Todd Nelling
  • Projects
    • Skylanders: SWAP Force
    • Hex Game
    • Chroma
    • Monster Munchies
  • Individual Levels
    • Night of Fear
    • Battle for Genosha
    • Morph Ball Madness
    • Unreal Kart
  • Scripting
    • UnrealScript
    • Lua
    • Hammer I/O
    • Unreal Kismet
    • TESScript
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Night of Fear | Gears of War | Unreal 3

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Level Overview

"Night of Fear" is a single-player Gears of War level, set in the city of Jannermont after the conclusion of the Lightmass Offensive.  Marcus Fenix is on a recon mission when the Locust shoot down his helicopter.  After prying himself from the wreckage, Marcus spots his objective: a facility on the far side of the crash wreckage.  Marcus decides to continue with his mission, heading around the block since the crash has blocked direct access to the entrance.

Armed only with a Snub Pistol and makeshift Molotov cocktails, Marcus fights his way past three groups of Locust by manipulating light sources, setting the Kryll on the Locust while lighting a path through them for himself.

Design Goals

  • Create a more cognitive/puzzle-oriented form of combat that does not feel out of place within the Gears of War universe
  • Give the player as much control as possible over the location/placement of light- no permanent outdoor light sources
  • Create an appropriate Gears of War visual aesthetic

Level Metrics

  • Game: Gears of War
  • Editor: Gears of War
  • Engine: Unreal 3
  • Map Type: Single Player
  • Visual Theme: Nighttime urban streets
  • Play Time: approximately 10 minutes
  • Development Time: 8 weeks (including documentation and prototyping)

Level Maps

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Area Map (1st Street)
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Area Map (2nd Street)
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Area Map (3rd Street)

Level Details

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The crash site

Crash Site

Night of Fear opens with Marcus gathering his bearings after a crash landing in an industrial area of Jannermont.  He has lost most of his equipment in the crash.  However, he spots his objective on the far side of the crash - the entrance to the facility that he is next to, illuminated by orange lights.  After discussing the situation with Anya, Marcus decides to head for the entrance.  He doesn't want to try climbing the dangerous rubble in the dark, so he must go around the block.  This view of the facility entrance right at the start of the level provides the player with a clear focus and objective, and contributes to a satisfying conclusion when the player finally reaches his goal. 

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Paper and bottles glow intermittently
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Setting a fire




Lighting Fires

The primary new gameplay mechanic is the manipulation of light to control the Kryll.  Lacking standard frag grenades, which Marcus lost in the crash, the player finds beer and wine bottles, which he turns into Molotov cocktails.  Although these do no damage to Locusts, they can set fire to paper, providing a way of creating a lit path through areas that are not lit by streetlights.  Both the bottles and the paper have a modified material that glows periodically to ensure they are clearly visible to the player.  The paper does not burn indefinitely; this benefits the player in ensuring that the Locust can never take up a position safe from the Kryll, but also forces the player to move quickly, since there is no such position for him, either.

More details on custom grenade and burnable paper implementation are available on my Kismet scripting page.

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First Street


First Street

The first of the three streets the player must traverse to make his way around the block contains just 3 Locust drones.  This area serves as a training ground for the light manipulation mechanics, and as such is not particularly challenging.

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Aiming at a streetlight
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Shooting a streetlight
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The Kryll descend




Shooting Streetlights

In addition to creating light with the Molotovs, the player can shoot the streetlights to remove light sources.  Although the player does have the option of taking the drones head on with just the pistol, destroying lights to set the Kryll on the drones is a far more effective method of dispatching them.

Having knocked out the right streetlight, the player can sit back and let the Kryll tear up a drone who would otherwise have been safe behind cover.

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Safe room entrance
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Inside a safe room






Reaching a Safe Room

Between each street encounter, the player reaches a small "safe room", located at the corners of the facility.  These rooms provide the player with a cool down period, as the player does not need to worry about the Kryll while inside.  The rooms also contain bottles and pistol ammo.  Additionally, the emergence holes provide an indication that the Locust found on the street may have come from inside the facility.

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Second street
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Forced to advance





Second Street

The second street is significantly more dangerous than the first.  There are many more drones, some of whom, like the one in the lower image, are much more difficult to root out.

Due to the high accuracy and zoom function of the pistol, the player has the option on the first street of simply shooting out every streetlight from the far end.  This allows the player to avoid the need to advance through or into dark areas while under fire.  The second and third streets do not afford the player this luxury, however.  Several drones have taken up positions covered by streetlights that are obscured from a distance, forcing the player to get much closer in order to take them out.  The lower image provides an example of this: the building blocks line of sight to the streetlight covering the drone until the player advances to this position.

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Third street


Third Street

While the second street steps up the difficulty, the real challenge in Night of Fear comes from the third street, which includes a Troika nest at the far end.  The lights covering the Troika are concealed by pillars, so the player must quickly advance from cover to cover in order to get close enough to knock out the lights.

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Approaching the Troika
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A drone bursts out of a nearby building






Surprise

Once the player moves up toward the car that provides a clear shot on both of the Troika's covering lights, a Locust drone bursts out of a nearby building and flanks the player.  The single drone is not a huge threat, but the surprise and the need to dispatch him directly with the pistol (since he quickly moves to within cover of the same light that the player is using) provides an exciting change of pace from the indirect combat of the rest of the level.

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Ready to take out the Troika



Eliminating the Troika

Having dealt with the charging drone, the player is left with a clear shot at the lights covering the Troika nest.  Once the gunner (and any other Locust) are dead, Marcus informs Anya that he's secured the area, and she promises to send a team in to help him investigate the facility.

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The facility entrance


The End

The level ends with Marcus having reached the facility entrance at the far side of the crash site.  This ending effectively ties the level together, as it circles back to the opening of the level and the initial view of the facility entrance in the distance.  It also serves as a prelude to a possible future mission to investigate the likely Locust activity within the facility.

"Night of Fear" (Single) - The Move - 1966

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