Londor

Solo Project ● Unreal Engine Block-out

FULL Playthrough

About the Level

  • Responsibilities: Designed, scripted, sequenced, iterated on, and playtested a DLC level for Dark Souls III based on the story location, Londor.

  • Software Used: Unreal Engine 5.7, Photoshop, Illustrator, Perforce, Miro

  • Asset Packs Used: Essential Great Sword Animation Pack (player animations and animation blueprint), Boss Enemy Animation Pack (strong melee enemy attack animations), Ultra Dynamic Sky (skybox)

  • Designed and scripted a custom gameplay pack from scratch

  • ~24 minutes of gameplay with varied pacing and combat encounters

Design Intentions

  • Create a DLC-style level featuring numerous combat encounters, multiple unique settings, and a side quest that alters the level ending

  • Improve scripting, in-engine modeling, and level sequencing skills

  • Use composition to create visually striking moments throughout the level

  • Design a boss and arena that fit the level’s aesthetic and complement the gameplay template

  • Develop a storyline that fits the themes of Dark Souls III and communicate it through gameplay, environmental storytelling, and NPC dialogue

  • Replicate the feel of Dark Souls III by scripting a full gameplay template from scratch, including enemy AI, player/enemy damage systems, item pickups, and spell casting

Layout and Area Breakdown

Area 1 - Hollow village

  1. Pinching
    Spaces compress before encounters and expand during combat to control pacing and movement

  2. Shortcut Door
    A shortcut door reconnects the critical path to a previous bonfire, rewarding progression and reducing backtracking

  3. Poison Pools
    Small poison hazards introduce the mechanic and foreshadow the upcoming swamp

  4. Optional Paths
    Side paths with item pickups encourage exploration

  5. Blocked Spaces
    Fenced-off areas extend the village’s perceived scale without increasing gameplay scope

  6. Building Layout
    Stacked structures create verticality while reinforcing the decay present in Dark Souls III

Area 2 - Swamp

  1. Poison Hazard
    Widespread poison creates sustained pressure, forcing players to choose between rushing through and managing health or moving carefully to avoid buildup

  2. Wide-Open Layout
    Multiple traversable routes create an open layout, encouraging exploration and varied approaches

  3. Affordances
    Large fires serve as affordances to guide the player along the critical path

  4. Environmental Storytelling
    The swamp reads as a collapsed section of the Hollow Village, reinforcing world cohesion

Area 3 - Londor City

  1. Overlook
    An overlook frames the level’s start, giving the player a clear sense of their progress

  2. Figure-Eights
    Negative-space figure-eights allow for player agency and dynamic combat encounters

  3. Unlockable Ladder Shortcut
    A ladder shortcut connects the end of the city to the beginning, providing a quicker route to the boss if the player dies

  4. Secret Ending
    A branching path leads to an NPC who can trigger an alternate ending, rewarding thorough exploration

  5. Boss Encounter
    The level culminates in a boss fight against Liliane, previously referenced by NPCs

Blueprints

View the rest of the custom gameplay pack and supporting Blueprints created for this level below.

Go

Enemy Spawner (Actor Blueprint)

Features

  • Spawns enemies at a designated target point in the level

    • Moving the target point automatically updates the spawn location, allowing for rapid iteration.

Player Combat - Actor Blueprint Component

Features

  • Sword traces for melee attacks

  • Enemy lock-on system

  • Spell casting mechanics

Enemy - Character Blueprint

Features

  • Sword traces for melee combat

  • Enemy AI behavior

  • Implemented animations

  • Spell casting for ranged enemies

  • Multiple animations and bleed buildup for strong enemies

  • Enemy health bar that updates in real time

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Design Process

My goal for this level was to design and block out a DLC area for Dark Souls III set in the Londor story location, while also developing a gameplay pack to support it. I began by creating a Miro board to document the level's flow and collect both external and in-game references to establish its setting and narrative direction. When designing the initial top-down map, I drew on Dark Souls III’s design pillars and existing levels to shape the spaces, ranging from winding streets to open swamplands.

Initial Layout

Reference Board

Londor is an established but unseen location in Dark Souls III, described as a highly religious land with Gothic-influenced architecture. My references focus on Gothic design as well as existing Dark Souls III areas (like the Undead Settlement and the various swamplands in the game) to create varied environments within the level.

Metrics

After creating my map and Miro board, my next step was to finalize the metrics for my level, such as door, wall, and stair dimensions. To do this, I created a metrics gym to help establish the measurements I would be using.

Some metrics include:

  • Player walk/jog speed - 4.2 m/s

  • Player run speed - 6.5 m/s

  • Small doorway - 2.1 m tall x 1.2 m wide

  • Medium doorway - 2.8 m tall x 2.2 m wide

  • Large doorway - 5.6 m tall x 4.4 m wide

  • Small wall height - 3 m

  • Medium wall height - 7.5 m

  • Giant wall height - 18 m

  • Stair dimensions - 0.2 m tall x 0.3 m deep

  • Max distance the player can run through swamp water before getting poisoned - 56 m

Iterations

Improving early level flow

Old

  • Long, flat bridge led to a lack of gameplay variety

  • Sudden 90° turn into an elevator felt unintuitive and was easy to miss, hurting navigation clarity

  • Large looping progression disrupted pacing and made the level feel less cohesive

New

  • The bridge run is shorter and includes more varied gameplay

    • An NPC interaction occurs at the beginning of the bridge to introduce the narrative

    • Broken bridge segments require the player to drop between sections, creating more engaging gameplay

  • Removed abrupt directional change in favor of more intuitive navigation

  • Level flow is more natural, with the player primarily progressing in the same direction through the space

Clarifying the Critical Path

Old

  • Exit view only framed the bonfire shortcut path, hiding the critical path and limiting player awareness

  • Ladder (critical path) was not immediately visible, making progression unclear

  • Required players to turn around and re-enter the building, relying on backtracking for discovery

  • Key progression element was easily missed due to lack of visual guidance and poor spatial communication

New

  • Exit view now reveals both the ladder and shortcut path, improving clarity of available routes

  • Placed an item inside the shortcut building to intentionally draw attention to that path

    • In Dark Souls III, visible items often signal optional paths, subtly suggesting that the ladder is the critical route

  • If the player takes the ladder first, they reach an overlook that reveals a previous area near the Hollow Village bonfire

  • A small walkway with an item draws the player toward the edge of the overlook

    • From this position, the player can directly see the Hollow Village bonfire

    • This reinforces the spatial connection of the level and hints that the alternate path will open the shortcut door the player saw earlier if it hasn’t already been accessed

Streamlined area transitions

Old

  • Transition area was a crypt with a bonfire and three enemy-filled rooms, which introduced a setting that didn’t logically connect to the surrounding areas

  • Repetitive room layouts led to predictable and less engaging gameplay

  • Setting did not logically align with its placement, weakening world cohesion

  • Relatively short length made the space feel underdeveloped and lacking purpose

New

  • Removed the crypt entirely to eliminate thematic inconsistency

  • Replaced with a short hallway to create a more direct transition

  • Simplified transition improves flow, pacing, and maintains forward momentum between areas

  • More grounded and context-appropriate connection strengthens overall level cohesion

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