LAST RESORT
Level Concept + Level Greybox
As a big fan of the Orcs Must Die games by Robot Entertainment, I have decided to create a series of levels for the 2nd instalment in the franchise to display my thought process, design skills, and how I can take a concept into a fully functioning level.
(THIS LEVEL HAS BEEN MADE FOR A UNIVERISTY ASSIGNMENT)
ABOUT THE LEVEL
Last Resort aims to be a vast level focused around one centre point in the middle of a chasm that would be attacked from all sides.
Once the design process on this level started, the roster of the already existing levels was used as a base, however, the aim of this project was to create something experimental and new for the game while resembling the already made designs.
When designing this level, the goal was to create an adequate level of challenge for all playstyles in Orcs Must Die, hence why the level could be split into 2 parts.
The outer part containing the enemy spawns and the corridors leading up to the bridges, are meant for classic trap dungeon playstyle that focuses on placing traps and guiding the orcs through.
The middle area is focused on crowd control style of playing by using weapons and traps specifically made for throwing Orcs around and out of the map.
The secluded island in the middle also allows for dealing with Orcs through long range based attacks either directly from the players' weapons or by using units like Archer Guardians.
The enemies appearing in this level have been chosen to also provide a challenge to all playstyles, so that no one playstyle is the only answer for beating this level.
For example, the Kobold runners appear to activate all the traps prematurely, putting them on cooldown while the Orcs walk through them. The Kobold Bombers focus on destroying player barricades, foiling their plans at guiding the Orcs around.
Heavy Orcs and Trolls are a counter to the playstyle that focuses on throwing Orcs off the map, as these enemies cannot be easily picked up.
The Gnoll Hunters and Crossbow Orcs make sure that the players need to both move around, and to not just stay camping on the island, as the Gnolls with hunt the players down and the Crossbow Orcs will shoot at them from afar.
The amount of Rift Points and waves has been estimated based on levels in the actual game, however, play-testing would be required to tweak these numbers to create a balanced experience.
The amount of Rift Points, number of waves & enemies per wave, and when will the players have an unlimited break between waves, are all aspects that would require testing to give the right values, and also would be changed depending on which difficulty the players would be playing on.