NICKOLAI FUGLEVAAG

Level Design Portfolio

Non Combat Locations

Worked on creating small sized open world locations for the player to come across as they explore the world.

A few minutes of gameplay with a light challenge leading to a reward.

These designs were initially a big list of "elevator pitch" style idea sentences, for example:
"A huge hollow tree log fallen over a body of water. Can see through the sides to the loot inside but entry is blocked. To enter, dive into the water and swim up into the log from below (opening + water also visible peeking inside the log)."

A lot of inspiration for more of these locations came from the process of making the first ones. Including ideas from specific art assets or gameplay ingredients for instance.

Here are a few examples of these smaller open world locations that I designed:

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Main Quests

I spent the majority of my time on the project in the Main Quest team where I worked all the way until the game was content complete.

My responsibilities included:

• Paper design and pitching ideas for locations and gameplay based on the narrative context.
• Block out level layout & work with the world team for placement into the world.
• Scripting gameplay scenarios and NPC encounters, both story and combat.
• Setting up checkpoint and respawn flow.
• Close collaboration with the Technical Level Design team for things like gameplay ingredients.
• Organize various playtest and feedback sessions within the quest team to iterate on content.
• Tools requesting new Snowdrop Editor functionality for improved workflows and convenience for my teams.
• Maintaining the quality of the gameplay experience while other disciplines (like quest design, art or audio) completed their various work on affected locations.
• Fine tuning and balancing the game experience based on playtest and Director feedback.
  
• Bug fixing and polish as the game moved closer into its final stages before release.

For some more detailed breakdowns, here are a few examples of some of the main quest that I worked on over the course of the project:

Main Quest - Pandora (Intro)

Breakdown

Introduction to the open world.

Loose guidance without discouraging free exploration.

Narrative context is you have just escaped and are searching for other survivors.

My work in this area included the quest path and its close surroundings through the jungle from the initial bunker exit up to the first major location (mentioned below)

One of the main goals and challenges in this area for Level Design was guidance and readability, while still keeping it as organic as possible to not clash drastically with the surrounding procedural nature which had not been level designed.

Even if this initial mini open world area was located in a crater preventing too much exploration away from the quest path it was still possible to get lost. 

So these are some of the methods I used to create clarity and readability in this quest environment:

• The use of negative space through techniques of clearing up the jungle to various degrees of granularity.
  • For example, the idea of using a river as a guidance element came from me.
• Leading lines and inviting shapes through placement of various assets like trees, branches, rocks, gameplay ingredients and so on for both traversal and guiding the eye towards the desired direction.
• Using pathing tools to clear paths through the jungle foliage.
• Using narrative or gameplay assets to draw the players attention. (Like the smoldering mech suits in the examples below)
• As well as custom placement of key recognizable art assets that stand out and create visual anchors in the environment upon which to build up memory for easier orientation and navigation.

The next section of the quest was an abandoned old RDA building which was used as the narrative anchor and the player's first quest objective location. And the first location in this initial mini open world area of the game where I designed and built the entire location, from early concept drawings and blockout to final release.

The final section of the quest that I worked on was the path from the RDA fueling station up to the Resistance Headquarters, which was the next quest objective to reach.

Where the goal was to guide the player through signs of a "basecamp by the waterfall" and a beautiful and enjoyable climb to the top, introducing some more traversal mechanics along the way. As well as giving the player a few clear views of where they were currently in relation to their objective at the top.

Main Quest - Take Flight

This was the quest where the player would finally be getting their very own Ikran flying mount.
Braving the dangers on the climb to the top of the floating mountains to make the bond.

I took over responsibility of the entire Ikran rookery level from its initial designer. Working closely with the Quest Designer and Environment Artist my contributions included:

• Gameplay and traversal flow
• Setting up and polishing narrative story beat locations
• Setting up ambient Ikran NPCs and their animations
• Designing small traversal locations throughout the level and adding loot containers to them
• Custom checkpoint and respawn setup, slightly different from the rest of the game due to the unique location and to not break the flow and excitement of the climb too much if the player happened to fall off and die.
• Feedback iteration, performance adjustments and bug fixing

The goal with the level was to experience the thrill of movement and the "butterflies in the stomach" climb to the top of the Ikran rookery floating mountains, with the constant presence of these majestic and dangerous flying beasts that inhabit the mountain.

The quest location was even featured in an IGN Concept to Controller episode, and I'm quite proud of having been one of the people responsible for bringing this quest and its location to life:

Main Quest - The Weeping Gorge

Quest location in the second region of the map. About mid way through the game.

This location is an ancient and important cultural location for the Upper Plains Na'vi clan where their massive companion beasts, the Zakru, are laid to rest at the end of their lives.

Challenge: The area included 4 smaller objective locations with traversal segments in-between. Each location needed to feel unique in theme and gameplay.

Solution: I used the narrative theme for each location & the player's ability repertoire at this point in the game to make each location feel unique, both in terms of visuals elements and lighting, as well as gameplay.
For example: One cave crawling section following guidance elements and lights, one climbing section focusing on vertical traversal and risky jumps, etc.

I worked on this location from the initial conception stage (L0) up through to iterating on gameplay flow and  level design adjustments after art passes (L2).

Contributions included:

• Full level blockout within open world terrain "cut-out"
• Varied gameplay design for each wind chime location
• Readability and traversal flow throughout the entire location
• Guidance elements through the entire quest location
  

(Location start @3:48 in the video below)