Burrows crazy dog

Arkane level design test

Dishonored Map

" Burrows crazy dog " level

Level design document

Alexis Duclaux

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Level design document

Burrows crazy dog

Dishonored Map

Alexis Duclaux / 2013 / alexisduclaux@gmail.com

Version Date Writer

V00.01 19/04/2013 Alexis Duclaux

Revision notes Version 00.01 Date 19/04/2013 Changed by Alexis Duclaux Changes Initial version of the document

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Dishonored Map

Tables of contents
Level Design ............................................................................................................................................. 4 Overview.............................................................................................................................................. 4 Level objective ..................................................................................................................................... 4 Main objectives ............................................................................................................................... 4 Non Lethal objective........................................................................................................................ 4 Characters ........................................................................................................................................... 5 NPCs:............................................................................................................................................... 5 Enemies ........................................................................................................................................... 5 Look and feel ........................................................................................................................................... 6 Level Zones .......................................................................................................................................... 6 Level Atmosphere/Architecture .......................................................................................................... 6 Flooded Streets ............................................................................................................................... 6 The Outsider world .......................................................................................................................... 7 The observatory............................................................................................................................... 7 Pacing .................................................................................................................................................. 7 Level Difficulty ..................................................................................................................................... 7 Maps ........................................................................................................................................................ 8 Plot Points ........................................................................................................................................... 8 The Flooded streets ......................................................................................................................... 8 The outsider world .......................................................................................................................... 9 The observatory............................................................................................................................. 10 Detailed Maps ................................................................................................................................... 12 The flooded waters........................................................................................................................ 12

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Level Design
Overview
In this level, Corvo have to find Elijah Achab, a city watch officer who is directly under the lord regents orders, and take his metal glove, actually merged in his arm after he decided to burn himself with it, to get it back in the hounds pit as this glove can be used for opening a secret entrance to the lord regent lair. Before that he needs to find Old Thomas, an old man always aware of what is going on in his street to find where Achab is. The first time Corvo meet Old Thomas, he is dying and Elijah Achab send Corvo trough the 3rd floor window and then the time stops and Corvo find himself teleported in the Outsider world where he learns to use the possession power. When Corvo leave the Ousider world, he still has to see if Thomas can tell him something before dying. After Corvo found where Achab is, i.e the observatory, and when he had take the key to the observatory, he need to cross the level and enter in the observatory area to kill Achab and take his arm to the boat, the easiest way to do it is to use the sewer inside the observatory. Corvo can also find in the streets a man severely burned by the hands of Achab, he tells you that if you gives him Achab, hell make him suffer for the rest of his life, supposed that his life is going to be long, and that he give you his arm, so when you encounter Elijah, if you stun him and gives him to the burned man by exiting the observatory and crossing the streets, you will ending the level with a non-lethal solution.

Level objective
Main objectives
Find Old Thomas. Learn the power of possession. Talk to Old Thomas. Go to the Pub Soulstorm Pub Take the key to the observatory. Infiltrate the observatory. Kill Achab and take his arm.

Non Lethal objective

Stun and gives Achab to the burned man.

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Characters
During the mission, Corvo will encounter two kinds of peoples, The NPCs and the Enemies.

NPCs:
Survivors: They are the most neutral characters, they will speak to you if you talk to them. Old Thomas : An old man who know about all the things that happens in his street He is the first objective of Corvo. The first time Corvo meets him, he is on flame. Corvo stops the fire and is attacked. When Corvo came back to talk to him, his injuries are too deep and he only has the times to tell him that he hide the keys to the observatory in a abandoned pub. He also left a note in the counter of the pub, telling that if he want to get rid of Achab, he knows someone willing to do it. The burning man: Character heavily burned, half disfigured. He is the one who wants to take Achab and torture him for the rest of his life. His family was killed by Achab in a fire.

Enemies
Watch tower guards: They are the basic soldiers of Dishonored, and the weakest. They Patrols in the city and in the observatory. City Watch guards: They only patrol in the streets. City watch officers: They only patrol in the observatory. Tallboy: He only patrol in the streets. Elijah Achab : Sadistic pyromaniac. He is Corvos target. He had a metal glove who had merged with his arm after he burned it while wearing it. He tries to burn Old Thomas before Corvo arrives, and pushes Corvo through the window when he extinguishes the fire, then leaves thinking he has succeed. If you encounter him face to face, he will try to burn you with Incendiary bolts saying that you cant be alive because he makes you fall from 3 floors .

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Look and feel

Level Zones
This level is cut in three parts, all separated by a loading. Those 3 parts are : The flooded streets. The Outsider world. The observatory.

Level Atmosphere/Architecture
Flooded Streets
The part takes place at Dawn The streets are surrounded by buidings that Corvo cant surmount. Half of the streets are flooded by water, the height of the flood goes to the first floor of buildings. The water do not harm Corvo but he still have to be careful about the fishes. Those buildings are max 3 floor high. Some of those buildings can be visited, like Old Thomas house, when its the case their firsts floors are flooded (For most of them). For entering Corvo must use the windows. Their interior are humid and their furniture are mostly broken. The buildings are Victorian English stylized. (Red bricks, Metal fences and utilization of metal for the doors and windows) They have a very dirty look. Some walls look like they were burned. The other Half is saved because they were raised at the streets construction, but some of them are burned. Those ones are max 5 floor high Some of the buildings can be visited, like the Soulstorm Pub. Their interior are completely burned, because of Elijah Achab pyromaniac troubles The streets are littered with garbage and burned bits of buildings. Metal fences are around the doors of the buildings. The buildings are Victorian English stylized.

Illustration of the flooded by water streets

Alleyway with garbage area

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The Outsider world

The Void

The part takes place in a strange location named the void. The void is filled with grey fog and bigs rocks floating in the air where sometime bits of buildings or rooms are build in it. The rooms or buildings are Victorian English in style.

The observatory
The part takes places inside the observatory. The observatory look like it was abandoned a long time ago and is Victorian English style. The observatory is 2 floor high.

Observatory exemples

Pacing
The player is almost constantly stimulated in the level because he had to be always on guard, but sometimes, like during the Outsider level part, in the pub, while talking to the burned man, after killing Elijah Achab if no one have seen you or in the sewers, there is an abrupt dropoff of tension to give the player a chance to catch his breath before going back to the action.

Level Difficulty
That level is supposed to take place in the beginning of the game, so the level difficulty isnt very hard, but the player stlll have to be careful. If the player wants to finish the level with a non-lethal way, then the game will be a little more difficult, since the player would have to take the body of Achab and goes back to the outside of the observatory where the burned man waits.

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Maps
Plot Points
In this chapter i will explain what the player needs to do during the level without details about sub-location plans or enemies and NPC locations. For that see the part Detailed Maps.

The Flooded streets

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1 This is where Corvo travels with Samuel and where the level begins, during the travel, Samuel explain to Corvo that he needs to find his friend Old Thomas, who know that Corvo is coming, because he have some information about the target. 2- Here is the building where live Old Thomas, when Corvo finds him he is burning, by the time Corvo, extinguishes him the target, Elijah Achab who had put old Thomas on fire, pushes Corvo into the 3 rd floor window, the time stops and he goes to the Outsider world to learn the power of Possession. This will trigger a loading. 3-When Corvo gets back from the Outsider world, he is still falling, the time is still slowed and Corvo needs to possess the rats who are on the ground in order to save his life, if the player fails to do that, Corvo dies. Then the player have to goes back to Old Thomas to see if he can still say something about the target. Unfortunately for him, Thomas dont have long time to live, he tells Corvo that he has hide the key to the observatory in his pub, the Soulstorm Pub. 4- Soulstorm Pub. Corvo can find the key to the observatory in here and he can also find a letter written by Thomas saying that he heard about a man who wants to find Achab. 4Bis- This is where Corvo can meet the burned man, only if the player had find the letter in the Pub. That man explains to Corvo that he want to kidnap Achab for make him suffer for a long time. Corvo explain that he needs the target for something that Achab wears, the burned man reply that if the player gives him Achab then he lets Corvo takes what he want. 5-The Observatory is where Elijah Achab is hiding, going inside will trigger a loading. 5Bis- This is where the burning man waits for you, if you decide to gives him the target he will ask Corvo what he needs and when he answer that he need the arm, the burning man will cut it gladly and gives it to you. 6- Finally, Corvo goes back to the boat and get away from those streets, the easiest way to goes there is to escape by the sewers when you are in the observatory or if you had given Achab to the burning man you have just to use the window at the other side of the building.

The outsider world

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1 When Achab pushes you through the window, point 2 of the flooded water plot points, and after the loading. Corvo fall from the window into the void on a ground who is a meter below, that do not harm Corvo. When he gets up the Outsider talks to him and gives him the possession power and explain to him that with this version of the power he can possess all kind of animals. 2-This is a bloc of water who is flying into the air, if Corvo want to cross it, he have to possess the fishes in it, if he tries while hes not possessing anything he will fall into the void. 3-After crossing the water, the outsider speak to Corvo and reminds him that all kinds of animals can be possessed. 4- In here there are rats who can be possessed to get across a small hole in the wall. 5-The outsider wishes you good luck, tell you to follow your destiny and to jump. The player have to jump through the window and after a loading he goes back to the point 3 of the flooded water ploint point.

The observatory

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Before Corvo can enter from two doors, the front door or the kitchen door, both marked Outside in the 1 st floor plan. 1-This is where Elijah is waiting for Corvo. He can either kill it or abduct him to give him back to the burned man. 3-After killing Elijah, Corvo has three ways to escape, The two doors that I mentioned in Before or the sewer in the basement. If the player wants to abduct Achab, he cannot take the sewer exit as he cant swim with Elijah Achab on his back. This is because the burned man waits for Corvo near the observatory entrance and the sewer dont goes back there.

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Arkane level design test

Detailed Maps
In this chapter i will explain where the enemies and the NPC are on the maps, with all their movements. I will also indicate where the player can find the runes, the Sokolov paintings, coins or the different elixirs. In the maps, we have sometimes a place where I need to be more precise about it, like buildings where we can enter or puzzles, for that I will make sub-chapters to explain it. In the document I will call them Interesting places.

The flooded waters

As the flooded waters are a big place, I decided to cut the explanation in four parts, but I will use this map to show the tallboy who is patrolling the streets.

Part 1.

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In this part, the player can use 3 different ways to go where he want to.

He can swim into the water and follow the flooded streets, but he will be vulnerable and have to be careful about the tallboy whos patrolling in it. He can cross the level part by following the rails and get to the third level part. He can go to the 1st interesting place by following the rails or by the water.

Interesting place 1.

The interesting place 1 here is just somewhere where Corvo can jump to go into the interesting place 2 or to get back from it more quickly. The player can come from the crates by jumping into the roof, for that he will have to use the blink power on the air conditioning roof near the crates. Or he can come from the balcony to the crates by using the ventilation pipes and then going into the roofs by blinking on the second air conditioning box.

Interesting place 2. That building is one of the three buildings in the map that Corvo can enter in, this one is composed in three floors plus a hole in the rooftop, Corvo can use it to cross the flooded streets and enter in the second level part by blinking on the rooftop that is just in front of him. This buiding has also two others exits, one who is linked to the Interesting place 1 balcony and another who leads to the third level part.

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- The first floor is completely flooded, in here the player can find a Sokolov elixir, 10 coins, a Sokolov painting and a book on the bathroom floor who is written the safe code for the second floor safe. The only way to get in the first floor is to use the stairs from the second floor. - The book is about a historical character that had lived 1000 years earlier and that men was known to have killed 439 enemies in a single battle. The safe code is 439.

- The second floor is accessible from the outside if the player comes through the crossable window, in here the player can find a Safe and a note on the table. - The note was left here by the wife of the apartment owner and is intended to him, she said that she had lend the owner favorite book to the 1st floor resident. This is a clue for finding the safe code. - In the safe the player can find a rune. - From here, the player can access the 1st floor and the 3rd floor by using the stairs.

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- The third floor is accessible from the outside if the player comes through the roof by using the chain, in here the player can find a piero magical elixir and a Sokolov health elixir. - On this floor, Corvo have to deal with two City watch guards. One of them is patrolling near crates that Corvo can mount on it if he use the blink power, if the player wants to use the chain to go outside he will have to mount on the crate near the chain. - From here, the player can access the 2nd floor by using the stairs.

Exterior and interior graphical inspiration

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Part 2.

In this part, the player can

Swim into the water and follow the flooded streets, but he will be vulnerable and have to be careful about the tallboy whos patrolling in it. By doing that he can directly go to the Interesting place 3, which is Old Thomas building. Come to the roofs, either by coming from the 3rd level part who is near the 1st interesting place or by the building roof of the interesting place 1 of the 1st level part (In this case he comes from the roof at the bottom on the picture at the 2nd interesting place.

Interesting place 3. - Corvo can cross the wodden emergency bridge and going to the 2nd interesting place roof by there. He will not encounter enemies. - The wooden emergency bridge is made of recycled stuff gathered on the buildings.

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Interesting place 4

-Corvo can come from or go to 3 ways in here: - The building with a hole in his roof. (1) - The balcony on the 3rd interesting place. (2) - Old Thomas building window. (3)

The burned place is a lounge who had been burned by Achab, the picture here is a graphical inspiration.

Interesting place 5

The interesting place 5 is the Old Thomas building, this is where the player will meet Thomas and try to speak with him, this is the first objective of the game.

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- The player can go inside this building by two ways, either he jump through the 3rd floor window by going to the 4th interesting place or swim to the entrance arch and then jump to the 2nd floor window. - The first floor of the building is flooded but there is no water in the center of the building where the roof is open. - The interior of the building look like if he was abandoned

- The first floor is accessible only by the second floor, if the player comes through a hole in the second floor or by the stairs. - In here the player can find a Rune and a Sokolov Elixir.

- The second floor is accessible by the 1st and 3rd floor and also from the outside if the Corvo comes through the crossable window, if the player comes through a hole in the second floor or by the stairs. - In here the player can find a Sokolov painting and an openable chest who contains pistol ammo and 20 coins. -On the bedroom there is a hole where Corvo can goes to the 1st Floor.

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- The third floor is accessible by 2nd floor and also from the outside if the Corvo comes through the crossable window on top of the image. - In here the player can find a Piero mana elixir and 120 coins that are on the ground in the lounge. - The first objective is in the Bedroom so the game has to point it on the HUD. -When Corvo goes in the bedroom for the first time, a cinematic goes on, and we see Thomas burning and Corvo trying to extinguishes him, then Achab pushes Corvo through the Crossable window.. - When Corvo goes back a second time, we see a dialogue between him and Thomas where he says that he had hided the key to the observatory in his pub.

Building graphical inspirations. Level design document

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Part 3.

In this part, the player can

Swim into the water and follow the flooded streets, but he will be vulnerable and have to be careful about the tallboy whos patrolling in it. By doing that he can directly go to the Interesting place 7, or to the Interesting place 7 by climbing the stairs near it. Go to the roofs, by going into the Interesting place 7 or by coming by the building with a hole in his roof (Interesting place 2). For this second option, the player will have to blink on the roof that is in front of him and then he have to blink while jumping to reach the ventilation pipe that is on the wall of the pub (Interesting place 6). Note : The burned man is on the map only if Corvo had found the note into the pub (Interesting place 6) who is saying that Old Thomas had heard about him.

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Interesting place 6 This is the Soulstorm pub, that is completely burned because Achab hates Old Thomas. This pub has two floors, the only way to enter into the first floor is by using rats and go through a hole into the front door. (Rats are in front of the frontage) This is also possible to go on the second floor by the window, for that the player have to climb on the ventilation pipe with the blink power.

- The first floor is only accessible with the possession power, the player has to take possession of a rat and go through a hole in the door that Corvo cant open. - Inside the pub Corvo will find a chest that contains the key to the observatory and 100 coins. - On the door there is a collapsed door to let believe to the player that the pub is bigger.

- The second floor is only accessible by passing through the window. - The player can find a note and a Bone charm. (His effect is chosen when the level is loaded among the 36 bone charms of the game) - The note is from Old Thomas and hes talking about the fact that he heard about a man who hates Achab as much as himself and that maybe this man can be able to do something about it. He even says where it is possible to find him. When Corvo takes the letter, the burned man is indicated on the map if Corvo uses the Heart.

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Building graphical inspirations. Interesting place 7.

This interesting place is just another way to go unnoticed into the level part 4 or into the Interesting place 3 by coming from the level part 3. The player can also come from the level part 2 and goes either into the level part or the level part 4. For that the player can:

Take the balcony and climb the chain to go on the roof, for that he will have to blink on the balcony from the level part 3 or get out this way. (1) Come by the interesting place 3 or go this way. (2) Jump into the ventilation pipes and goes to the second roof, then fall into the level part 4. He cant go back from there. (3)

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Part 4.

This is the part that contains the observatory, where is the target, you can come here by two ways, either by the interesting part 8, or by the Interesting place 7 (3). Interesting place 8.

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Level design document