God of War inspired Level - Blog post 09
What comes after the Boss is more important
I am finally getting towards the end of the the God of War(2018) inspired level. After spending most of the level learning about the Witch, it was finally time for the player to face her. For this I wanted a unique arena to fight the boss in. For the boss fight I wanted to create a unique arena that felt different from the spaces the player had explored previously. I am also a big Lord of the Rings fan, so I took some inspiration from Weathertop and started collating some reference images to create a space that had a similar ruined, elevated feeling. I liked the idea of having the player fight the Witch in a location that felt like a significant landmark, rather than just another combat arena.
Creating this area also gave me an opportunity to improve the initial view of the ruins from the start of the level. I previously talked about using the big blue cube as a temporary landmark to give the player a clear destination, so I wanted to come back to this area now that I had a better idea of what the final space would look like. It is also nice to see how some of the early blockout ideas have developed as the level has come together.
For the space itself, I kept it within the metrics I've been using throughout the project, making the arena roughly 32 metres across and once again following the guidelines from the GDC God of War level design talk.
Obviously, the exact design of the boss would need to be worked out with a combat designer, but for now I had an idea of how I wanted the encounter to work. I imagined the Witch disappearing and reappearing at different points around the arena, so I created an upper ring that would force the player to move between different elevations while fighting her.
The boss itself is still very basic at this stage, for now I have mainly increased the health to give the fight some length. My focus here is much more on designing the arena itself.
I think the most important part of this area actually isn't the boss fight, it's what happens afterwards.
One of the most interesting parts of Rob Davis' GDC talk on God of War was his discussion of level to level flow. He explains how, towards the end of a level, the player is introduced to a new mechanic, taught how to use it several times and then eventually released into a larger space where they can freely experiment with it.
This was something I really wanted to try with the ending of my level.
The idea is that the Witch's magic is protecting a number of barricades throughout the level. When the player defeats her, she drops a rune which Kratos applies to his axe. This allows the axe to destroy the Witch's magical barricades.
To make this work, I've created some new Blueprints which can only be destroyed once the player has collected the rune. This means I can place these barricades throughout the level and control when the player is able to interact with them.
The player is then taught this mechanic three times, with each example increasing the amount of thought required.
The first is very simple. The exit from the boss arena is blocked by one of the Witch's barricades, so the player immediately has to use their new ability to progress. I've also added some Mimir dialogue here to gently reinforce what the player needs to do without completely spelling it out.
For the second example I increased the complexity slightly. The player reaches a bridge but has no obvious way of lowering it. Instead of immediately giving them the solution, I encourage them to backtrack and explore the surrounding area. Eventually they discover a throwable target containing the Witch's magic. This teaches them that the new mechanic isn't only used on the barricades they've already seen, but can also be used on specific throwable targets around the environment. So the player is now starting to understand the mechanic rather than simply being told how it works.
The third example is probably my favourite because it uses a space the player has already visited. After continuing along the path out of the level, I added a longer lift to give some time for dialogue between the characters. The player then eventually returns to the first area of the level. Before heading back to the boat, I changed one of the chests that was previously just a simple traversal challenge. I added a Witch's barricade in front of it.
You see this a lot in God of War. Throughout the world there are objects and areas that the player can't interact with yet, but they can still remember that they are there. Once they unlock the ability to interact with them, returning to those locations creates that lightbulb “oh, I remember that!” moment. This is exactly what I wanted to achieve here. The player has already seen this chest and walked past it earlier in the level, so when they return and see the Witch's barricade, hopefully they immediately realise that they can now do something about it.
I have really enjoyed working on this area. I had the idea to change that chest for a while, but it was only when I started thinking about the level to level flow that I realised how I could use it as the final payoff for the new mechanic.
Going forward, this is something I would like to carry into the next level. I would design the next level around this mechanic, give the player more freedom to experiment with it and then, towards the end, introduce another mechanic that can carry into the following level.
See you in the next one, Howells out!
