Progression

Initial Planning

When deciding upon a blockout for the level, I had decided to use an old crypt map I had designed for a Dungeons and Dragons campaign I ran. Within it, I also had a narrative element of a specter messing with the players to keep them from progressing to the deepest part of the crypt.

However, due to the differences of how the Dungeons and Dragons adventure plays out and how this level would play out, I knew I had to come up with a different way for the player to proceed through the level. The answer was to lean into a puzzle involving collecting shards to light braziers in order to open doorways. This way, I could control the how the player traverses the level and split it up into three separate stages for the player to interact with.

Opening

I designed the opening to try and introduce the player to the main gameplay loop of the level, which would be picking up shards and depositing them into the Braziers. After which, a fireball would emerge from the brazier and float to the door and change the color of the torches to blue. Once all torches are lit, the door opens, letting the player proceed.

However, there was one additional thing I wanted to teach the player, which was that they could deposit the shards into the braziers from a distance. As such, I placed debris to block the player from entering one of the rooms while leaving the brazier visible to teach this to the player.

Finally, wanting to mix in some interactions with the specter, I created a brief sequence with the specter that only appears when the player goes far enough into the level, then activates when the player looks at it. It’s brief and has no impact on how the player moves through the level, but I feel it adds quite a bit to the level itself.

The Tunnels

The next section was the first serious puzzle in the level. I set up the wind tunnels to block the player from proceeding directly to the next chamber. More debris blocks the right side, but leaves an opening for the player to still see both the brazier and the door in the room on the right side. This leaves the player with enough shards to only activate either the brazier on the left side or right side.

What the player needs to do is use the shards to activate either of the braziers while on the opposite end (activating the right brazier while in the left room, for example). This would cause the specter to move to that side, leaving the tunnels where the player was open.

The idea was to establish that the specter is causing the wind pushing you back by including the same green glow surrounding the tunnels when the wind is active. Additionally, I would play the sound used for the specter and have a sequence of the specter moving to the right or left respectively to try and communicate this movement to the player.

Looking back, this is one of the bigger areas that I feel could use improvement, but I will cover that in a later section.

The Final Door

Once the player gets through, they’ll have the realization that there are four braziers to activate to open the final door, but not enough shards to activate them all. This is intended to be the last big puzzle of the level, and the one that the previous puzzles were building to.

This would also be where the previous door would be used. Activating both side braziers while in the right room will lead the player to a new brazier that glows green when activated. It also puts UI elements onto the screen to tell the player that the wind will no longer stop them. This will allow them to take the shards from the side braziers and walk straight through the wind, thus allowing the player to activate the four braziers in the back rooms needed to open the final door.

My goal with this puzzle was to bring everything the player would’ve learned while playing through it together for one final challenge. I also aimed to have the player remember the door they saw through the debris earlier and, once they realize they can’t make it through the final door, move to try and open that earlier door to try and proceed.