The Eclipsed Sanctum
Level Designer
The Eclipsed Sanctum is a single-player level for the original Quake (1996), with a heavy focus on caution, dread and fear of the unknown.
Personal Responsibilities
Created a level from concepting to release.
Gathered, sketched and painted over reference images and architecture.
Experimented, measured and tested player metrics in metric gyms.
Blocked out, built and iterated on the layout and gamespaces in TrenchBroom.
Scripted, designed and implemented combat encounters and gameplay beats.
Playtested, analysed and iterated based on data from external playtesters.
Incorporated narrative elements to tell the story of the castle.
Lit, textured and iterated on the dark aesthetics.
The Vision
Player Fantasy
I wanted to create a haunted, dreadful experience through an abandoned and ruined castle. The player should be wary of their surroundings at all times, but still feel intrigued to discover the secrets of the castle.
Narrative Outline:
You find yourself caught in a raging storm whilst on your mission to save Earth – just like the goal in the original Quake story. You seek shelter and see a giant, mysterious castle far in the distance. Creatures once rejected by society have taken over this once highly spiritual place. Your mission requires you to investigate the mysteries of the castle. Are you up to the task?
Design Pillars
To enforce the intended player experience throughout the design process, I established the following design pillars:
Cautious & Dreadful Feeling
The player should approach every room with caution and dread the unknown.
Haunted Environment
The environment becomes progressively more haunted, as it ‘reacts’ to the player’s intrusion.
Exploration = Reward
The player should always be encouraged to explore, and should not be restricted from doing so. Exploring should be rewarded.
Designing the Lay-Out
What?
I designed an intricate lay-out that supports the narrative I wanted to tell. The player starts at the gate of this abandoned castle, and after a dark, gloomy tunnel, they enter the Sanctum. This room holds a mysterious cage hanging from the ceiling. As the player climbs up the castle, this room and its cage change, adding to the Haunted Environment pillar. The level concludes in a climactic boss fight inside of the cage, after which the player is finally freed from this posessed castle.
Final Floorplan
This is the final floorplan of the level after much iteration, combined with the original references I had for each room.
Research: A Good Quake Level
I was inspired by how level E1M4: The Grisly Grotto from Quake cleverly looped the player around the same area. Every time the player re-enters the same area, they approach it from a higher level.
This little design detail allows the player to track their progress and look back on the path they have traveled.
How?
Pacing: Gameplay vs Narrative
I ensured that gameplay intensity, coming from combat and difficulty, alternated with narrative intensity, which comes from exploration, lighting and more. Narrative beats provide breathing room whilst building up tension for the next combat encounter.
Getting the balance right was essential to ensure the player was in the flow at all times, and didn’t get overwhelmed.
Intensity
Iteration: Feedback & Scope
I iterated on the level structure many times throughout the project, based on feedback from peers. Some changes were made due to scope, ensuring I could deliver a high quality level within the 8 week timeline.
Why?
Player Fantasy
All design decisions on the lay-out were built on the Exploration = Reward pillar. When making cuts to the level, I always took a look at what was lost, and considered how I could repurpose it in another part of the level - like I did by moving the elevator into the castle in version 2. This resulted in a lay-out that is interesting to explore with many secrets in its nooks and crannies.
One-Pagers
By designing on paper and showing the entire lay-out on one page, I was able to effectively communicate my intentions with peers and receive targeted feedback on the design.
What?
I designed and iterated on a total of 6 major gameplay beats from start to finish. This process includes defining the geometry, enemy placement, scripting, lighting, texturing and more.
Designing the Beats
Final Gameplay Beats
Castle Gate
Dark Tunnel
Sanctum
Elevator
Dormitory
Giant Cage
How?
User Stories
The first thing I did was to create user stories for every beat in the level. These define an intended feeling per beat, providing me with a measurable goal to work towards. I linked them to my design pillars, which are at the core of these user stories.
Research: Architectural Reference
My main source of inspiration came from Hyrule Castle from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I loved the feeling I had whilst exploring this castle: abandoned, dangerous, capricious, death around every corner.
As such, I thoroughly researched its architecture, shapes and forms, materials used and environmental storytelling methods.
Reference
Implementation
Gym Experimentation: Lighting
With the dark lighting being so core to the Cautious & Dreadful Feeling and Haunted Environment pillars, it was essential to get the balance just right. Lighting should be additive to the experience, and not hinder the readability of the level.
Therefore, I learned about lighting theory in level design, such as the difference between key lights and fill lights, as well as the technical implementation of it in TrenchBroom.
Sketching & Balancing on Paper
I sketched out designs for every room and planned out the flow of each beat on paper. I determined the enemies for every beat and calculated how many bullets the player would need to defeat the total HP. From my research, I found that on normal difficulty in Quake, the player receives around 3x the amount of bullets needed for every encounter. This served as a baseline for me to work with prior to testing.
Block-Outs & Iterations
After thorough research and testing, I started blocking out the rooms. By playtesting on a weekly basis, I was able to rapidly iterate on every room. The user stories that I had written for every room made for excellent playtesting goals during development.
Sanctum
Elevator
Pacing: Scripting Waves
At first in the Dark Tunnel, the first combat beat in the level, I threw 7 enemies at the player with no cover and barely any resources. In addition to changing the shape of the room, I scripted waves that spawned enemies in smaller groups at a time. This gave the player more breathing room and allowed them to move into the space. The player went from feeling overwhelmed to feeling in control over the space.
Guiding the Player
By cleverly using lighting to adjust the brightness values in the composition, I subtly guide the player through the level. Key areas and objectives are brightly lit whilst their surroundings are darker.
In the example below, you can see how the door and its key are bright whilst the pillars and walls are darker.
QA: Conditions of Satisfaction
Throughout the entire process, I maintained a conditions of satisfaction document. This document described the intended behaviour of all level features and reported their state.
This served as as essential tool for me to track my progress towards delivering a high quality level to the player.
Player Fantasy
The design decisions made on the gameplay beats all factor back to my three core pillars: Cautious & Dreadful Feeling, Haunted Environment and Exploration = Reward. Concretely, the moody lighting contributed a ton towards the frightening atmosphere. During playtests, I could see players moving cautiously throughout the level and physically adjusting their posture.
Combined with secrets hidden all throughout the level, such as a hidden room underneath the elevator, a true Quake classic, it made for a engaging level from start to finish.
Why?
Playtesting & Feedback
Weekly playtesting proved essential in delivering this engaging level. I playtested with peers as well as fresh faces to Quake.
Playtesting with a wide variety of players exposed issues that I and other more experienced players couldn’t see. Observing their physical behaviour also gave me a lot more insight into what they are actually feeling vs what they are telling me they are feeling.
Designing the Narrative
What?
Narrative Outline:
You find yourself caught in a raging storm whilst on your mission to save Earth – just like the goal in the original Quake story. You seek shelter and see a giant, mysterious castle far in the distance. Creatures once rejected by society have taken over this once highly spiritual place. Your mission requires you to investigate the mysteries of the castle. Are you up to the task?
This narrative outline was reflected in gameplay, the environment and other methods, all in support of the Cautious & Dreadful Feeling and Haunted Environment pillars. Over the course of the level, the feeling of expulsion gets stronger and stronger.
How?
The danger in your head is bigger than the danger that you see. I tried to get into the player’s head to make them feel like this castle is much scarier than it actually is.
Corridors
The corridors were perfect opportunities for pushing the feeling of expulsion. Their gameplay intensity is low, but their narrative intensity is very high. As the player climbs their way up the castle, the lights start flickering and pulsing more and more.
Lighting Intensity
Boss Fight
The final boss fight, which takes place inside the mysterious cage that has been intriguing the player the entire time, employs a similar concept. For the first two phases, the lighting comes from inside the cage, creating an inviting, comfortable and soft glow. After the player defeats the second phase, lights turn off entirely for a second, which builds up immense suspense. Whilst the player is dreading the horrors that are to come, the lights turn back on, but this time, the light is coming from outside the cage. This creates harsh, dramatic shadows, perfect for the final encounter.
Foreshadowing
The start of the level grants the player a Super Nailgun, a very powerful weapon in Quake, at a large, imposing gate. This already sets the tone for the rest of the level. If the player wants to make it out alive, they’re going to have to buckle up.
I also used various on-screen text prompts throughout the level. Messages like “Turn around…” and “You haven chosen your own destiny…” add extra flair to the experience, in support of the Haunted Environment pillar.
The Funny Jump-scare
In one of the corridors, I sneakily spawned a loud barking dog behind the player. It goes down in two shots, but combined with the flickering lights, this surprise gave many players a genuine jump-scare. It was very fun to watch, for me at least.
This dog is another attempt from the castle to drive the player out as it fights back.
Architecture
With Hyrule Castle from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild as my main inspiration, I took cues from its architecture to tell part of my story. Hyrule Castle shows signs of abandonment through its ruined structures and the damaging malice tells the player that this is not a location to mess with.
When I had to cut the Dining room, instead of removing its entrance entirely, I used this broken architecture to block it off. This hints that it still exists, but is inaccessible due to previous events that happened in the castle.
Reference
Implementation
Why?
Player Fantasy
With the original concept of this level coming from its narrative outline, it was important for me to convey that in the level. Even though Quake is very gameplay-focused and has minimal story elements, these little details add a lot to the feeling of the castle and create a memorable experience together.
Retrospective
Looking back, working on The Eclipsed Sanctum was an exceptionally insightful experience, with many learnings along the road, from big to small.
My proudest achievement is the lighting in the level and how it enhances the player fantasy in so many subtle ways: from guiding the player, to giving them a genuine jump-scare, it all came together well.
A big challenge I had was the concepting of the level. I cannot stare at a blank canvas. Imagining a storyboard in my head for the experience I wanted to create helped me create a strong narrative outline that supported the rest of the level well.
The biggest lesson I learned was to fail faster! I tend to want to properly prepare every little playtest and ensure the level is ready for that. Sometimes, it’s ok to just ask your level design buddy for a quick playtest and feedback. This speeds up the iteration process a lot.
Overall, I’m very proud of what I was able to achieve with this level in the timespan of 8 weeks. The lessons learned will carry over to many more projects to come!
Reception