Outpost Infiltration - Level Design
A gameplay-focused level designed in Unreal Engine 5, combining exploration, traversal, navigation, and encounter design.
Role
Level Designer
Engine
Unreal Engine 5
Project Type
Personal Project
Duration
August 15-20, 2026
Project Overview
This project was created to design a gameplay-focused experience with a strong focus on player navigation and encounter design. The level is built around multiple gameplay sections, each offering different challenges and ways for the player to interact with the environment.
The experience starts with a cave infiltration, followed by a parkour and puzzle section, then transitions into a large outdoor exploration area before leading into the final outpost infiltration. Each section is designed to create a different gameplay experience while maintaining multiple approaches as a core focus throughout the level.
Design Focus:
Player Navigation · Encounter Design · Exploration · Traversal · Multiple Approaches
Level Design Plan
This plan was created during the initial design phase to establish the overall player progression, major landmarks, enemy placement, points of interest, and potential navigation routes. I used it as a reference throughout the development of the level.
References and inspiration
1. The Last of Us
Studied how Naughty Dog creates a strong sense of exploration and spatial freedom within fundamentally linear levels.
2. Caves
References for using lighting to guide the player toward the main path, creating multiple routes for exploration, and using natural terrain elevation to establish progression.
1. Cave - Initial Blockout
After finishing my first level design pass for the cave and testing it multiple times, there were some elements clearly missing: verticality, which was not being used at all, and too many empty spaces that could be used to create interesting gameplay scenarios.
Cave - Second Pass
So I started adding steps that could be used as climbing points, and they also helped break the line of sight of multiple patrols, making the navigation more diverse and fun. They also created different encounter situations, which made the level design more interesting overall.
After that, I added some steps with different rotations on the ground to break the affordance, making the navigation feel more like a cave and making the main path clearer to follow.
Cave - Final Pass
The final pass was to add multiple new ways of interacting with the current level design, including different paths, cover, and some parkour areas. This created a more complete level design with multiple ways of approaching it.
3. Wilderness - Initial Blockout
After setting up the basic blockout layout and testing it multiple times, there were some major elements missing. There was not enough cover, not enough ways to navigate, not enough opportunities for stealth eliminations, and the player was getting caught too easily before having the chance to engage in a stealth attack.
Wilderness - Second Pass
The first issue I encountered was that there was not enough cover to pass through and properly integrate the area. I was getting caught before even entering the area, so I added a container that blocked access to the second door while also completely blocking the line of sight of multiple patrols that were making it difficult to enter.
I also added a second path for a less direct and more stealthy approach.
This created different paths for different gameplay styles. You have the middle entrance if you want to be more aggressive, or a more stealthy approach that gives you enough time to understand your surroundings.
Wilderness - Final Pass
For the final pass, with the current area design, I was starting to get something more interesting and elaborate, but I was still missing some major elements and having issues with patrol line of sight and timing for an engaging stealth gameplay approach. This is why I added multiple cover positions, updated the patrol movement timing to create better windows for stealth eliminations, and added new opportunities for a more aggressive approach with high-ground possibilities.
4. Outdoor Exploration - Initial Blockout
For this area, it was pretty straightforward. I wanted to create an area focused on exploration to give the player a break from the multiple encounters and prepare for the final outpost infiltration. I created an area with multiple branches to maintain the multiple approach possibilities that were a main focus of my level.
Outdoor Exploration - Second pass
For the second pass, the area was still too flat and was missing a bit of chaos to better fit the actual level design environment. This also added some environmental storytelling to the area, making it the perfect opportunity to introduce it within an exploration-focused section.
Outdoor Exploration - Final Pass
The final pass was focused on adding multiple new environmental elements, making the exploration more interesting, and adding interactables such as chests, notes, and containers to make the exploration area feel more complete. This also introduced additional types of rewards and objectives beyond simply exploring.
5. Outpost - Initial Blockout
The initial blockout of the outpost area is focused on establishing the main elements that make this area different from the others and explain why it is a harder and more intense part of the level. The main focus is the outpost itself, with patrols and guards watching from each tower. This makes the infiltration and the way the player interacts with the environment completely different, creating a more interesting challenge.
The outpost is located far from the player's starting location, and the player has to navigate through multiple guards and obstacles before reaching the final area and gaining access to the outpost.
The main difficulty in this area is creating an environment with enough cover, well-designed patrol paths, and appropriate timing for stealth eliminations, all while preventing the player from being detected by the other guards. This requires careful management of line of sight, timing, and environmental structures to keep the encounter fair and engaging while offering different approaches.
Outpost - Second Pass
The second pass focuses on updating some patrol paths and timing, as well as adding different types of cover to increase the possibilities for stealth eliminations and a more aggressive gameplay approach.
There is not enough cover to move from one position to another without getting caught or having enough time to do something valuable, such as eliminating a guard or reaching a new position. The right side of the area is mainly missing cover and environmental structures. After multiple tests, the situation is improving, but some additional cover and further adjustments to the patrol timing are still needed.
Outpost - Final Pass
The final pass is focused on adding more cover in certain areas, not only low cover but also high cover, to fully block the line of sight of the guards in each tower, even when I am not crouching. At the same time, this adds new cover opportunities for long-range aggressive gameplay.
After some testing, some patrols need timing and positioning updates to better fit with all the new environmental structures that have been added.
