Cabin Fever - Forest Finale

Position: Level Designer

Engine: Hammer Level Editor

Development Time: 3 months

Team Size: 4 Designers

Project Synopsis: Forest Finale is the final of four levels to a custom Left 4 Dead co-op campaign: Cabin Fever. It was created as a part of a 4-person collaborative project.

The campaign is centered around escaping a rural town and heading towards the nearby forest. Were players right to try and hide in the isolated woods? Or are they in for much more than they’ve bargained for?

Cabin+Overview.jpg
 

Key Features:

  • Fully Scripted Finale Level with animations and voice line conveyance

  • 270-degree defense in a unique finale aesthetic.

  • Carefully crafted AI spawns to create a dramatic encounter.

  • Highly destructible Cabin to create dynamic defense locations.

Design Goals

Dark Atmosphere

As this was the finale level, I wanted there to be a sense of tension as players made their way to the house. To accomplish this, I used several tricks such as limited lighting and wide spawning areas for zombies to create constant tension and less-grouped enemies.

However, I also used heavily limited sight-lines and a sharp winding layout to support this through the level design as well. In supporting Left 4 Dead’s core design, finale levels are typically shorter in navigational length given the long combat sequence that occurs, so I had to make sure I was efficient in this regard.

Destructible Interior

One of my goals was to create a finale where everything feels like its truly gone to hell just as rescue finally arrives.

I spent a lot of time both on the upstairs, and downstairs areas of the cabin to create defensible locations and resource collecting loops for players to engage in throughout the finale.

However, as time goes on, many of these areas begin to break apart: glass windows, doorways, tables & props, and even entire walls can be targeted by the zombies and broken down to create new entry points and paths of movement.

I think this combined nicely with Left 4 Dead’s finale structure as players can more noticeably see changes in the environment throughout the finale.