"Frozen Paradise" - Crysis Warhead - singleplayer level
"[Previous battle] is a wonder, as is a later defensive mission that has you fending off a series of aliens, and requires you to shift focus frequently and use every weapon in your inventory." - Kevin VanOrd, GameSpot (Sept 08)
) |
) |
) |
'Frozen Paradise' started life as the second half of the only frozen level in Warhead. It soon became clear that this large level had to be divided into two mainly due to performance. I worked on both of those levels from their layout phases until we shipped.
Interestingly enough, the start of the level used to be much lower and further away from the frozen Aircraft Carrier. After feedback that this was not giving off an impressive enough view of the Carrier (or worse, some people didn't even look up to realise what this towering structure was) I experimented with, rather than moving the Carrier (and therefore messing up the rest of the level), moving the starting position. This was approved and everyone seemed much more happy with the new starting point. This was particularly due to the scripted and gameplay opportunities that arose from having the Carrier-top North Korean snipers now at roughly the same height as the Player. Adding another 'Veni Vidi Vici' vista didn't hurt either since players could now also survey the path leading to the Carrier and the battle raging below.
) |
) |
) |
The remit for this level was to avoid making the Alien combat 'reactive'. What this meant practically was engineering fewer 'boo' moments and relying more on players witnessing battles in the distance and deciding when they wanted to step in, if at all. This was to ensure the combat would be replayable and even introduced a tinge of morality; would players let Aliens slaughter other humans if it meant life would be easier for them?
Along those lines, I aimed to mix up the encounters so that each had its own little story, and upon replaying it, players would have a different experience.
So for example, halfway through a battle between North Korean Nanosuit forces, some Alien Troopers and the Player, an Alien Scout might compound the affair with reinforcements, dropping four Troopers, one of which might be of the [shielded] Guardian variety.
Another main theme was to showcase places where players could safely observe Aliens actually doing something in their environment the way humans in Crysis could smoke, urinate or read. The most obvious thing was to have Alien Scouts inspecting human machinery to show that they were curious after all these millions of years of hibernation. This meant the creation of short looped sequences where Scouts would poke a dump truck for example, and then when players zoomed in with their binoculars (as prompted by the dialogue) a new sequence would kick in showing the Scout digging up this machinery and flying off with it, presumably back to the ship for disassembly.
I feel these scenes worked really well and only wish there had been more time to create more of these types of interesting vignettes.
) |
) |
) |
Another boon to aid in showcasing the Aliens' combat behaviour was the SmartObject system; helpers placed in a level to allow enemies to play specialised animations (such as clinging to a wall) or perform specially-animated navigational animations (such as jumping over a wall). The plateaus and frozen river section in particular worked really well because they were created with SmartObjects in mind. This meant all of the heights and distances were designed right from the start to tailor towards showing off either the Nanosuit AI strength jumping ability or the Aliens' wall-bouncing, leaping or vaulting movement.
The interior of the Carrier used to be a lot longer and maze-like, but this was trimmed and only a couple of the larger main rooms remained, since the AI worked a lot better in not-so-cramped conditions. A favourite here was the Mess Hall. The whole Mess Deck had been cut from the Carrier in Crysis, but here it really seemed to shine with the North Korean Nanosuit guys tearing the place up and leaping over tables and chairs, again courtesy of SmartObjects.
) |
) |
) |
For the final defend scenario, it was important to design the waves of Alien forces to encourage players to use all of the different types of weapons placed there, and to switch between them, learning the strengths and weaknesses of each. Requested dialogue hints really helped to sell this to players.
Overall, I learned a lot about mixing up individual encounters in this level, and allowing some to spill into others depending on the path and speed taken by players. I feel this made a lot of the combat very replayable which was gratifying as that was the intention.