Summary:
The Henantir's Steamcrag (HSC) project is this year's student project within Arcane University, a discord community for Skyrim mod devs. This community rallies once a year to make a large mod. This mod includes everything from indoor and outdoor spaces to questlines and voice acting. My claim in this mod was a medium-sized Dwemer Ruin.
Responsibilities
The Dwemer ruin I was in charge of creating was named Kragenkanthalnkemel (I know long and hard to pronounce). The ruin is the setting for a quest chain as well. One of my requirements during construction was ensuring that the ruin and the quest were going to be compatible.
DesignGoals
My goals during the design process were as follows:
Create a believable factory setting with a logical room layout & beautiful spaces
Create setups where the player has to open gates and doors with multiple buttons
Create small discoverable areas and reward the player with that discovery
I tried to keep the player engaged by spacing out combat and creating areas that encouraged looting and exploring. I used these as a reward after the player was in combat or completed a small puzzle.
Process
Level design for me is an iterative process and also a collaborative process. Breaking the project down and having a team lead in place to bounce ideas off and check progress created an environment where I could thrive. This was the process I followed while working on my level.
Optional but recommended: Sketch your planned layout on paper or in a digital drawing program. Keep in mind how the player will navigate the space.
Build the layout with tilesets.
Place furniture and large assets (no clutter).
Add larger forms of clutter, such as rugs, and large pots.
Add the rest of the clutter, such as herbs, and small bones.
Lighting and Effects
Navmesh
Optimization and Markers
Music and sfx
Create generic actors and a Boss and give them AI packages and patrol routes.
I would say the longest process for me was the layout stage. I found it took a long time but was not actually difficult. The hardest part for me was the cluttering process. I found that I often wanted to add too much to the areas I was working in or I wanted to add things that were not from the "Kit" I was working in (Cave & Dwemer Kits).
