Mondays

A Single Player level made for Half Life 2: Episode 2.

Level Highlights

Overview

Its Monday. Again. Time to head up to the labs to work on a very secret, very important experiment that just might save humanity. However, this Monday feels like a very different one.

You are a scientist who is working on a secret experiment, deep inside an underground lab. The day begins as usual, you get to your locker, gear up and get ready to finish your tasks. However, circumstance changes, and the lab is raided by enemy forces. You have to survive their attack and escape the place alive.

Taking inspiration from Prey (2017), I aimed to create a short but non-linear level that was set in a single location and conveyed the story through player interactions and the environments, apart from fulfilling the level design jam’s theme; Systemic AI Combat.

Tools: Half Life 2: Episode 2, Hammer Level Editor, Git, Trello

Role: Level Design, Scripting, Lighting, Optimization

Duration: 2 Months

Completion: October, 2022

Features

• Interconnected areas with player-driven pacing.
  

• Surreal and Mind-bending concept.
  

Playthrough

Download Map

Timeline

Month 1:

• Week 1: Planning the concepts and the story. Finalizing different areas and their connectivity. Scripting and testing primary level mechanics.
  

• Week 2: Initial Blockout. Rough Scripting. Prop Placements. Basic Texturing. Playtest 1.
  

• Week 3: Layout Update. Bug Fixes. Playtest 2.
  

• Week 4: Layout Update. More Prop placement. Bug Fixes. Lighting Pass. Jam Submission.
  

Month 2:

• Post Jam Polish.

Gameplay Elements

• The Advisor and The Mind Control.
  

Level Summary

Constraints:

1. The level must contain systemic combat between at least 2 AI factions (e.g. the Combine, rebel civilians and ally characters, zombies and headcrabs).

2. The level must be created using Half Life 2: Episode 2.

Goals:

1. Try out the level design and scripting tools available in Hammer.

2. Play around with the ability to turn hostile NPC into friendly.

3. The level has to take place within one single location.

4. Level should have some form of non-linearity that encourages and rewards exploration.

Objective 1 – Get to the locker room, find the HEV suit, and get dressed.

1. The level starts with the player exiting the elevator, and walking through a curved hallway to access the door of the lab.

2. I wanted to inform the player that there is something weird going on in the level, as early as possible. To achieve this, I scripted a Poison Zombie, a very strong enemy, in the mind-controlled form to walk close to the window of the security checkpoint and look at the player for a few seconds and walk back into the room out of sight.

3. Next, the player uses a door and walks into the common area. The common area has a few smaller sub-areas such as a cafeteria, the locker room with the suit, Restrooms, etc.

4. Here, I introduce another entity, a metropolice, currently in the mind control state, for similar reasons to that of the previous encounter with the poison zombie. However, this time there is no barrier between the player and the enemy. This increases the sense of danger, especially because the player currently does not have any way to deal with the metropolice, while also increasing curiosity about what will happen next?

There are a couple of ways the player can progress once they have noticed the metropolice.

A. The player can walk down the corridor close to the entrance. Here they will come across the locker room. Entering the locker room and after briefly looking around they might find the suit and a crowbar, among other things. I placed these together to hint that this might be the player’s locker.

The player can find another door that leads to the restroom area. The door of the restroom area would lead to the corridor with the metropolice.

B. The player can go into the cafeteria and look out through the window to know what they might expect around the corner. Here, the player gets a glimpse into what’s going on with the metropolice and the advisor, making them more curious.

Apart from this, they can also see into another area ahead.

There is also a health vial in the cafeteria, in case the player needs it..

C. The player can just go straight towards the metropolice. I wanted to support various player expressions within this map, so I thought this action was completely appropriate.

However, to make this action not quite appealing, I didn’t give the player a weapon (a means to interact with the metropolice), or the suit (the player walks slowly and is more vulnerable) at the start of the level.

Objective 2 – Check the status of the experiments.

1. This is where I introduce the Mind Control Mechanic.

As the player walks into the corridor, they see a combine advisor held captive above with an electric cable leading to a nearby console, while the previously introduced metropolice patrol the area.

Since this is the first time the player encounters this sequence, I scripted the metropolice to make a loud noise when it turns hostile towards the player. Along with the noise, with the missing halo around the metropolice’s head, and it sprinting towards the player, I let the player know that the metropolice might have become hostile towards the player.

2. This area is a sort of hub. It connects to 4 new areas. The Research Division, The Relations Lab, The Security Office, and The Exhibition Hall.

3. This area is the The Research Division.

Here the player comes across another advisor and mind control sequence, but this time I let the player know that there are multiple beings affected by it, in this case, a citizen and a zombie.

However, if the player walks close to either of them in the hostile state, they will attack the player. I scripted it this way so that player understands that they are not only experimenting on zombies and combine but also citizens, and citizens hate the scientists and, in turn, the player for it.

Using another civilian trapped behind a breakable glass, I scripted another sequence to convey a similar idea.

The next room has a bunch of Antlion grubs kept in a cage. The player can step on these grubs to get some health.

4. This area is The Relations Lab.

Due to optimization, this and the previous map are separated by a level transition. I scripted it in such a way that the transition occurs when the player interacts with a (locked) door instead of walking into a trigger.

A. As the player explores this area, they first encounter a group of headcrabs which ambushes them.

The player can choose to not engage with the headcrabs, dodge and escape to the next room using one of the doors.

There is also a window in the room that allows the player to look into “the playground” an upcoming area.

B. If the player chooses to walk into this room, right next to the door, they will find a suit, a pistol, and 2 batteries (armour). There is also another window in the room which provides a different view of “the playground”.

At the end of this room, the player will come across two other doors, but one of the doors, to the Props Room, will be locked from the other side and the other door will lead to the “Testing Lab” area.

C. Here, after showing parts of the “Playground” area, the player can finally see the whole thing. Along with that, they can also see a squad of citizens and combine in the docile state, and the mind control console. The player can also follow nearby electric cables to find where the advisor is.

The player can choose to either interact with the mind control experiment right away, or can look around the environment. If they do the latter, they will find a crowbar, and a couple of frag grenades. They will also find the advisor, in its usual position and the “looking glass technology”, another invention that’s being used to trap the subjects. In this room, the player can also find the key to the security office in the previous map.

D. If the player chooses to walk in this room instead, they’ll come across a balcony that overlooks the entry area before finding an elevator that takes the player to “The Playground” area.

E. The player will get to explore the area, look at the mind-controlled citizens and combines, and find health and ammunition. The player can also see the development lab, the one with headcrabs, and the testing lab, the one with the mind control console.

F. One other way, from “The Playground” back to the labs is through the elevator in the “Prop Room”. Using the elevator, as the player reaches the upper floor, they will find a body of a scientist killed by a headcrab. The player will interact and open the door of the room, that was previously locked from the other side, looping back to the “Testing Lab” with the mind control console.

Objective 3 – Survive and Escape.

1. This is the Testing Lab.

A. When the player first interacts with the mind-controlling console, the controlled squad in “The Playground” area will begin fighting each other. But this time, after a delay, an enemy squad made up of 3 elite combine along with a sniper will breach the area, looking to save their allies and kill the player.

I used this sequence to move the story forward and convey to the player that their next objective is to escape this place alive.

B. There are a couple of things the player can do once they get the key.

They can either make their way to the same door they came from while dodging sniper fire and headcrabs, or they can engage with the combine, citizens, and the breach squad, to find stronger weapons and more health kits.

2. This is the Security Office. Using the key from the “Testing Lab”, the player is finally able to access the Security Office. In this room, they will find the console that unlocks the door of the next area.

There is another computer system in the room that I used to let the player know of the ambush, next door. Through this information, I wanted to encourage the player to think about how are they going to fight against such a big force.

They will also find a few weapons and health kits, placed here to help the player in the upcoming encounter.

3. This is the Exhibition Hall.

The player has to fight and survive the large force of enemies to escape. This mixed squad is made up of both citizens and combine whose sole purpose is to kill the player.

Even if the player failed to notice this death squad, using carefully placed BlockLOS brushes (The Blue Brushes in the screenshot), I allowed the player to avoid detection and sneak up on the enemies before deciding how they want to act.

This room also has the final advisor and mind control sequence, and this time the advisor affects different zombies and headcrabs which are caged behind breakable glass. Once, these zombies turn hostile, they will attack all the other entities; combines, citizens and the player.

The player can trigger the mind control for any reason; to get help combating the combine and citizen squad, to distract them while the player sneaks past to the exit, etc.

The level ends with the player surviving and escaping the area using the ramp, that can be seen from the entry point.

Final Thoughts

• Creating a complete level with quality gameplay was a fantastic experience. All the credit goes to the fast and easy-to-use hammer editor and its input-output scripting system.
  

• Making this level helped me improve my process of making levels and ways to think about non-linearity and player freedom within a level.
  

• Things like clarity of the player objective or why the player is made to do things that they are doing, could have been improved even further.
  

• The level would have been much better if It was more tightly paced and clearly conveyed key mechanics to the players.