Atreides Deserters Bases:
Exteriors
Description:
During my second internship, I teamed up with 2 artists to add fleshed-out exterior spaces to 11 total Atreides Deserters Bases in the Hagga Rift region of Hagga Basin. Our goal was to provide engaging visuals and gameplay where there previously was none quickly and efficiently.
Gameplay: Combat, Looting
The Process
This process started with having meetings amongst leads, environment artists, and myself to define the broad strokes of what we wanted out of these new spaces. The main requirements were to visually fit the set dressing with the base’s faction while also providing meaningful gameplay spaces for combat and looting.
Loot placement and type was also something I iterated on multiple times to optimize the player’s sense of reward when engaging with this area. I made sure to place more valuable loot behind enemy lines and hidden in spots that made it even more satisfying for the player when they found it, while also providing ammo boxes and medical containers in areas where the player could “take a breather” from combat and heal/reload.
For example, sometimes I would hide loot behind a tarped Ornithopter to highlight it’s importance, or put ammo/health up in sniper towers where the player can get sufficient distance from combat but only through use of mobility skills.
What was extremely important to focus on from the LD side was achieving a good balance of visuals and easy-flowing player navigation. This ripples out to both the combat and looting experience feeling satisfying.
For example, one challenge I overcame was troubleshooting how to keep spaces under tarps from feeling too cluttered while also providing natural feeling low/high cover during combat. Having sufficient cover that facilitated the base’s layout flow was important for both the player’s feeling of agency and the enemy NPC’s flow of movement.
The most challenging aspects of developing these areas were: a tight schedule, time-zone differences between departments, and strict art requirements. How the team and I got around this was through doing daily sync meetings every day at a good overlapping time between departments, and playtesting level progress diligently. Getting live feedback was always invaluable and helped move things along much more quickly. Using Slack task-management tools greatly helped in staying organized as a team and having awareness of what needed to be tackled next.