Half-Life 2: Unruly
Level Designer | Programmer
“Unruly” is a single-player level in Half-Life 2. Gordon gets into a factory that was taken by combine. He needs to clear all the combine here and makes his way through the main gate to the next stop. In this level, players will solve puzzles about movable carts and batteries, and fight against Combine Soldiers and Elites.
Design Goals
Design Techniques
Physics Puzzle
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Conveyance:
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Handle: Each movable cart has a handle, indicating that it can be pushed or pulled.
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Rail: A cart on the floor has rails beneath it, while a cart suspended in the air has rails on both sides, indicating its possible movement path.
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Same Texture: All handles and rails share the same texture, making them easily recognizable to players.
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Pacing:
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The first puzzle should be straightforward for players — simply dragging the cart to create space and progress to the next area. Later, players will encounter a cart suspended in the air. Having seen a similar cart function as a bridge before, they will recognize that they can use it the same way when they find a cart positioned between two buildings.
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Feedback:
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The cart interacts seamlessly with the Gravity Gun, whether players punt or drag it. This intuitive functionality helps players quickly grasp how to use the cart.
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Cover-Shoot
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Pacing:
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The first encounter will be the easiest, with the difficulty gradually increasing thereafter. However, before the final battle, players will face relatively simple enemies and have access to ample supplies, providing a buffer to ease the challenge.
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Verticality:
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This level features encounters with varying verticality designs. In the first encounter, players will shoot enemies positioned on the second floor. In the second encounter, they'll first face enemies on the same floor, then deal with enemies on the floor below. Each encounter presents enemies at different vertical heights.
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Limited Resource
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Conveyance:
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Light: Lights are placed next to slots and controlled objects. When the battery is plugged in, the light turns green to indicate power; if the battery is not connected, the light turns red.
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Cable: A cable connects the slot and the controlled object, visually indicating the link between the battery slot and the object.
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Sightline:
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Players can see the final objective — a large gate with three battery slots, indicating that they need to collect three batteries. All the batteries are visible in the first room, helping players understand both their main goal and subgoals.
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When players reach the final area and need to retrieve the batteries they've used, they can see them through a window.
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Iteration
Postmortem
What Went Well
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Frequent communication with stakeholders: I regularly engaged with stakeholders to ensure the project aligned with their expectations and requirements. Consistent updates helped me identify potential issues early, allowing for timely adjustments and keeping the project on track. This also ensured stakeholders remained informed throughout the process.
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Good project review at each milestone: I was efficient in identifying the issues raised in the feedback, documenting them for future reference, and taking the time to understand their root causes.
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Design levels from a more measurable perspective: In the past, my designs were more intuitive, and I struggled to assess their effectiveness. Now, I can evaluate my designs from various angles, such as conveyance, feedback, flow, and pacing.
What Went Wrong
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Spending too much time on one task: I often get overly focused on a single task, whether it's because I want to make it perfect or because I get stuck trying to solve a problem. This is also partly due to my reluctance to seek help from others.However, this tends to halt my overall progress and slows me down.
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Few playtests: Conducting only a few playtests significantly limits my ability to identify and address potential issues early in development. I didn't receive enough feedback to fully understand how players interact with my level or how different design elements affect the overall player experience.
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Not keeping the project functional: Regular testing is crucial for gathering comprehensive feedback, which requires the project to remain functional at every stage. However, I struggle with maintaining this, which hinders my ability to identify and address overall issues early on.
What I Learned
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Don’t be afraid to ask questions: Don’t hesitate or feel embarrassed to ask others about design or technical issues. Often, I get stuck on problems that take up a lot of my time, but someone else might come up with a clever solution quickly.
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Task list and prioritization: A task list is invaluable for breaking down large projects into smaller, manageable tasks. At different milestones, it's easy for tasks from earlier stages to be overlooked. By prioritizing tasks, I can ensure that the most critical issues are addressed first, enabling me to focus my efforts where they will have the greatest impact. This approach can help me meet deadlines and minimize the risk of feeling overwhelmed.
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Timeboxing tasks: This is an effective strategy where I can set a fixed amount of time to complete a task, regardless of whether it's fully finished. It can help me prevent perfectionism from slowing progress, encourages efficiency, and ensures that work on each task doesn't exceed its allocated time.
