Assassin's Creed Valhalla [Personal Project] (2020)

STEP 1 : FIRST MAP LAYOUT

For the first step of the project I gathered as much info, screenshots from this historical period from different places in the world. I've started to see how Vikings lived, how their villages were organized and made additional researches about historical evolutions of cities and villages at this period of time. With those findings, I've created a first map layout with the main ideas : A village, close to sea, with nature around and a military outpost at the back of the map which has authority over the village.

STEP 2 : CREATE A LANDSCAPE IN UNREAL ENGINE 4

Once I've had a rough idea of how the map would takes place, I've started to create a coherent landscape in Unreal Engine 4

STEP 3 : CREATE HOUSES AND BUILDINGS FOR THE VIKING VILLAGE

Once the landscape was done, I've started to make a first blockout step by keeping the elements from the first layout map. I've implemented the Sea, different basic houses and buildings for the harbour part (done in Sketchup), drakkars. I've started to imagine how the different streets of whould be connected in the village and how to place the houses according to this vision.

STEP 4 : CREATE VERTICALITY AND MORE REALISM TO THE VILLAGE

After having a basic setup for the harbour part, I had to developp different new areas for the village which would be all connected in a coherent way. All those new areas would also need to have unique buildings to make it memorable for players. Even if the whole architecture of cities and villages change a lot through an Assassin's Creed game, several pillars remain mandatory. You need to have important politics related buildings, an ironsmith to upgrade your gear, military areas, religious places and so on.

I've created a unique chief's house, a ironsmith place and a community center house. I've made a little trailer video about this step in order to show the feeling of the village at this moment.

STEP 6 : IMPROVING CHARACTER CONTROLLER

Before going to the next Level Design phase I had to do something about my character controller. The Advanced Locomotion System V4 had good animations and movements but I could not properly climb on objects like in Assassin's Creed. To do so I've merged another character controller called Easy Movement which had this climbing and parkour features inside ALS. I could now place by hand gameplay elements inside my buildings prefabs and create real gameplay moments for the player.

STEP 7 : ADD MORE GAMEPLAY INTO THE VILLAGE

At this moment the character controller offered me more gameplay opportunities. So I've created even more buildings and place gameplay elements on top of all in order for players to climb on it. I placed those new buildings in order to create interesting parkour roads and go from point A to point B in a creative way.

After talking with several other Level Designers on Twitter and getting feedbacks from them, I moved the Chief's house from the top to the center of the village in order to have a coherent Viking village.

I've improved the life of the village by adding a marketplace with NPC, and several new areas to encourage exploration and parkour.

StEP 8 : IMPROVE THE HARBOUR PART OF THE VILLAGE

After being happy with the top part of the village, I've decided to add more gameplay and unique buildings to the harbour part which was empty and lacking interest from a player point of view, as well as a Level Designer point of view.

After adding several new buildings and enhanced some streets and roads of the village I've finally a functionnal village. Check the video below to see a full tour of the village at this point !

StEP 9 : CREATE AN UNIQUE VANTAGE POINT : THE ABANDONNED CHURCH

At this point the map was interesting and started to be full of life, but what would be a good Assassin's Creed City without a good vantage point ? So I've decided to create a unique building, an abandonned church. I've started to gather some information and architecture data about old Viking churches.

I really wanted this vantage point to be like the vantage points from Assassin's Creed 2. In AC2 each vantage points were unique parkour/climbing puzzles, and I really like the feeling of having to search for the good path before getting to the top of the building. The vantage point really felt like a good reward for the players.

In addition of this idea, I really wanted the players to use all the parkour features that the controller had : walking, running, climb and old, crouch and jump. Observation is key to find the good path. This is way I've pointed objects to show the good path but also added specific lights into an open window to catch the player's eye as well as putting special textures to indicate where to jump.

STEP 10 : THE OUTPOST

The final step of the project was to make an outpost which would stands out from the rest of the Viking Village. I really wanted to have a fortified military camp that the English would have built to dominate this area.

So I've started to edit the terrain in order to create a hill and forest around it. Then I've started to create modular walls for the fortified walls and towers. With few simple blocks I add fortified walls and stairs, fortified straight sections, fortified towers with an access to the roof.

After putting together a simple fortified shape, I've thought that it was too perfect, too artificial. If soldiers came to this land in a short period of time, maybe few months, parts of the walls would not be finished for example. So I've created a big opening on the side of the camp in order for players to access to the inside of the military camp through this unfinished section of the wall. I've also added on top of the hill a little cave where the player can enter and follow the path until reaching a perfect spot to enter in the military camp from a tower.
I've also created several climable sections on the other side of the camp.

After this step, I've created unique buildings inside the military camp, added different sections ( the main building at the center, a training area for soldiers in a corner, different watch towers, some basic buildings for soldiers to rest etc) to make it unique as well as bringing explorations points. I've also added tall grass and put some props here and there for the player to hide and feel smart when killings ennemies.

STEP 11 : THE FINAL TOUCH

At this point the outpost blocking was over but needed a little bit of polish in terms of props placement, coherent visual indications etc. So I've worked on the military camp itself by adding more tall grass portions, adding unique props, putting AI ennemies. Once it was finished I've polished the terrain itself, the forest part and the surroundings areas of the camp.