A Walk in the Dark
A journey through a city with its power cut. Brave the darkness to discover the source of the outage, and restore light to this corner of the quarantine zone.
I made this map for an assignment for my game design and development degree. The requirements were to create an FPS level that uses environmental cues to tell the story, including at least 2 vignettes.
The story behind this map is that you are a scavenger living in the quarantine zone when the power to your area goes out. Seeing strange lights and hearing commotion at the nearby substation you decide to investigate.
For now, the player simply starts in an alleyway, but if I get some more time to work on this I might make an intro sequence where you start in your hideout and watch the city lights blink out.
Once the player gets to the other side of the train platform, there are two paths to complete the level. The player can either go to the end of the platform and up the stairs to get in through the warehouse’s front door or solve a combine door puzzle to get in through the side. If the player goes through the door puzzle they get access to lots of grenades and ammo, and they enter the warehouse encounter on the high ground, giving them the advantage over the combine in there.
- Dont go in between the train cars, I forgot to block those areas off, but they aren’t part of the level
- Both the battery and the brain jar needed to solve the combine console puzzle in the substation can be found inside the warehouse. The battery is in the middle section of the warehouse, and the jar is on top of the large shipping crate at the entrance. The player can climb boxes to get up or use the ladder.
- If the player lets the zombie in the traincars go without shooting it, it will walk onto the platform and fight the combine soldiers.
- In order to finish the level you need to turn the power on. After finishing both wiring puzzles at the substation, the player will need to pull the frankenswitch in the next compartment to activate the power. You’ll know that it’s done because all of the surrounding lights come on, including the ones on the neighboring buildings and the warehouse. Once the power is on, the final combine encounter will begin once the player steps back into the warehouse.
- The door to the end of the level is in the side of the warehouse, it will open once all of the combine in the final encounter are dead.
