Desert Ruins: The Trials

Level Design Exercise: Desert Ruins: The Trials

 

Concept & Environment Design

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Set in a sprawling desert ruin beneath a scorching sun, the level blends crumbling sandstone architecture with the eerie glow of an enchanted oasis. The environment is divided into three distinct zones:

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• The Oasis: A green oasis surrounded by the remains of a lost civilization. Players must collect four sacred pearls hidden in this area to unlock the temple’s first door.

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• The Market: A maze of pillars and shattered statues guarded by four giant Anubis guardians that patrol fixed routes. Players must activate a pressure plate by moving a block on top of it to activate the platform that allows them to access the next zone.

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• The Temple Courtyard: The old gardens, a serene sanctum centered on a magical fountain. Players redirect water through ancient waterways to unlock the final door.

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• The Oasis Sanctum: The resting place of the Life Calix that spews infinite water.

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The oasis serves as both a narrative focal point and a visual contrast to the arid ruins, with bioluminescent plants and glowing water hinting at supernatural forces.

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Design Intentions​

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• Stealth-Driven Tension: Use the Anubis guardians’ patrol patterns and sound-based distraction mechanics (e.g., making noise) to create moments of calculated risk.

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• Nonlinear Exploration: Scatter pearls across the Oasis to encourage players to experiment with evasion routes and hidden paths.

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• Escalating Complexity: Progress from stealth-focused pearl collection to physics-based puzzles (stone slab) and platforming challenges, culminating in the strategic water-redirecting puzzle.

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• Environmental Contrast: juxtapose the oppressive guardians’ presence with the oasis’ tranquility to amplify the payoff of discovery.

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Core Mechanics

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• Anubis Guardians:

  • Patrol predefined paths, stopping to investigate sounds (e.g., footsteps on gravel, player-made noises).

  • Use UE5’s AI Behavior Trees for patrol logic and sight detection.

  • Players must time movements and distractions to avoid being caught.

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• Sacred Pearls:

  • Glow faintly to aid visibility, hidden in niches, atop pillars, or behind breakable walls.

  • Randomized scattering of the Pearls.

  • Collecting all four unlocks the first door via a scripted animation (stones retract, revealing the courtyard).

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• Stone Slab Puzzle:

  • Push the slab across the courtyard onto a pressure plate, triggering platform ascension.

  • Guardians patrol the area, forcing players to pause, hide, or distract during pushes.

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• Oasis Water Puzzle:

  • Rotate levers to redirect water flow through channels, filling basins to lower the final door.

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Responsibilities

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• Level Design & Layout: Structured zones to balance stealth, puzzles, and platforming.

• Puzzle Design: Designed the puzzles in the fortress, stone pilar location, and water-redirection logic.

• Art Collaboration: Worked with artists to decide the location of the assets, oasis flora, glowing water VFX, outline shaders for the guardians and nyagara systems for the water and light beams.

• Playtesting: Tweaked sound distraction radius, and adjusted puzzle difficulty based on feedback.

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Final Experience

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The tension peaks in the The Market, where pushing the slab requires strategic distractions and precise platforming. Finally, the Oasis Sanctum offers a cerebral payoff: redirecting water in a shimmering chamber, evading the last guardian as the final door grinds open.