Khazad-dûm
Full playthrough at the bottom of the page
Engine: Unreal 5.3
Genre: 3rd Person MMORPG
Team size: Solo
Duration: 1 week
Tools: Figma, Miro, Unreal Modeling Tools, Blueprints, Flexible Combat System Framework, Git.
Brief: A reimagination of the Mines of Moria from Lord of the Rings as a World of Warcraft Dungeon
Learning Objective: Build a level from concept art, work with an established IP, work quickly within a tight deadline (1 week).
Case Study: Building a level for virality
The problem: No one knew who I was. I was a recently graduated game design student in an apocalyptic job market with no published work. How to standout? I needed to make a level that would go viral on social media.
Approach: I studied the most viral level design projects on social media. In particular, I noticed a trend of Star Wars third person shooter levels that were extremely popular. These levels used geometry rooted in the Star Wars IP that made them easily recognizable at a glance and they followed pacing and plot structures would be familiar to fans.
Solution: I considered also making a Star Wars level, but I pushed myself to identify an IP that was as iconic as Star Wars, but more authentic to myself and my skills. I picked WoW style dungeon because it features an easily recognizable level structure: 3-5 bosses, each with a distinct dungeon district. I chose Moria because of its iconic architecture and because I already owned a relevant asset pack that I could use for hero assets. Production efficiency is a key trait for a level designer after all.
Result: This project became a top 5 post all-time on the level design Subreddit. I went from 113 LinkedIn followers to almost 500, a nearly 450% increase! Ever since, people have known me as "The Moria Guy." The project became iconic.
Pre-Production
I started by identifying a piece of key art to act as the level's center piece.
I also picked out a few of the most iconic locations to recreate.
Next, I identified the major beats from the movies and converted those into gameplay segments and added my own twist to keep players on their toes.
The big challenge with the original 3 beats was the Exploration/What Happened Here beat. As a WoW Dungeon, players will be playing through this level dozens of times, so I decided to keep the exploration section very short to avoid tedium on repeated playthroughs and I introduced combat much earlier than in the movies. However, I use natural cave shapes in the exploration phase to give it a distinct, adventurous feel.
Based on these beats and locations, I planned out a 2D map of the level.
Production
I started by kit-bashing key architectural pieces like these bridges, columns, and arches.
Next, I blocked out the level's center piece.
As I was blocking out the Goblin Caves, I encountered a problem. As you can see from the original layout in pink, when players approached the boss before the Main Hall, they couldn't actually see the door to the Main Hall, which could lead to some confusion.
I solved this by making the path longer and adding two 90 degree turns, so when the critical path approaches the Main Hall door, the door is clearly framed behind the boss.
This iteration also created a cool opportunity. I was able to use the original path as a window to foreshadow a future encounter to the player.
Dungeon Districts
The dungeon features 5 distinct regions, each with their own boss.
Goblin Caves with Goblin Chieftain boss
The goblin caves are a traditional linear MMORPG dungeon experience.
Space is cramped, but players can engage enemies at their own pace.
This segment starts with an exploration beat, featuring a vista point to the level's finale.
Players must battle through small goblin encampments to reach the Main Hall.
Risk / Reward
Players can pull these goblins onto this landing to avoid the patrol that visits this encampment. However, players risk falling off into the chasm below due to the constrained combat space.
Knowledge Expression
An experienced or exploratory player will discover that you can skip the encounter on the left by jumping over the rocks on the right. However, by skipping this encounter, players will have to be careful not to aggro the skipped enemies when fighting the boss.
Main Hall with Cave Troll boss
The Main Hall gives players freedom to choose their own path through the goblins.
The massive cavern is a strong contrast to the cramped goblin caves.
Main Hall Enemy Distribution and Patrols
This layout gives different risk/reward possibilities based on the route players take and experienced players can identify the routes with the least enemies or easiest encounters.
This allows Mythic+ players flexibility in building their routes and can allow teams to pick more aggressive routes to push faster times or take easier, but longer routes if they're struggling.
Balin's Tomb with Balin's Ghost boss
In Balin's Tomb players must survive an ambush from the undead.
The fast paced attacks contrast with previous encounters in which players could approach at their leisure.
When players enter Balin's Tomb, they are locked in and have to fight off waves of undead before fighting Balin's Ghost.
This isn't how the movie played out, why did I make this change?
1. I wanted more enemy variety - it is boring to only fight goblins in this dungeon
2. It would require new animations to fit the cave troll through the tomb entrance and I wanted to keep scope under control
3. I didn't want the level to be completely predictable, and I think this encounter feels like defending the tomb from the goblins in the movie. Don't worry, I've kept the iconic "They've got a cave troll!" moment, it's just a little bit later.
Keeping Players Engaged while Backtracking
When players escape the tomb, the goblins have rallied and now a squad of goblins and a cave troll block the players path, so players remain engaged with a new objective while backtracking to the center of the Main Hall.
Dwarven Halls with Goblin Fire Warden boss
In the Dwarven Halls, players must decide which route to take
as the advancing Balrog pushes them to progress quickly
Unique Mechanic: Balrog's Advance
Once players slay the Cave Troll, the Balrog is awakened. Players must keep ahead of the Balrog or they will die. This adds a great sense of urgency leading up to the level's finale. It also poses an interesting question to players:
Risk / Reward: An Optional Boss
When players enter the Dwarven Halls, they must kill a Goblin Fire Warden to break the flame seal on the door, but players will notice there is a second entrance up to the right. Players have a choice here: enter the shorter bottom floor for a faster path to the final boss or take the longer top floor leading to an optional boss with awesome loot. Players can make this decision based on how the run has gone so far, if they're struggling they'll take the bottom floor, but if they're doing well, they can risk the top floor for added challenge. The top floor is longer with more encounters, which puts players at more risk of dying to the Balrog's Advance mechanic.
Bridge of Khaza-dum with Balrog boss
At the Bridge of Khaza-dum, players reach the vista that was teased at the level's start
and then they come face to face with the terrifying Balrog.
Players emerge from the Dwarven Halls and find themselves at the iconic Bridge of Khazd-dum, which they saw at the beginning of the level. As they approach the bridge, flames trap them on the bridge and the Balrog attacks!
Retrospective
If I was to do this project again, I'd give players more choices to make for Mythic+ routes. There are only three major decision points in this level (an encounter skip in Goblin Caves, the entire Main Hall, and the choice of route when entering the Dwarven Halls), as such players will probably optimize a route very quickly, whereas having a few more variables could make things more interesting. Adding some more optional encounters in the goblin caves and widening the Dwarven Halls to allow players to chose between pulls would achieve these goals.
I would also create more opportunities for AoE specializations.
I was really surprised at how quickly I was able to work on this project because of how strongly defined the artistic, architectural, and narrative vision was. It demonstrated the immense value of a strong creative vision.
Want to work with me?
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Full Playthrough
(Alternate route starts at 12:03 minutes)