Ubisoft NEXT 2022 - Unreal Engine 5

 

What is Ubisoft Next?

Ubisoft Next is an annual design challenge for Game design students based in Ontario, the 1st place student of each category is offered an apprenticeship position at Ubisoft, the Challenge has 6 different categories: 3D Art, Animation, Programming, Level Design, Technical Art and Concept Art.

This Submission for level Design category made it to the final round of the 2022 challenge and was created using the Unreal engine.

Foundations:

 

The submission I created involved making a level contained in an open-world scenario, a smaller mission in a larger story to allow players to cut their teeth and test their new skills before a major story event. A great example of this type of mission would be in a game like Watchdogs 2 or the Far cry games where an NPC gives the player a side mission to complete for skill points, money or other resources.

Example of a side mission location in watchdogs 2, a parking lot and small building that tasks the player with stealing something from the back of a delivery truck

Generally, side mission locations such as these are quick and condensed spaces that give players opportunities to use their skills more creatively than a planned story mission, they let the player approach the area from multiple different entrances and achieve the simple objectives in multiple ways.

Example of a side mission in watchdogs 2

How the example level includes multiple entrances, and affords multiple playstyles

 An objective in Watchdogs 2 may be to hack a ctOS terminal, the player could solve the challenge set before them in a multitude of ways:

  • stealthily knock out the guards with a melee attack.

  • pilot a drone into the objective zone and hack via the lower port.

  • Remotely detonate electrical panels and steam pipes to distract and incapacitate the guards.

  • Go in loud with guns blazing.

 

All of these approaches are valid, Ideally the space should be designed to accommodate most forms of attack, including Cameras, drone vents, electrical panels, cover pieces, shadows and doorways, the goal of my submission is to act as one of those side mission locations.

 

My Submission:

 
 

The submission I made for Ubisoft NEXT 2022 tasked the player with breaking into a vehicle development lab, stealing sub-assembly plans and creating a master blueprint to then steal for a client. A full breakdown of the full mission breakdown including Map overviews, references, playstyle walkthroughs and added mechanics can be found in the mission design document that can be accessed as a PDF from the button to the right.

 

Level Overview

 

The first floor Map Overview, containing both an administration building and a larger main Lab area

Each photo shows where it is located on the overview diagram, the colours on the textures correspond to the colours in the boxes.

the Green area - the Bodywork area

the Blue area - the Suspension area

the Red area - the Engine area

Memorable Features:

 

The Conveyor belt system

 

This is a custom scripted system used to convey the player around the level and even gives them a cover piece they can use to avoid the sight lines of enemies.

I feel this mechanic is a memorable feature that players can associate this level specifically too, allowing it to stand out and adding more movement options and enemy avoidance strategies to a typical stealth game.