time actively taking part in a level design community project and I really enjoyed it, feeling part of something with a group of like-minded people, learning from one another, and seeing how the various projects progressed was really interesting.
The final level ended up being a sci-fi survival experience in the spirit of games like Resident Evil and Prey. The level events take place when a colleagues accident leads to catastrophic consequences.
The level takes place in a Natural History Museum crossed with a make-shift laboratory which was a lot of fun to create, and to make the level playable I learnt how to use Hammer Editor during the jam's duration.
Project Goals
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Put into practice what I had learnt from my previous projects with the added pressure of time constraints.
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Get involved in the dev community and give a design jam a go.
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Create something in Hammer editor which I had next to no experience with before the jam began. This was risky but I felt the pressure of the jam would focus me and it did, my only regret was not learning Hammer sooner!
Presentation Outliner
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Full playthrough video and screenshot galleries including design thinking annotation.
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Takes you through my initial ideating processes. Features Event Sequence and 2D layout.
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Learning hammer, issues encountered, and build process.
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How the project went, what I can take away from the experience.
Final Level Design
Playthrough Video - Level Summary
Walkthrough Gallery - Design Thinking
Level Playthrough
This is the final level played through by me. It's 17 minutes long, if you open the link in YouTube you will find a list of timestamps in the description if you'd prefer to skip through it quickly.
Level Overview
Playthrough Summary
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The player starts in The Observatory having fallen asleep during a game of chess against their colleague Devlin. They awake to an alarm going off on a control console, there’s multiple system errors, and a blast hole can be seen in the Quarantine Zone’s wall.
The player investigates the hole and discovers their colleague has died and their accident has caused irreparable damage to a vital coolant system which keeps the Meteorite eggs from hatching.
The player’s objective becomes to get back to The Observatory to initiate an emergency Incineration Procedure before the creatures overrun the lab. To get out of the Coolant Area they must find a way to turn off a valve.
Their way back to The Observatory is hampered by the Meteorite growing and spreading out into the museum, blocking previously accessible routes.
The player must travel through the Labs where they sight their colleague who has been taken over by the escaped creatures and turned into a monster.
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After finding a way to return power to the 2nd Floor door into the QZ, the player can pass through the QZ via the upper walkways, which at this point has transformed into an alien jungle. Museum exhibits lifted by the meteor growths form a platforming route up to and through a 2nd hole in the QZ wall leading back into the East Hallway.
Once back in The Observatory the player can activate the Incinerator, SYSTEM ERROR…
Behind the player the now monstrous Devlin smashes through the ceiling from above, lands on the table they were not long ago playing a game of chess at and a different kind of battle begins.
Upon Devlin’s defeat, the meteor growths create an exit route for the player via the Museum Entrance Hall, where the player discovers the alien life had long ago spread beyond the Museum’s confines, and it’s revealed the military is preparing to Nuke the immediate area soon... dun dun duuun!
Final Build Gallery
Presented in playthrough order highlighting my design thinking.
Quarantine Zone Transformation
Click the images for more information.
Pre-Production
Ideas - References - 2D Mapping - Level Sequences - Blockmesh concepting
Jam Themes and Initial Ideas
'Evolve' and/or 'A Special Place'
The jam themes were announced and we were off. We could chose to use 1 or both themes, I chose both as I felt they strongly complimented each other.
My plan was to very quickly explore and research a variety of ideas, let the dust settle and pick a concept to move on. I didn't want to get stuck in 'ideating' endlessly. Once I had something that had legs I pushed into defining the concept. I wanted the design nailed down quick so I could spend more of the jam working in Hammer which was a bit of a wild card when I started the project.
First thoughts;
Big egg, tamagotchi pet, nurture, dark twist, home, growth, metamorphic, change, single location, monument, citadel, tower, statue, wishing well, archeological discovery.
Idea 1
I envisioned a bizarre scenario involving a character discovering a giant egg in their house’s attic during a stormy night, they for some reason decide to rear it, eventually the egg hatches and some time later the baby creature disappears, they discover it in their basement where the creature has grown large and attempts to eat them!
Idea 1.1
Then I imagined how cool it would be if the house all this takes place in has been quarantined by a huge container, literally dropped on top creating a wall surrounding the property and all artificially lit inside. The player would be the resident who has no idea what’s going on and the level would be them maybe trying to escape, or following orders being sent in from their mysterious captors, what if the player is on the other side as a scientist, a soldier, a maintenance worker?
Idea 2
Then the idea shifted to a cave where a meteor (the egg) is discovered and a laboratory is built around it (totally me copying the movie 'Evolution (2001)'. I felt the previous ideas were really cool but all over the place in terms of ‘world logic’ direction; was it all dreamy, fun, nonsense and metaphors or a more grounded sci-fi scenario? I decided to go with a more grounded sci-fi theme as I felt Hammer / Half Life 2 would work more seamlessly with it, I didn't want to pick any more unnecessary fights with the workload.
Idea 2.1
I settled on a natural history museum setting where an exhibit (the meteor) has been discovered to be filled with alien eggs. The level will start when something has gone wrong in the lab leading to the eggs hatching, as the player progresses the environment is taken over by alien growths, and eventually the player encounters a formidable 'boss' creature before escaping. From there I started gathering references and working out a level event sequence.
Idea Reference Board
My reference board contains; movies, sci-fi/laboratory scenes, museums, Half Life 2 enemy types, and a collection of more bizarre perception twisting environment ideas.
I have the perception twisting ideas references because I was exploring my first idea (at home, discover giant egg in the attic) and thought some more unusual ‘dream-like’ sequences involving the house morphing and strange paths appearing would be cool to ‘expand the level’ and would free me up to introduce puzzles that aren’t narratively cohesive with a home environment.
Sketchwork
I didn’t sketch as much as usual for this project as I had a pretty clear idea of the level layout early on, so I concentrated on the creating the digital 2D Map in conjunction with a Level Event Sequence.
Start and End Twin Scenes
These 2 thumbnail sketches show an idea for the player’s views I had for the start and end of the level.
I envisioned the player would be introduced to The Meteor by an iconic framing moment just as they enter an important area for the first time, then at the very end of the level, the player emerges onto the Museum rooftop and is greeted by a duplicate vista but this time the growths are overtaking a cityscape.
I thought it was a neat idea to tie the start and end shots of the level together compositionally but in vastly different scales, and subsequently end the level on a truly bleak cliffhanger.
Level Event Sequence
Drafts and Final
This pdf contains all my early draft iterations on the level’s potential event sequences. Once I had a sequence I was happy with I neatened it up into a spreadsheet (see below pdf).
Note: You can scroll within the PDF Viewer window to see the rest of the document.
The spreadsheet was developed in conjunction with the 2D map (below). Before moving onto actually building anything 3D I like to have a solid concept in place. Once I move into Blockmeshing I’m quite happy to explore and deviate from any plans as I find my mind often floods with new ideas once I’m ‘In the level’, and if these ideas turn out to be duds I can always fall back onto the original plan.
Design Direction Summary
The focus of the level’s design at this point was all based around the player character’s Laboratory Colleague having had an accident which sets off a chain reaction leading to the alien eggs beginning to hatch uncontrollably. Not only that but the colleague is turned into a rampaging monstrosity by the escaped alien creatures, forming an ominous threat throughout the level.
As the player progresses the level environment changes as the meteor grows and spreads forcing the player to seek alternative routes back to the safety of The Observatory, where they can initiate an Incineration Protocol to try to exterminate the alien growths.
The level culminates when the Incineration system fails, the Monstrous Colleague appears and attacks the player and a fight for survival ensues. The level end has the player discover the alien threat has already spread well beyond the museum boundaries and the world is now at war.
2D Mapping
I try to keep my 2D maps super simple and focus on general area spatial relationships, key sightlines, what happens in those areas, and highlight any unique elements.
I created this map in conjunction with my Level Event Sequence spreadsheet; the spreadsheet acting as a high level overview and the 2D map making sure the level events will work in spatial terms.
While designing the 2D map I wasn’t concerned with ‘the museum’ location so much, it’s intended to be more abstract; rooms, routes, doors, set pieces, progress gating etc, so that when I create a 3D version of the level I’m free to riff on those ‘placeholder’ concepts however I like. This freedom means I could quite literally pivot the entire location setting while still using the events and level layout framework developed so far.
Blockmesh Concepting
Unreal Engine 5
Once I had my 2D Map sorted I created a blockmesh concept to figure out spatiality. I hadn’t started learning Hammer at this point and I wanted to keep my momentum up so I dove straight into UE5. I didn’t want to get tangled up in Hammer by a web of ‘How do I do this and that?’ while I was still in a more open, free flowing creative stage of the project.
While I developed this concept I started working through a Hammer course so I'd be prepared for the next stage of the project.
Key Developments
2D Layout to UE5 Blockmesh:
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Changed narrative for colleague’s death from ‘change lightbulb’ to ‘collect a T-Rex fang’ which created a very strong environmental clue as to where the colleague is early in the level. I capitalised on this new direction by ensuring the player has plenty of access to teaser sightlines of the T-Rex exhibit in the level's opening phase.
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Developed the ‘Coolant Freeze Jet’ obstacle section further, added a 'return shortcut' so the player doesn't have to redo the obstacles.
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Dropped the ‘Living Quarters’ starting area as I was trying to trim away the non-essential, I realised more time would be needed to develop other sections as my ideas developed.
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Removed the whole concept of a ‘Security Room’ and the ‘Security character narrative’, replaced with a ‘Door Power Room. Again, to simplify the project.
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Changed the impression of (Devlin) the dead colleague from being a clumsy fool to a pretty cool guy.
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Made the Quarantine Zone Meteor Hall much larger to make sure I could fit in all the events that would occur there.
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Created a Lab Floor 2 area which was going to be a surgical theatre and the place where the ‘Freezer Unit’ containing the ‘Museum Staff Victims’ would be passed to reach the ‘Door Power Room’. I though the dark surgical theatre would be a cool place to encounter the ‘Thawed’ enemies, rather than the 2D map’s hallway.
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Left the whole ‘Exit’ section of the level, planning to address it near the end of the Hammer playable build if there was time.
UE5 Screens Gallery
Hammer Dev
Hammer Editor - Reducing Scope - Technical Hurdles - Design Pivots - Testing and Tuning
I took to Hammer much quicker than I expected, a gargantuan thank you is owed to the excellent community that have put so much of their time and effort into teaching the Hammer editor. TopHattWaffle’s youtube videos were indispensable, and the excellent Valve Developer Community documentation may as well have been my homepage for the past month.
Build Development Summary
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I replicated the UE5 blockmesh concept in Hammer, making a few changes here and there, the biggest change was deciding to cut out the whole Lab Surgery area and the Freezer Unit enemy encounter. I did this for 2 reasons; I wanted to trim the level's complexity down as I began to learn more about Hammer and come to terms with the technical tsunami ahead, and because I felt these enemies might detract from 'Devlin' the main humanoid monster since they were also humanoid it could confuse players.
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I created separate maps which were used to build and test isolated level setups and get the scripting working. I did this so that my compile times were much faster so the testing cycles were tighter (the gallery below features these test maps and brief summaries of what they were for).
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I encountered problems implementing a puzzle I had designed which relied on cables with fixed lengths and physics properties, I pivoted my design based on what I could achieve within the engine. But I again hit issues getting my substitute “easy idea” to work. After a few days trying get it working I benched it, replacing it with a simple button press so I could make progress with the other more important level sections. Just before the level was ready to be submitted to the Jam I decided to give it another crack and got it implemented. This was for the ‘Fuse Power Puzzle’ in the ‘Decon Power Room’.
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Once I had all the major level scripting setups done, I copy pasted everything into the main map, and encountered a slight problem, my level would no longer compile. I’d hit a hardcoded engine limit for ‘Brush Faces’. I overcame this by learning more about how the engine works, compiles, how to better organise my level scenes into ‘View Layers’, which allowed me to control what got compiled and didn’t so I could isolate the main offenders, and how to maximise my maps optimisation (NoDraw material = best friend ever).
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I learnt about a mod called ‘Propper’ which allows ‘Brush Entities’ to be converted into ‘Mesh Models’. I used this successfully with the ‘Dinosaur Exhibit’ props and a few other detailed props. These props served as landmark guides and so I felt they were worth pushing to get in the prototype, plus they sell the ‘Museum Setting’. It didn’t work for the building’s archways and pillars as those props produced strange lighting issues. (I sure enjoyed rebuilding all those archways...)
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Once I had a fully playable map I started playing through the entire level taking note of any bugs and design issues. I completed 10 full playthrough testing cycles to iron out issues, and conducted a playtester feedback session before recording the final playthrough video.
This is my entire Dev Log covering every day of working on my Hammer Build with all the testing and debugging notes included. (I don’t expect anyone will want to read it all ahaha)
Hammer Development Gallery
Test maps and scripting
Project Conclusion
Reflection and Learning Outcomes
I think it went incredibly well, I was quick off the mark to decide on a theme direction, and formulate the general level beats I’d go after. I had my level concept pretty much done within the first few weeks, and I’m glad I made solid progress there because I really needed that extra time working in Hammer to solve various technical issues.
I’m very pleased with the end result location being a Natural History Museum crossed with a sci-fi laboratory, I think that’s pretty awesome, definitely my kind of thing with me being a huge fan of the Resident Evil series and Prey.
I also started this project with ‘I opened it once and clicked a few things’ level of experience using Hammer editor, now after this past month of daily use and digging into the documentation and consuming tutorials, I feel totally versed in it and love it. I just wish I’d learnt this tool sooner rather than putting if off for fear it was ‘old, archaic, not relevant’. It’s a very welcome addition to my level design toolset.
I think something I took away from this that’s more tangible is that in future level design jams I will initially aim for a much smaller project scope, like have an idea then cut it in half and only add areas/activities to it if time permits.
I’m really proud of this project and for me it’s proof that I’ve come incredibly far as a designer, overcoming things like perfectionism, overthinking, and being hyper self critical. It’s the most challenging level design project I’ve completed and it was also the most enjoyable.
Thank you for your time.
In memory of Lab Assistant Devlin