Baoze "Wilbur" Wang
Level Designer
Summary
Edge Runner is a Dying Light custom single player map made in Dying Light Developer Tools. This map has good vertical design and space reuse, and provides players with a fast-paced parkour experience.
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Game: Dying Light
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Engine: Dying Light Developer Tools
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Development Time: 14 Weeks
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Play Time: 10 - 15 mins
Fast Pacing
Fast-paced gameplay requires maps with smooth flow and clear conveyance to support the player to make a quick decision.
Parkour Focused
This level should have good vertical design to test the player's parkour skills and simplify the combat appropriately to avoid interrupting the player's parkour flow.
Wow Moment
I wanted to add a wow moment to add some variation to the player's gameplay rhythm and make this moment a memorable point for the player.
Design Iteration
1 Parkour Flow
The level should support the parkour gameplay style in terms of skill challenges, structural layout, and combat methods.
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Climb Skill Challenge
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Players need to jump and climb repeatedly in the level to reach higher places. The prompts at the beginning will be very obvious, but will be more obscure for subsequent climbing challenges.
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Multiple Paths
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The level structure provides different parkour paths for players with different play styles.
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Players can jump to other paths on the way of any path.
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Bomb in Combat
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Players can quickly kill enemies by shooting explosive barrels in combat scenes, which minimizes the enemy's hindrance to the player's parkour speed.
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Design Iteration
2 Wow Moment
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Lifting Crane
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Players can control the lifting of the crane in the control room and can clearly see the feedback of their actions.
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Players can enjoy the sunset on the crane, which could be a memorable point of this level.
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The dynamic changes in the level structure bring some variations to the parkour process.
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Cinematic
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The final boss of the level will enter the battlefield by breaking through the wall.
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What Went Well
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The level structure was locked down early on.
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The flow is stable and can highlight parkour gameplay.
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Added explosive barrels to provide players with an opportunity for a cool combat sequence while avoiding interrupting the pacing of parkour.
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Good vertical design can test the player's parkour skills.
What Went Wrong
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Too much time was spent focusing on fixing lighting issues.
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Combat lacks some depth.
What I Learned
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It is necessary to find a balance between the gameplay pacing and combat depth according to the gameplay style.
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Don't spend too much time focusing on one problem.