Vault 327

 
 

Development Info

 

Game: Fallout 4

Engine: Creation Kit

Development Cycle: 8 Weeks

Design Achievements

 

  • Created a Story that fit within the world of the game

  • Created a vault that conceivably fits within the story of the game world

  • Created multiple paths through level emphasizing different playstyles.

Glamour Shots

Level Designs

 
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Vault Entrance

This is the entrance to Vault 327. The biggest purpose of this cell was to start to give the player an idea of what this vault was supposed to be while also splitting the critical path for the player. Going the left path at the split sends the player down a combat heavy path entirely through the main part of the vault. Meanwhile, the right path, which is blocked by a low level lock, ushers the player down a path with less combat, but more lockpicking and hacking puzzles.

 
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Vault Main Area

This is the large, main part of Vault 327. Players enter from three potential routes. The first route leads players into the space directly from the vault entrance. They are able to either branch off and explore some of the residence quarters (upper left) and gain weapons, healing items, and gain insight into the story of the vault. The second path is a crossover from the secret part of the vault and enters into the Overseer’s office. Players can learn about the Overseer in her office and cross over into the hidden vault (if they’re coming from the atrium). The upper atrium leads players into the worship place of the vault and into the lower atrium. The third path is another crossover from the hidden part of the vault and converges with the other paths at the residence of Kelly and Everret Reaves (two quest NPCs). In the residence, the player retrieves the quest item and optionally fights a boss. The player exits via any of the routes they could have taken to this point or, if they killed the boss, take the elevator back to the entrance.

 
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Vault Secret Area

This space is a hidden part of the vault and is supposed to be a relatively straightforward path with minimal combat. The player progresses through this space primarily by hacking and lockpicking. Taking the left path (right from player perspective) sends the player to the main part of the vault right beside the Reaves residence. Taking the right path (left from player perspective) takes the player to the Overseer’s apartment, which, following through the door there, puts the player into the Overseer’s office in the main vault.

Postmortem

 

What went well

  • Smaller scenes that told stories went off pretty well.

    • Scenes that I created around a little story, such as the Overseer drunkenly committing suicide in her office, turned out much better than generalized rooms, such as the cafeterias.

  • Characterization of the vault and its dwellers through varied means.

    • All feedback given about the vault characters and the characterization of the vault was relatively positive.

  • Utilization of functions and tools within the editor/engine that I wasn’t initially comfortable with.

    • Before this project, I was largely not comfortable with scripting or several functions of Creation Kit. However, I managed to smoothly pull off a lot of things with both Papyrus and Creation Kit that initially intimidated me

 

What went wrong

  • Size and scope

    • I initially approached this project with the intent of making a fully functioning vault. Not only was that out of scope, but the initial size I set it to was horrendously large. This required constant shrinking of space and then cutting area after area until what is present was all that remained.

  • Prioritization of work tasks

    • As my initial size and scope was massive, before I tried to make any one area look super good, I tried to make all areas feel like it had at one point been populated. By touching on all the areas as opposed to focusing on the critical path, that led to some areas being behind aesthetically at milestones. Ultimately, most of those spaces got cut, which effectively rendered the time working on them wasted.

 

What I learned from this and am taking forward

  • Develop my scale/scope early, then cut down, then cut down even further.

    • Since a personal weakpoint prior to this project was size and scaling, tending towards the massive side, my process moving forward should be to cut down my scope and scaling at least twice from my initial vision so that it can be manageable to do.

  • Grand, convincing layouts are cool, but details around the critical path are much more important

    • Details contribute to the overall takeaway. While creating a large, intricate space can be cool and fun, players don’t ultimately remember that. Adding details around the critical path contribute to player experience much more than any clever layout.

  • Smaller scenes with exaggerated themes pay off much more than subtle nods.

    • Subtlety is not useful. I got more favorable reactions on processes, spaces, and ideas that I felt were beating the player over the head. Meanwhile, the ideas that I thought were beautiful and subtle were completely lost on playtesters. Moving forward: be blunt, be direct with what I want the player to experience. They won’t pick up on things like the subtle way a character changes their speech patterns to signify a change in character mentality.