Marooned is a level I designed for Prodeus (2022) about washing up on a mysterious island and fighting your way
to the top of a Lighthouse.
This map begins with an open-ended area which the player must explore while collecting 4 Runes in
order to progress, followed by a climactic fight around the outside of the lighthouse.
The level features large combat spaces to keep with Prodeus's general gameplay design and allow the player
freedom of movement. It also contains secrets for the player to find, as well as optional journal entries to
deliver bits of story and hints towards level progression.
At the time of writing, Marooned has over 550 downloads on the Prodeus workshop and maintains a 4.5/5 star
rating. The level can be found on the workshop using this code: m-JsWNoALkj4 .
Design
The level puts the player in the role of an unnamed sailor, who has escaped a shipwreck and washed up on a
mysterious island. As the player explores, they uncover more information about the island and its prominent,
intimidating lighthouse.
Combat is mostly relegated to certain areas, triggering after the player acquires a rune. I chose to minimize
incidental combat encounters to increase the sense of foreboding when not fighting. Secrets are a mix between
ones requiring the player to interact with specific objects, and spatial secrets which require the player to
explore the environment.
The map was playtested by five different people, with various degrees of FPS/Prodeus skill. Results of the testing
led me to reduce the difficulty of a few combat encounters, in particular the final fight. I also added a readable
journal entry specifically for the altar to better communicate the secondary objective (acquire runes and light
all the braziers).
Layout
The player starts on the beach, which leads into a small abandoned campsite. Once the player has collected the
rune inside the tent, the rest of the island becomes accessible. This first section of the map is semi-open,
the runes can be collected in any order.
To the west is the church, which contains the rocket launcher and a rune. Once the player leaves with the rune,
enemies appear and the player fights them outside. The churchyard is a medium-sized area, with large
boulders and the church available to be used as cover.
Behind the church is one of two entrances to the tunnels. The tunnels are filled with zombies, and once the player
navigates through, they find the quarry, which contains the plasma gun and another rune. The quarry seems like a wide-open space, but
once the rune is picked up, large fleshy pillars extend out of the floor and walls to form a combat arena with
two "floors" and tight spaces to dodge through.
Leaving the tunnels, the player comes across the altar, which is the secondary objective for the level.
Here there is a note hinting that the braziers need to be lit. The player will not have all the runes the
first time they reach here, and will continue exploring.
Eastward down a path between the altar and the campsite is a small area along the shore with a small well. Next
to the well is a bucket with a rune in it, which triggers a combat encounter where the player can acquire the arcrail
once they have killed the sniper that appears.
Once the player has all the runes, they return to the altar and light all the braziers. This triggers a difficult
combat encounter where the player has to circle strafe around the altar. The wrinkle here is that all the resources
in the arena are on the altar, so at some point the player has to find/make an opening to dive through the center
for more ammo and health.
Once combat is complete, the player is rewarded with the Mammonth pistol, and a rock wall lowers allowing them to
reach the lighthouse.
This first section is open-ended in that the player can explore at their own pace and collect runes in any order,
but it's not fully open. The intended progression around the lower section of the island is to either loop around
clockwise or counter-clockwise. The Lighthouse is always visible when outdoors, reinforcing the final goal in
the player's mind.
The lighthouse itself is on its own elevated section of the island.
The player can explore outside and inside, but not climb to the top without retrieving a key.
The final combat encounter features a large red beam emanating from the lighthouse which damages the player over
time, forcing them to keep moving at all times. The encounter is 3 waves and will require effective use of the
player's arsenal to progress. When the enemies have been defeated and the player ascends the lighthouse tower, the
level is complete.
Scripting
I used a lot of scripting on this level, both for large events as well as minor things that the player
won't consciously pay attention to most of the time.
Minor scripting includes things like the climbable ladder, journal entries, dig points, and custom pickups.
These are small details,
but custom interactibles give the level a unique feel. There are also some things happening in the background like
randomized thunder sounds and changes to the soundscape when the player goes underground/indoors that contribute
to the atmosphere.
The level also has 2 major scripted events, those being when the pillars extend out of the walls in the quarry,
and when the "eye" of the lighthouse appears and starts turning its gaze toward the player during combat.
These both serve gameplay purposes, as well as adding to the general atmosphere that there are invisible,
unknowable forces at work on the island. There are also two possible endings to the level depending on player
action, one where they destroy the light and one where they choose to enter it. Both result in short scripted
sequences that provide a dramatic conclusion to the level.