Horizon Forbidden West
Horizon Forbidden West is a HUGE sequel to the already-enormous Horizon Zero Dawn. Designing any one part of this massive open world involves working on features that intersect with so many other game elements.
When building major levels that bridge huge parts of the game's story, that ask becomes even more challenging. At GDC 2022, Guerrilla Games senior quest designer Blake Rebouche did a breakdown of the quest "Death's Door," a major early level that propels the plot forward and introduces players to a number of key mechanics.
Death's Door took literal years to complete, and was constantly impacted by design improvements in different departments. Here's a small taste of how Rebouche and his colleagues managed all of those intersecting design challenges. Some of his solutions might help your team on their next big game.
Rebouche began work on Death's Door after its core narrative hook was locked down by the narrative team and creative director. The conceit of the level stayed mostly complete from start of work to finish.
Protagonist Aloy enters a massive bunker searching for a backup copy of an AI named Gaia. She passes through offices used by Gaia's creators, recovers the AI, but then is attacked by a new set of futuristic villains with new kinds of machine enemies. She flees the bunker, using new underwater stealth mechanics to avoid capture.
Rebouche's level design process will look familiar for seasoned hands. First, he and the team sketch out paper prototypes. Then they block out a skeleton version of the level to flesh out gameplay ideas. After that, a "first playable" version of the quest is assembled that's ready for playtest feedback. Then it's a long process of iteration and parallel development until it's time
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