Introduction

White Tundra is my Half Life 2 Level that I turned into a campaign. The level was first a part of a class project on The Game Assembly but was developed further as a single player campaign where the player goes through a secret base known as White Tundra. The Campaign is supposed to centre around the Abyss of a hero Journey making the combat challenging and the Level design a piece worth remembering. 

White tundra reveals all the madness the combines planned to take over a city. The level is surrounded in mysteries and a game-play that is altered between fast and slow. 

This project was a showcase for me to show my skills in the Hammer Editor, which was my first editor. It allowed me to show good understanding in scripting, level designing and advanced BSP-structures through Hammer.

So buckle up, cause you're going  for a ride!

Specifications and Tools

Custom Half Life 2: Episode two assets

Assets from Hammer and the HL2: EP2 assets

Created in 35 days

My workflow

Getting Started

I knew that I wanted to have a map that showcases a lot of scenarios with both slow-paced and fast-paced design. I had skills in Hammer Editor prior to this project so I wanted to challenge myself to create a map that had some events that was hard for me to do. 

Planning and inspiration

The first few days I started to make a structured weekly plan on my goals with the campaign. I wrote down tasks in a SCRUM-like way to keep myself busy all the time during the production. In beginning of the production I had one level for the block-out and one level to try my triggers and scripts. The triggers and scripts was iterated and developed in the editor and not on paper, this was due to some restrictions Hammer has on specific events.

The big inspiration for the campaign was the Black Mesa facility from Half Life 1, both the architecture, level-design and scripted events inspired me. I aspired to make a map that would remind the player of the atmosphere of Black Mesa.

From the start I  decided to remove outside game-play, this included: snipers, helicopter-fights and combine fights. I wanted to focus on CQC with Zombies, Sentry-guns, puzzles and events. I wanted the player to dive into White Tundra as a scared weak player and finish it as a complete strong character.

How I made my levels

Part 1: White Tundra: East Entrance

Inspiration came from cargo entrance into some cave or mountain. I also took big inspiration from Half Life 1. This part of my level went through a lot of iterations.  This its the smallest of all parts if you look at gameplay but one of the biggest if you look at size. The helicopter scenario was added late and was a palyed by many testers of the level. 

I think that I conveyed a good start to the level, it's an eventful start to the campaign with a nice introduction to combat.

Part 2: Cargo Elevator

Inspiration came from elevators in Black mesa. This was one of my first attempts to create more advanced BSPs with hammer, looking at the roofs and the elevator of the room I wanted to give a more realistic and open feel. I also wanted to add an ambient sound that bounce from the walls in this room, like there is a transverse tensile from the elevator. This map also introduces sentries as a part of my full level, the first zombies will also be introduced here in a scare way.

This part was one of the most fun to build. I discovered a new way to use the BSP tool in hammer and to make more complex and advanced shapes. The puzzle that you add your wires to activate the elevator was one of the hardest to make.

Part 3: Lobby

This part was just a corridor and level-transition to the next part of the campaign. When I realized I could do more with this part I added a classic Half Life-design, like the electrified water and controlling the player to go around the trap.

The lobby was a standout part of my map according to play-testers, probably cause it was a beautiful and artsy level. 

Part 4: The Office / Waterway

This is the biggest part of the campaign, I wanted the player to feel like White Tundra was a really large facility. I also wanted to control the player by design, forcing the player to take specific routes. By doing this design I think that I made the player less powerful, and it was intended to this so I could build up the player the last two parts. 

Four ways I forced the player to take a route. Picture 1 by making enemies push the player to a hole; Picture 2 by raising the water; Picture 3 a stream in the water; Picture 4 Venthatch destroyed when player touches it. 

My workflow in this part was split in 5 different events:

• The Sewers: You get forced down in the sewers by zombies and you need to find your way into the office

• The Office: Discover the secrets of the office

• Back to the Sewers: Fight your way through the last part of the office, defeating sentry-guns and fast-zombies.

• The Waterways: Sewer-water flush out in the waterways where the player is forced to fight zombies and head-crabs to get out of this zombie-pestered waterway

• The other part of the office: In this part you see an allied scientist get taken by a zombie and you also fall into a zombie-trap, once you've made your way out of the trap you find your way to the Bridge

This map was the hardest one to create, since I had to justify the change of environment 2 or 3 times. But I think I managed it quite well.

Part 5: Bridge

Inspiration for this part was to try to advance my skills in making events(scripts) in hammer. It was an opportunity to prove to myself that I understand how to make more complex scenarios in hammer.  
Part 5 was basically that you came out to a big room in the facility, you had a bridge that went from different places in the facility and you also had a control-room to control the doors on the bridge.

The event I made was a focus on creating a reaction from the player that a scientist in the facility was alive and could maybe be able to explain the mystery of White Tundra.

When I made this part in pre-production I had planned a totally different map and it was halfway through the project that I scrapped the part to add another office-segment and added the Road through the facility. I think it was a poor decision to add another office part from the start, but after I scrapped previous idea this part was really fun to work with. 

Part 6: Stores

For the last part of my level I decided to add a "boss fight", I wanted the player to finish the campaign powerful. I thought a lot on how to get this fight to be epic but still not impossible for the player. In the fight you start of with 2 friendly sentries that will help you shoot down the swarm of zombies and antlion-guard. The antlion-guard and zombies will not just focus you but also each other. In the end of this level you will get a Vortigaunt to help you finish the level. 

According to the play-testers the fight gave an epic impression and I agree that I created an epic fight. The fight is hard but not at all impossible. All of the testers liked that in the start of the level you get a green spark and light to guide you to extra damage and a foreshadowing that you were about to help a Vortigaunt. What I disliked most about this part was that I filled it with too much props, I wanted it to look like a warehouse but in the end the crates destroyed the feeling and lighting I gave the room.

Final Thoughts

The goals I set making this campaign was met early during the production and it made me work more with the levels and expanding it to something I would say is one of my projects that I’m most proud of.

In my design I tried to add all forms of gameplay in my level, I wanted to create a contrast to the player from both adding high combat, chasing and events to just plain exploring.

The difficulty seems to be appropriate for where the level was supposed to be placed in the campaign. All the events worked as I had intended in the level and you can only notice a few flaws. The optimization only plummets one time(the helicopter event Part1) during the level and it was my goal to always have a steady FPS during the gameplay.

The biggest issue with my level and the design was probably what I could never settle on just having a plain room or corridor. I think when I’ve played it during the production and mostly after that you never get a real breather. It makes the player just plough through the level instead of standing still for one second and thinking about the story I’m trying to tell with the level. If I were to redo the level in the future I would remove some enemies and events and probably add some more room to make the environment feel a bit more realistic and therefore immerse the player even more.