Warehouse Escape

The Challenge

    I had one challenge, and one challenge only: to make a fun and compelling Half-Life 2 map. Now, First Person Shooters aren't exactly my cup of tea, so I had an additional challenge: to design for a type of game I rarely ever play. 

The Solution

     One thing I did to make a good level was to, of course, immerse myself in the source material. I played through Half-Life 2, did some breakdowns of levels for my class, and generally learned how the game normally operated.

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     The other thing I did was to incorporate elements of games I do like into my level. I'm a big fan of strategy games, so in my level you can't just run around guns blazing. You have to observe your surroundings, plan carefully, set up ambushes, and generally outsmart the AI.

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     In the first area, you are faced with numerous guards, most of which travel in groups. If you simply try and take them out yourself, it's pretty much a guaranteed game over. But by making us of the exploding barrels, and making sure you take out a group before it can alert another, you can take out all of the guards in the main warehouse.

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     The second area takes place in the shipping yard, where a maze of shipping containers block your path. In addition to this, a combine helicopter patrols the area. You must maneuver the maze while taking out any soldiers you come across, and avoiding the helicopter. Once you reach the tower on the other side of the yard, you can use the rocket launcher to take down the helicopter and open the exit. Even here though, just gunning it down won't work. You have to make the rocket avoid the helicopter's gunfire, as well as duck down below the windowsill periodically to avoid getting ripped apart by the helicopter.

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     In the end, I made a pretty good, enjoyable map. It's fun to play through, and keeps the tension throughout. You can read more about the level in it's Level Design Document down below.