• Concept Art of the Cannery including a boat and stilted buildings over a frozen ocean. Wolves walk near a collection of wood detritus on the ice.
    Open World Design Showcase

    Bleak Inlet

    Project:  The Long Dark / Survival Mode

    Engine:    Unity 3D

    Timeline:    In Fall 2019 for the Errant Pilgrim update

    My Role on Bleak Inlet — Open World Designer

    I contributed to foundational concept work and paper designs for the entire region.
    My implementation responsibilities included bringing Last Resort Cannery from greyblock to release.
    This level was completed within 3 months by delegating across a team of 4 other designers and environment artists.
    BREAKDOWN FOR MY CONTRIBUTIONS

    1.  Top-down paper plan

    Requesting then applying feedback from leads and Creative Director, in collaboration with artist

    2.  Ownership of level design

    Last Resort Cannery and other locations in region

    3.  Establishing and tuning initial use cases for novel mechanics

    Wildlife pathing, behaviors, and hazards including extreme wind zones and falling roof sections

    4.  Set-dressing and item placements for core survival gameplay

    Critical and follow-up coverage passes for all tools, gear, resources, and collectibles

    5.  Post-release

    Level analyses to categorize and document rules for all known buildings, shelters, and structures

    Level Design progression in Last Resort Cannery

    A bird's eye view photo I took of the cannery after the completion of this region, also intended to be displayed in-game as a souvenir photo.
    Google Sketch mockup: Top down image of a series of docks, buildings, and trailers with various colours of geometroy to highlight objects.
    First pass: Top down image of a series of docks, buildings, and trailers over a plain white ground.
    Second pass: Top down image of a series of buildings and trailers over a plain white ground with ice under the docks.
    My initial mockups were completed in Google Sketchup, and led to more iteration with Lead Designer and Environment Artists. I then spent time iterating on the gameplay of walking between platforms, as the project had not proven it out in any gym or test settings.
    The middle screen capture from Unity 3d includes the first version with a walkable path. It incorporates many new objects in early modeling stages. Note the image is missing major level features like terrain work to show where the land ends and the frozen ocean begins. Only external features for the new modular warehouse buildings exist.
    By the time the ice and terrain overpaint textures are added in editor, our modular warehouses would now have basic walkable interiors that are closer to the intention for release. I also begin to anticipate the gameplay needs for new structures with falling hazards, for sections of broken rooftops, etc. The two main examples can be seen on the bottom of schematics or the right hand side of the courtyard when facing towards the sea.
    The chunks of mountainous rock acting as front wall in the last image were replaced with a custom asset: a beautiful iron wrought gate that became the map icon for this location.
    Visual elements, like the brown placeholder boat included in all the early iteration stages, would be removed from this traversal path for release. Moving the boat, named Constitution, into the ocean brought this layout closer to the original vision from key concept art. The final level showcases that unique boat with a dramatic visual story—invoking the forlorn imagery of being stuck in a frozen ocean.

    My Achievements

    Honed my level design skillset by collaborating with the Lead Environment Artist

    Developed world narrative through text found on collectibles through this region

    Delivered traversal challenge that introduces players to novel gameplay elements

    Walkthrough

    One of the main attractions in Bleak Inlet is a workshop at the end of the Industrial Pier. It is gated by a puzzle with multiple steps and a traversal challenge. Once inside you can craft ammo using new gunpowder and other resources, which are also found at higher concentrations in this dangerous region. These mechanics introduce many new ways for players to strategize for survival after 500 days, as well.
    The workshop also reintroduces a wolf in the building interior. In previous iterations of Story Mode, a bug caused a wolf to spawn in a different location. This was removed with the Redux improvements, and cause an uproar on forums where players had even named this bugged creature. With Bleak Inlet, we gave the fans an intentional new way to relive that experience.

    Click here to read more about level design on The Long Dark!

    Will Mackenzie close up from The Long Dark's Story Mode intro credits. My name is one of the ones listed in this capture.

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