FMP Blog Chapter 1 (Project Research & Aims and Objectives) - Open-World Level Design Showcase

The first stages for starting the creation of my FMP were research/planning based - I started researching potential project ideas, with an emphasis on projects that I not only think my skills would be best suited for, but also something that I would be passionate about.

In the end, I chose to attempt to create a compelling, immersive, and believable fantasy open-world-level design showcase - typically seen in action/role-playing games. It will feature a diverse plethora of different biomes with varying environmental aesthetics and characteristics. There will be no serious gameplay as such as the project will rather focus on level design and world-building. Due to the map’s size, I will resort to using a flying player character model so the map can be navigated quickly to exhibit key features and points of interest.

I also established some aims and objectives for the project:

Aims - My long-term aims for this project are to increase my understanding and efficiency in utilising Unity as a tool for creating large-scale open-world maps.

Another aim is to use my open-world level design showcase to add to my portfolio with the intention of finding employment within the games industry after university.

Objectives - Following the SMART principle (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relatable, and Time-specific), my objectives are:

1. Create a realistic, immersive and structurally and geometrically familiar open-world level despite its high fantasy theme.

2. To employ environmental storytelling techniques through assets placed throughout the level.

3. Construct a high-quality aesthetic of varied environments (both physical aspects such as different fauna, flora, creatures and weather, as well as cultural aspects such as man-made architecture, settlements and landmarks).

4. Utilize signposting to help support player navigation and highlight key areas of interest throughout the map.

5. Collect qualitative and quantitative data from play-testers to discover, analyse and compare player habits when given freedom of choice in the open-world level design showcase.

6. Add my finished final major project to my portfolio and dissertation, complete with screenshots, description, and an itch.io link to assist in finding employment after University.

Seen below is a screenshot of an early map iteration, which I created to experiment with ideas, before moving on to my actual Unity project scene. On reflection, this test prototype map was nowhere near large enough to be classed as an open-world map - it was only 750 x750 units in size - and this was increased to 10,000 x 7,500 units.