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The Time Loop
A Third person stealth level
Summary
A stealth experience that integrates pacing, evolving gameplay, and environmental storytelling to create an immersive and surreal experience.
the Goal
The goal of this level was to create a PT-like looping experience by iterating upon the same base level layout, creating three immersive levels that build a complete experience.
Pitch
"Trapped in a time loop, evade enemies using your environmental knowledge. As you progress, your surreal surroundings present new challenges."
Specifications
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Solo project
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6 weeks half time (4 hours/day)
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Unreal Engine 5.4
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Gameplay by me in Unreal Blueprints
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Assets
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Made by me in Blender
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Blockout Starter Pack
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Game Animation Sample Project
design presentation
Don't feel like reading? Sit back and enjoy the summarized video version of this page.
Overview
Act 1
Act 2
Act 3
Same space, 3 ways
This level takes place in a children's hospital, bringing the player through the same space three times.
The level transforms with each act, bringing new challenges and raising the tension. What the player learns about the space in Act 1 can be used to progress in Act 3.
Each act contains several recognizable areas that the player returns to. The key ones are:
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The Hallway: Sets the scene and establishes the atmosphere.
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The Waiting Room: Where the significant stealth encounters are.
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The Exit: The player's goal, where the time loop resets.
Act 3
Act 2
Act 1
The Hallway
The waiting room
The Exit
(Click images to enlarge)
Walkthrough & Design
ACT 1
Establishing the level
Act 1 provides a mental mapping opportunity for the player, allowing them to roam around and explore while guiding them to observe things that will aid them in Acts 2 and 3.
An important aspect of Act 1 is that it sets up the player's goal: the exit door.
It also establishes a comforting atmosphere through its colorful well-lit interior and peaceful npcs.
1. The hallway
2. The waiting room
3. The exit
Focal points
To make each area memorable for later acts, inspiration was drawn from CS:GO callouts: visual features that help the players orient themselves. This meant that there should always be at least one focal point in each room that the player remembers and can identify later on.
The goal
Through exploration of Act 1, the player registers the main path they need to take to progress. They also establish a goal to reach: The Exit door, where the loop resets.
ACT 2
wait, I'm back here?
After reaching the exit door in Act 1, the player is teleported back to the patient room, where they started, resetting the loop and initiating Act 2.
Upon exiting the patient room the second time, the bright interior of Act 1 is juxtaposed with a grim view of the hallway. Through environmental storytelling, the player can understand that the area is now unsafe.
1. The hallway
2. The waiting room
3. The exit
Environmental storytelling
In Act 2, environmental storytelling shows the player that the area is now dangerous. Enemies are introduced at a safe distance while connecting them to the massacre in the hallway.
Foreshadowing
In Act 1, the player is guided through visual cues to observe the nurse's reception door. Just as they pass, the door swings open, drawing attention by movement.
The same door becomes important in Act 2 where the player must now sneak through the reception to avoid enemies.
The door foreshadowing in Act 1 and a strategically placed bed in Act 2 naturally guide the player into entering the reception area.
Was that door there before?
In Act 2, an element of the surrealness of Act 3 was introduced through a bait and switch, aimed to make the player question their mental mapping.
After completing Act 1, the player knows which door to reach in order to progress. They are baited into sneaking to the door, only to find it locked.
Upon turning to face the room, the player sees a door with a flickering light above it. As displayed in the video, the door only appears after the player attempts to open the locked door, creating a bait and switch.
The door leads to a janitor's closet. Inside, the player can grab a key to unlock the path ahead.
ACT 3
1. The hallway
2. The waiting room
The final act
As the player reaches the exit in Act 2, they are again brought back to the beginning, initiating Act 3. The level has turned surreal and is slowly breaking apart, which both hinders and aids the player's progression.
In Act 2, the player could progress at their own pace; however, in Act 3, they will be forced to follow the pace of the level.
3. The exit
Subverting expectations
Each time the loop resets, the player will face something new - contrasting what they have seen before and subverting expectations.
Act 1
Act 2
Act 3
Rewarding exploration
In Act 1 or 2, the player may be drawn to a door highlighted by compositional techniques, only to find it leads to a bathroom.
In Act 3, however, the same door will be the way forward after the floor has collapsed. This creates an aha! moment and rewards exploration.
Changing the pace through design
In Act 3, the deteriorating environment changes gameplay significantly. Players can no longer use the same cover options as in Act 2. In the waiting room, covers now float around the large tree in the center of the area.
The floating covers force the player to move at the pace of the level, contrasting the stealth in Act 2.
Providing the player with a cover can, in turn, raise the tension by removing it from them when they don't expect it. In this example, the cover floats away to where the player cannot follow, forcing them to act quickly to find another cover.
Development
The process
Paper to blockout
After researching real hospital floor-plans, I created a mind-map of rooms I wanted and the general placement of each room in the level, in order to visualize the progression.
I did some concepting on paper, then moved to Figma in order to easily move around and adjust the top-down.
Then, it was time to start blocking out in Unreal.
turning one level into three
When beginning my blockout process, I like to build using the grid.
Since each level had the same base layout, I allowed others to playtest early to ensure a good flow before developing Acts 2 and 3.
For Act 3, it was interesting getting to "destroy" the level I had just created.
Keeping it simple
For this project, I kept the blockout simple while still conveying a clear theme.
Modular solutions
In Act 3, I needed a flexible blueprint for the floating objects that allowed for easy mesh swaps. I developed a modular solution that enabled quick changes in real time. The blueprint can be set to move along the spline continuously or be activated by a collision box for a tailored experience.
player gym
I created a gym where I could test features and metrics before implementing them into the levels.
Since I was making an indoor level with a third-person camera, I built a prototype room in order to determine my metrics and ensure that rooms and doorways were spacious enough.
As my level contains stealth, I included a section where I could make sure that my covers followed the same standard metrics.
Liminal spaces & juxtaposition
Act 3
Where it all started
This whole project started with me researching liminal spaces and how to achieve them.
A liminal space is often relatable yet uncanny, like a familiar hospital corridor that is completely void of people or has too many doors.
Reference image
Act 1
Reference image
Reference image
Juxtaposition through architecture
Juxtaposition is a large part of creating a liminal space. Blending two things that don't usually go together.
I knew I wanted to create a colorful children's hospital environment, but to instill a sense of unease in the player, I took inspiration from the brutalist architectural style.
A warm, colorful children's hospital enclosed in cold, harsh shapes of concrete felt like a fitting location for this project.
Iterative design
Before
The door problem
The door problem emerged when I was playtesting, and testers would go up to every door to check if it was interactable since they all looked the same.
This made it hard to gauge how an authentic playthrough would look, without the door confusion.
After looking at references of hospital doors,
I modeled a door with glass panels.
While non-interactable doors would have frosted glass, interactable doors would be see-through, allowing the player to see what is on the other side. That way, players would not be afraid to enter rooms because potential enemies might spot them.
This also allowed me to highlight important doors by shining light through them.
After
After
After
breaking the pattern
Another change I made during the process was incorporating the bait-and-switch puzzle in Act 2. This addition introduced a surreal aspect (preparing for Act 3) and broke the player's progression pattern from Act 1 to Act 2.
Act 1 player path
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Act 2 player path
full playthrough
Closing Thoughts
This has definitely been one of the most enjoyable projects I have worked on, and I am proud that I accomplished my goal of creating a surreal gameplay experience.
If I had more time, I would have liked to create more non-linear options for the player during stealth encounters. I would have incorporated an hourglass design to give the player more agency in certain areas while tailoring a complete, immersive experience.
Before this project, I had not designed many strictly indoor environments, which was a fun challenge and something I learned a lot from. I feel like I succeeded in creating an interesting flow by introducing new gameplay elements as the player progressed and engaging the player through setting up wow-moments. Overall, I am very pleased with the result I achieved.
Thanks so much for reading!
/Nora
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