Chris Brady

Design

The level follows the story of Bog Man, a brutish man living in the depths of a poison swamp, who rises up to take action against the irritating noises of the industrial hellscape above him.

It includes various traditional Quake encounters, such idle enemies waiting for the player or scripted spawns, but also breaks things up with more uniquely scripted setpieces.

The level was playtested in two rounds by a total of 5 different people. Post-testing adjustments involved both minor adjustments like tweaking of resources/enemies and bug fixing, as well as larger overhauls to setpieces and sequencing.

Layout and Routing

The player's movement throughout this level is a constant ascension, challenging the player with uphill battles and giving a sense of consistent progress.

Progression is entirely linear, though the space of the level layers the path over itself several times, creating a more believable, imageable space than would be accomplished with a series of winding corridors.

Level secrets are primarily spacial, and players will find them by poking their heads into areas off the beaten path or being observant of out-of-reach areas that they can seek entrance to. In order to support completionists, players can backtrack from any part of the level and are even supported by one major unlockable shortcut.

Even arenas with less scripting are still designed to be memorable setpieces. In one part, the player travels across the top of a narrow train, using containers for cover. In another, the player navigates a cave via tall structures overlooking a swamp area that is secretly accessible.

Encounters and Scripting

This level includes various traditional Quake encounters, involving idle enemies waiting for the player or scripted spawns, but also breaks things up with more uniquely scripted setpieces.

The first of these setpieces is immediate. The player is locked into a quarantine inside the swamp until they kill all zombies in the area. In Quake, zombies can only be killed by explosion. Fortunately, a grenade launching ogre sits in an overseer-like tower above. The player can obtain the grenade launcher by either shooting out supports from the tower or by brute force shooting the ogre.

Another scripted setpiece comes later, when the player gets locked into an arena space and beast-like enemies are dropped from pods hanging from the ceiling in waves. Each wave is preluded by flashing lights and a booming countdown, which I hacked together in Quake's limited toolset by making the pods non-moving doors and having them repeat their open/close noise.

Towards the end, a scripted setpiece involves doors along a wall opening to reveal enemies. When all enemies from a single door are killed, another opens with stronger enemies. Once all enemies are killed, a door slowly lifts open to reveal the final area.

The finale setpiece places the player in a pitch black room full of pillars, with a roster of difficult enemies, the hardest of which, the Shambler, creates a light source when it uses its ranged attack. Lights turn on and off in a circle rotation over time, revealing health kits as they do. Due to visibility difficulties, players are prodded into following this chain of alternating light sources in order to see enemies, keeping them on their feet.