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Level Research

Expansion Pack

Dean BriggsLuke MartinNye Frayne

Thomas FarrowSarantis Diamantopoulos

Contents List



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Content Page #

Front page 1

Contents list 2

Introduction 3

Research / Analysis of existing level 4, 5

Analysis of expansion pack 6, 7, 8, 9

Comparison of expansion pack against the existing level 10, 11

Story driven overview of expansion pack 12, 13

Game play overview of expansion pack 14

Conclusion 15

Bibliography 16



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Introduction

For this assignment the group has been tasked with producing an expansion pack to

one of four currently existing video games. The expansion pack must maintain theexisting franchise name (e.g. Half-Life) but include its own original game-playconcepts, set pieces and mechanics. The four currently existing video games given tothe group to choose from were:

1) Half-Life 22) Half-Life 2: Episode One3) Half-Life 2: Episode Two4) Left4Dead or Left4Dead 2

All four of the video games are available via Steam (www.steampowered.com). Thegroup has access to the first three video games in the university computer labs and onuniversity Steam accounts, although the fourth video game (Left4Dead/Left4Dead 2)had to be provided by one of the group members themselves.

As another part of this assignment the group have also been tasked with analysing alevel from the video game they chose. Noting down any relevant information thatcould be used to make the groups own expansion pack better; such as the amount of time between skirmishes with the enemy (this must be enough to make the levelinteresting), how many puzzles and obstacles were placed in the level for the playerto tackle and be entertained by, etc.

The group have decided to analyse a level from video game option 1;Half-Life 2. Eventhough the group decided to analyse Half-Life 2, the group-made expansion pack willbegin shortly after where the single player story mode of Half-Life 2: Episode Oneended. In the group-made expansion pack the player would not be controlling themain protagonist from the other Half-Life video games Gordon Freeman; the playerwould instead be controlling a human resistance soldier.

The following link contains a short video clip (1:27), uploaded via YouTube, showingthe final scene of Half-Life 2: Episode One (Warning: Spoiler). This video clip isincluded in the document to show where the group-made expansion pack shouldbegin.

http://youtu.be/xd3VmLvQN5k

http://www.steampowered.com/








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Research / Analysis of existing level

After the decision was made to produce an expansion pack to Half-Life 2: Episode

One, the group then had to choose a level of the video game to research and analyse.After some discussion the group decided to research the level „Highway 17‟ which isthe seventh level/chapter of Half-Life 2. This particular level was chosen because itcontained several elements that the group personally enjoyed, and they also believedthat the said elements would fit in well with the expansion pack that they hadplanned.

The existing video game level from Half-Life 2 „Highway 17‟ is similar to theexpansion pack level that the group have planned. Both levels are large scale openmaps with rocks, mountains and forested areas – both levels also contain severaldifferent outpost/base-like areas which serve as objectives, triggers for an enemy

encounter or perhaps even scenery.„Highway 17‟ is the level in Half -Life 2 that hasthe most elements similar to those chosen by the group to feature in their ownexpansion pack.

Existing level analysis

The level is a large open environment featuring beaches, forests, roads along withsmall resistance and enemy bases scattered around the map, because of the beachesand forests in the level the sounds included are things such as waves crashing againstthe beach and rocks, birds making noise in the forests and more. The architectureonly consists of old run-down buildings at each base made of brick and in some cases

wood,and are surrounded by „junk‟, such as old crates, cardboard and generalrubbish. The level takes place in full day-time so everything is perfectly lit up, theonly parts in the level that remain badly lit are the tunnels in which the player has totravel through in the vehicle occasionally (although these tunnels are brief and onlytake around 5 seconds to get through). Whilst the level is rather large it doesn‟t givethe player many opportunities to really explore and will continually force the playerto continue down one particular path – which is not a bad thing as the player wouldmost likely get very lost otherwise.

NPC‟s occupy large portions of this level; there are enemy soldiers and zombiesguarding the vast majority of the small bases that the player has to stop at for

supplies, and the beaches of the level are overwhelmed by creatures known as„Antlions‟ which will burrow from the ground and attack if the player steps onto it.There are Antlion detectors (devices which bang the ground heavily and scare theAntlions into retreat) posted at all of the small bases in the level, so that when theplayer is exploring for supplies they will not be swarmed by the seemingly infinitespawn of Antlions – this is incredibly helpful to the player as it would be nearimpossible to take on the enemy soldiers and many Antlion simultaneously.



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There are many small set pieces throughout the level which act as interactivepuzzles, of sorts. For example at the ninth small base the road is blocked by anelectric force field, the player must then leave the vehicle and find a way to takedown the force field to continue on with the level. Eventually the player will find thatthere is an enemy Combine vehicle parked in the area which has power cables

attached to it, the player must somehow force this vehicle off the cliff which in turnreleases the power cables and takes down the force field. There are other interactiveelements which act in a similar way, including an entire bridge which has multipleforce fields. For this element the player must travel up and down the bridge usingmany ladders to find all of the correct switches to take down the force fields, theplayer will also encounter enemy gunships that will do everything in their power tohalt the player‟s progress.

The general theme of „Highway 17‟ appears to be a wide open map where the playermust move from location to location; defeating enemies, completing puzzles andpicking up supplies whilst under constant threat from the Antlions that swarm all over

the beach and other locations where the Combine are not present. The group enjoyedthis theme on the whole and decided it could be used to make a good expansion pack.

Existing level brief walkthrough

Immediately after the level begins the player gains access to a small buggy-likevehicle and must then use a ramp to get up onto the main road where there is a smallsupply building containing a health pack and some SMG ammunition. The player willthen continue down the road until reaching a dark tunnel that they must travelthrough (all tunnels in the level also give loading screens). After the tunnel the playeris led to another small building and an average sized building guarded by an „Antlion

detector‟, this device bangs the ground heavily and scares the Antlionsaway so thatthey cannot bother the player as they scout any of the buildings they stop at, thelighting in both of these buildings is dull and the player can hear the sound of theocean crashing onto the beach just outside. In the first building the player faces thefirst zombie head crab carrier enemy of the level. In the second building the playerwill find a health pack and a supply box of grenades. Further down the beach there‟sa larger building with three Combine soldiers guarding it, the player has the ability togo in „all guns blazing‟ here but also has the opportunity to stealthily take out one of the soldiers who is looking through a telescope at the window. Again, there aresupplies in this building, further enforcing the level‟s theme of moving from locationto location and scavenging supplies. The player can also use the telescope in the

building to look out and see a populated resistance base even further down thebeach, the ability to see the base acts as something of a beacon, giving the playersome direction to travel in the absence of any kind of built-in compass on such a largemap

Rule 1: Players will encounter enemies/supplies in the buildings they come across.Rule 2: Players will also have to complete a certain objective before being able tostart on the next objective, e.g. take out the force-field before crossing the bridge.



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Analysis of expansion pack

Diagram of the surface level of the expansion pack. Image also included in theuploaded files for greater clarity.



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The lower level of the expansion pack, the mines.



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The group were provided with Valve Hammer Source Development Kit (SDK) via theprogram Steam. Additionally, the team then used 3DStudio Max to create severalmodels to be used in the expansion pack. Adobe Photoshop was also used to createthe textures that would be used on the models.

Rule 1: Players will encounter enemies/supplies in the buildings they come across.Rule 2: Players will also have to complete a certain objective before being able tostart on the next objective, objectives cannot be completed in a random order – examples of this include:

The player must first locate a crowbar before being able to break into the backentrance of the Combine‟s mining facility base

The player must send out a radio call to the resistance evacuation helicopterfrom the radio tower before the evacuation set piece begins

The player must first find the crowbar > break into the enemy base > findsupplies (health, armour, weapons, ammunition) > send out radio call at the

radio tower > begin evacuation.

There are spaces of the in the expansion pack level where the player will not haveany enemies to defeat but will instead be exploring the map, and searching for morebuildings where they can scavenge supplies. The player will however always beworking towards a new objective whilst playing, there are no moments in theexpansion pack level where the player will have nothing to do or no direction. Theplayer is presented with interactive devices fairly often, such as the cave-in of rocksdown in the mines where the player must react and dig their way through the rubble.They are presented more often with an interactive environment, such as having tosneak past the first Combine enemy patrols due to having no weapons.

The player is in „space‟ for a large portion of time during their play-through of theexpansion pack level, as they begin the level they‟re out In the open next to the traincrash and must travel onwards into the woods and through them in order to reach theCombine‟s mining facility base, the player must then also go through the woods to getto the radio tower and eventually the evacuation point. The woods are full of potential cover against enemy gunfire, trees and random debris spread around cam beused to avoid player death. There are some small spaces in the map for those thatenjoy a small amount of hallway shooting... the communications room is a small areathat the player must search through in order to find the short distance radio. Themines are also fairly small and could even be considered claustrophobic at times, as

upon entering the mine the player must dig their way into the mines using the gravitygun and then crawl through the gaps. The mine tunnels are fairly small for the playerto travel through and nowhere near as open as the surface layer of the level. At theend of the level the player will have to defend themselves near the cliff-side until theevacuation ship arrives to save them and the other resistance members.



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A screenshot of the mining facility turned into an enemy Combine base.

A screenshot showing the radio tower that is a vital objective.



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Comparison of the expansion packagainst the existing level

So basically our original level was a bit simple that‟s why we decided to add a lotmore on the expansion pack level. At first we had this wide open zone with grass andtrees along with rocks and that‟s basically the environment you see when you spawninside the level as well as the crashed train behind you. Because your player is incommunication with the resistance we added live text into this level so the player canactually see what they are supposed to do next without giving them many clues.

We also wanted to add interactive non player characters (NPCs) inside this expansionmaking it more realistic to the player as they are making their way through the level.The NPCs we decided to add on the expansion level were enemies which means theyare aggressive when your character approaches them, giving a challenge to the playeras he progresses. We also added objectives into this expansion which also meansdifferent pathways for the player to choose from and that‟s another thing that‟smaking the expansion even harder. There is also amining facility converted into anenemy base with a small communications building and turrets outside to guard it butalso Combine soldierspatrolling the woods. That‟s where the player is called to decidein which way they are going to approach the first mission which is reaching the enemybase without being spotted, since he is spawning with no weapons to choose from.Another location in the expansion pack is a collapsed mine into that base in which youshould expect to find supplies such as health packs, weapons and ammunition. At thefar right side of the expansion pack level we added a huge radio station where yourcharacter is supposed get to without being killed. When the player gets there theywill get receive another message over the short distance radiofrom the resistanceteam that anevacuation helicopter is on its way. Although the player will still have toface Combine soldiers while trying to reach theirevacuation point so that‟s anotherenemy NPC group to deal with. Another add-on to the environment is that there israin constantly flowing into this expansion level as well as an enemy gunship sound atall times and that‟s because the enemy base has also sent out gunships to patrol thewoods.

Regarding the level we chose to analyse which is Highway 17 in Half-Life 2. So wedecided to research and analyse this level and see if we could get as many ideasabout items, zones, NPCs mechanics, timers, sounds, etc. as we could. On the reallyplain parts of the expansion level and the main side views we decided to add a rockyterrain and water, this is really good because it fits in well with our wide open zoneswhich pretty much covers the entire map – it also prevents the player from escapingthe map, the group preferred to do it this way rather than add invisible walls whichwe all felt would not fit into the level appropriately. We also noticed the spawn timesof the enemy NPCs on „Highway 17‟ so instead of actually getting a vehicle and



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getting the choice of passing the enemies or just standing there and having a shoot off with them, we added enemies in front of the player in the woods so that when theyspawn they are actually given no choice but to sneak around the enemies quicklybefore they spot the player. Another thing we notice is the sound effects are reallyloud in the existing level and almost feel like they were intended to make the player

react faster, that‟s why we decided to add rain into our level as well a helicoptersound so that the player would be under the impression that they‟re being followedthrough a dark forest and make them act quickly. Like Highway 17 our level includesfences around the map especially where we did not want the player to get to e.g.fences around the entire mining facility base except for the back entrance, in theexpansion pack the group wants the player to enter in the back entrance but not thefront entrance. There are also buildings spread around both maps which provide theplayer with supplies and more often than not, an enemy or two to face off against.

Image taken from Half-Life 2 level ‘Highway 17’



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Story driven overview of expansionpack

„Nuke Brian Duke‟ wakes up on the edge of a cliff among the wreckage of a train, thesame train that he managed to escape city 17 only a few minutes ago.Looking aroundhe sees the train wreckage all over the bridge and the hill side, not quiteunderstanding how he managed to survive the crash.Still gathering his senses he hears„Laura Crofte‟ over his com link. Out of breath Nuke Brian Duke tries to respond butshe can‟t hear him…

Nuke Brian Duke receives orders to gather weapons, recon a Combine base one click

north west, rendezvous with any survivors and evacuate to rally point Zulu as soon aspossible. Picking himself up, he moves out into the forest to gain his bearing.Hearing a Combine patrol heading his way, he knows that he can‟t take them onwithout a weapon. But as the patrol get nearer he takes cover in a small dumpcrouching behind a trashed car. Staying in the shadows he stealthily moves around thepieces of scrap desperately trying to find something he can use as some form of aweapon. “Well, this will have to do”. Crowbar in hand he quickly sneaks through theforest towards the mountains, searching for the Combine base that he intends toscout. After a quick glimpse of the base and its surroundings it seems the Combine areusing an old mining facility as a staging area for patrols, but with the Combine out onpatrol currently searching the train crash site, the only thing stopping Nuke Brian

Duke from entering the base now is the sentry guns placements at the front gate.Luckily he doesn‟t have much trouble outsmarting the sentry guns and sneaks aroundthe side of the base to search for another place to enter.

The Combine obviously didn‟t expect anyone to even try and infiltrate this smallstaging post as the defences weren‟t up to the usual standard that Nuke Brian Dukeand the rest of the resistance were used to from their deadly adversary, he managesto find a gap in the fence only blocked by a pile of junk. Smashing some woodenplanks, crates and barrels out of the gap he jumps into to the base and begins thesearch for a radio to finally get into contact with the other resistance members andan upgrade to his crowbar.Moving around the edge of the base all he can see is a

communications room and a few tents, the rest is just the remnants of the old minewhich was of no use to him.Searching the communications room he finds a shortdistance radio, it was a little old and worse-for-wear but should still get the job done.Exiting the communications room Laura Crofte gives him orders to recon the mine andsearch for some weapons because some gunfire has been heard down the valley… Dropping down into the mine Nuke Brian Dukeknows he has to hurry if he‟s to attainweapons and get out of the base before the Combine patrol returns. Searchingthrough



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a dark and wet mine was not Nuke Brian Duke‟s idea of fun but if it means finallygetting some pay back on the Combine for the carnage they did in city 14.Leading down following the dim lights the mine opens out to a much larger room.“Booomboooooooom”The Combine obviously used this area as storage for theirweapons and equipment. Picking up several weapons and taking as much ammo as one

person could carry Nuke Brian Duke is about to leave the mines for good but notices aGravity-gun...“Well, would be rude not to...”

As Nuke Brian Duke turns to leave a whole part of the mine ceiling collapses.“Good job the Combine soldiers keep a Gravity-gun handy”. Trying to move rocks in aconfined space, worrying about dying down in a dark and dingy mine sucks.Choking on dust moving the last rock out of the way makes the wind come floodingback through the mine shaft, Nuke Brian Duke heads back up to the elevator shafthoping that he didn‟t take too long down there - But when the lift door once againreaches the surface up top, all hell breaks loose… there are bullets flying everywhereand Nuke Brian Duke desperately tries to find cover from the hail of bullets coming in

his direction. Scrambling from cover to cover, Nuke Brian Duke manages to takedown a few Combine soldiers with controlled bursts of fire, “This is more like it!”. Four down, five down, Nuke Brian Duke is popping heads when he hears LauraCroftes‟voice over the new short distance radio. Resistance reinforcements are on theway.

More and more Combine soldiers flood out from the forest forcing Nuke Brian Duke to

cover; it appears there were more of them out there than he‟d originally thought. Nuke Brian Duke slips out of the base through where the small cap where he came inwith bullets whistling past him “Got to get to higher ground and call for an evac!” Laura Crofte comes over the short distance radio onceagain; resistance are inbound to

cover Nuke Brian Duke as he makes his escape to call for an evac and get him and therest of these resistance fighters out of here.Making it to the radio tower the radios signal is enhanced ten-fold and the resistanceaircraft pick up the transmission. “We‟ve gotto hold out for three minutes till evac

arrives!” Over the short distance radio Laura Crofte signals the rest of the resistancefighters who‟d helped Nuke Brian Duke earlier to retreat back to the edge of the cliff and wait for the evac…

With one minute left this fight is brutal, but the resistance are holding their ownagainst the mighty Combine soldiers as best they can.The evacuation helicopter is closing in on the resistance location.

<Explosion>



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Game play overview of expansionpack

Player starts in the bottom right of the map among the train wreckage withlittle health and no weapons

The player is told his objectives for the level via on screen text. The firstobjective is to avoid an enemy patrol and sneak around the NPC‟s to a garbagedump in the hope to find a weapon

After successfully avoiding the enemy NPC‟s the player f inds a crowbar in thedump

The player proceeds to stealthily move up to the enemy base in the top right of the map. The player does this by avoiding the enemy NPC‟s and eventuallyexits the forest to come across the base

The player cannot go through the front gate because there are sentry gunsguarding the front of the outpost making the player find another entry point

Once the player has broken into the base they infiltrate the compound to findthe communications room

In the communication room the player finds a radio and contacts their superiors

With new orders the player enters the mines to find weapons

Finding their way down the mines the player collects weapons and ammunitionbut while exiting the mines the roof collapses

Using the Grav-gun the player has to move the rocks blocking the way to makehis escape

Coming out of the lift the player is met with enemy NPC‟s and has to fight theirway out of the compound and make their way to the radio tower

With friendly NPC‟S helping the players retreat the player reaches theirobjective of reaching the radio tower and calling the resistance for anevacuation

The player and friendly NPC‟s fight their way to the evacuation point

The player and friendly NPC‟S have to last until the chopper arrives for theevacuation

The chopper almost arrives when the player „passes out‟. The level ends with

the NPC‟s still fighting as the screen fades out.



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Conclusion

In conclusion, the group made expansion pack level fits in well with the continued

story of the huge video gaming franchise Half-Life, as an expansion pack that sitsbetween Half-Life 2: Episode One and Half-Life 2: Episode Two. The expansion packcombines action, stealth and classic Half-Life game mechanics into one experience.This level represents only one of the levels to be featured in the expansion and endson somewhat of a cliff-hanger. The plot of the expansion pack stays true to the Half-Life universe.

The group chose to avoid making an expansion pack for Left4Dead or Left4Dead 2because they all prefer the plot line of the Half-Life universe in comparison to theconsiderably more simplistic Left4Dead franchise. The group were aware of the factthat the majority of the other groups were using Left4Dead for their expansion pack

and chose to go down a different route.



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Bibliography

www.steampowered.com ; accessed 23/04/2011

www.youtube.com ; accessed 25/03/2011 – 19/05/2011 (Many different videos wereviewed during this time, some were tutorials and others were used as forms of inspiration for the expansion pack)

www.moddb.com ; accessed 15/05/2011

www.3dbuzz.com ; accessed 25/03/2011 – 15/05/2011 (Many different videos wereviewed during this time, as tutorials for 3DS Max)



http://www.youtube.com/


http://www.moddb.com/


http://www.3dbuzz.com/






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