The Corrupt Bishop
A Third Person Stealth Adventure
Introduction
Details
The Idea for this level came from a top down from years ago, now actualized in a prototype. Building with a modular kit and completely revamping an old concept was two cornerstones of this project.
In this level I wanted to mainly explore stealth gameplay design, using timing and a limited ability set to promote creative use.
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Individual portfolio project
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Developed over 3 weeks half-time
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Unreal Engine 5
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Blender
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Animation Sample Project from Unreal Engine
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Animations from Mixamo
Core Features
Pitch
Play as an assassin given demonic powers, sent on a mission to kill a corrupt bishop who has been secretly working with bandits to extort his subjects for years, spreading misery and poverty across the land.
Level objective
The player has to tail the bishop through the cathedral grounds filled with the guards without being detected, which would cause the bishop to flee. Using stealth and strategic kills to avoid detection is vital until the player finds the right moment to kill the bishop without alerting all the guards who would quickly overwhelm them.
Demonic sight
The player can see living souls through walls within a certain radius. This makes it easier for them to keep track of guards and their target throughout the level.
The knife
The player's sole weapon is a knife, infused with demonic power. With this knife the player can do two different actions, stab and throw. By throwing the knife and hitting an enemy, the player locks onto their soul and teleports to their location. This allows the player to quickly relocate and plan out their assassinations in a unique way. The player can also throw the knife on interactable objects.
Overview
The Cathedral
The Park
The Monestary
Narrative
The level follows a 3-act structure, with each act introducing a new area to the player. The tension slowly rises throughout the level and reaches a climax in the third act, once the player has entered the cathedral and has to dispose all of the bishop's guards and perform the assassination.
1
2
3
4
5
6
Act 1: The Park
Act 2: The Monestary
Act 3: The Cathedral
Intensity
Walkthrough
Act 1: The Park
The level starts with the player trailing their target, the Bishop, as they infiltrate the private park grounds belonging to the monestary.
This first act foreshadows the player's long-term goal, the Cathedral, through an establishing shot, and the player has to use stealth to hide from guards and find a way to follow the Bishop into the monestary.
Establishing shot
- - - Short-term goal
- - - Mid-term goal
- - - Long-term goal
- - - Enemy
Finding a way in...
When the bishop enters the gate, it closes and locks behind him. The player now has to find another way in.
Guiding through cover
The park is presented to the player as a an open area with long sightlines. To guide the player to my intended paths, I placed covers throughout the area which breaks up the open space. These covers appeal to the player as they have a lot of refuge and they can safely navigate the area which is high priority when planning their route.
Multiple paths
This space was originally planned to be linear with the path leading the player around the space. However when testing the level, I got asked if it was possible to kill all the guards in the area, not just the ones needed to progress. This sparked the idea to give the player more agency and give the option of multiple paths, one focused on stealth and another riskier but faster path letting the player use their teleport creatively to move across the map quickly.
The treetops
The path intended for stealth leads the player to a sequence where they climb up to the treetops and jump from tree to tree, avoiding combat as much as possible. It comes as a break from the slow stealth and take downs of the beginning of the area and immerses the player in the movements of an assassin.
Act 2: The Monestary
The player leaves the open area of the park and is now entering the monestary building itself, forcing them into a more linear path in the library. The building offer less freedom in how they traverse and forces them to keep an eye on the bishop at all times. This bottlenecks the player into following a single path, as part of a hourglass design.
The library
I wanted the player to have to think about their positioning and be careful to always be aware of cover. To enforce this I created moments where the paranoid Bishop turns around and seems suspicious, as if he had heard the player.
Infiltrate the cathedral
As the Bishop enters the Cathedral, the doors close and lock behind him, forcing the player to rethink their strategy. Their new objective is to find another way into the Cathedral. The only way forward is a door to the monastery courtyard.
When the player enters the courtyard, they see a part of the cathedral tower in the midst of repair, signalling that this might be a way in. The tower is framed by the door, making sure the player sees it before they enter the new area filled with enemies. Their position by the door is a very safe spot, giving the player a lot of refuge. However, the purpose of the spot wasn't to make the player stay by the door but enter the courtyard instead so I limited the prospect, making the player have to enter and find cover to plan out their next move.
Get on the roof
To make their way up on the broken tower, the player has to plan out their assassinations to be in a position to kill the guard on the balcony, in order to get to the rooftop.
Act 3: The Cathedral
In this act, the player arrives at cathedral, the level's long-term goal.
Initial reveal
For the player to enter the cathedral, they are forced to execute a risky maneuver, which sets the tone for the rest of the encounter. From the cover placed at the player's entry point, the player can see a lot of guards that need to be killed in quick succession to avoid detection. The player needs to utilize quick thinking as soon as they begin taking down guards, as they will not get another calm moment to strategize.
An opportunity arises
Once the player has disposed of all the guards in the gallery, they are given a clear view of the bishop at the altar. They are now free to assassinate him, and make it look like an accident in front of all the people in the catheddral.
The assassination
Development Process
Inspiration
This level was based on a top down I made years ago, which I used in my application to The Game Assembly, the school I'm currently studying at. I always felt like it had a solid foundation and a lot of potential, and I wanted to explore the original idea with the skillset I've honed through my studies to see if I could create a vertical slice of a part of the original top down.
Pre-Production
I decided early on to focus only on one small section of the original top down, and this would later be reduced even further. The layout also underwent large changes from a very linear castle-like floorplan to a mixture of outdoor and indoor spaces inspired by medieval monasteries. However, the by far largest change from the original design is that the player's goal was completely flipped around. Originally the player was escaping the cathedral and the castle; in the new design the player is infiltrating it.
As I already has a setting and general vibe to adhere to, I could quickly gather references which I used to get a feel for how my revised version of the level was going to look.
Modular kit
For this level I used a modular kit I had created a while ago before I started working on this level. The kit was used to build all the buildings in the level, from the cathedral itself to the monastery buildings, and created a uniform experience.
The cathedral
With my modular kit, I had created a cathedral as a test, but to actually use it my level I had to adapt it to my needs. I wanted to add more purposeful gameplay in the cathedral so my main goal was to make it larger and adding more space for guards.
Blockout
I struggled a bit in this phase of the project as I already had one part of the level practically done (even though it would later be iterated upon) but the rest of the level was barely thought out. But once I firmly established the player's start location, I had clear sightlines to work from and could design accordingly.
Blockout to whitebox
After polishing gameplay and feeling finished with how the flow in each area felt, I could add more polished assets and color to make the level feel more alive. Taking the level from early blockout to whitebox was definitely a rewarding process.
Stealth design
I wanted stealth to be the level's primary gameplay element, and I designed all areas to enhance that experience. The placement of guards, both sentries and patrolling, needed to be carefully considered to promote stealth as well as work alongside the player's ability to teleport. Most important was making sure the player couldn't use guards to skip important moments in the level, but I also wanted for the player to use this ability creatively, to progress.
Sentries are used as a tool to control which areas the player can move in and which are completely inaccessible. Breaking the sentries' sightlines with cover creates paths for the player to take. Patrolling guards are dynamic and can both be a danger to the player if they are out in the open, but also used to create windows for the player to act. I had to make sure that the timing of the patrols and when they intersected with the player's path gave the player opportunities to act.
AI with behaviour tree
I created the AI for the guards using a simple behavior tree. For this experience I needed them to be able to patrol in a set patrol path and to detect the player. However, when I tested the AI, it felt unfair that the player got detected if they was seen even for a split second. To improve the player experience I implemented a gradual detection system built into the behavior tree and visualized as a bar above the guards' heads.
Closing Thoughts
This level was developed during a very limited time frame, forcing me to be very aware of my scope and focus on the most important aspects of the level. Having developed the AI and player abilities from scratch has been a very fun lesson and designing my level around features I know very well has definitely aided me in how I wanted the design to look.
If I had had more time I would have revisited the areas included in the level and and experimented with how I could increase player agency and give the player more choices in where to go. I also would have loved to add an escape sequence after the player has completed their assassination with more high tempo pacing.
Overall, I am happy with how much I accomplished within such a small timeframe considering how many changes I made from the original design. But I also feel that there are many things that could be explored and expanded upon in this concept so I would love to pick this level up again, or use the same template for another level in the same universe.