Trailer

Voice Over Explanation

Details

Development Info

Description: In Trail of Treasure, players will uncover a recently war-blazed town covered with bodies and a last plea of a master treasure hunter. Follow the trail of clues left behind and see if you can retrace his steps in this custom Fallout 4 level! This custom level mod for Fallout 4 focuses on Environmental Storytelling and Layout Design - the quest interwines with the design of the exterior town and makes the player look around for hints on how to progress forward.

Team Size: 1 Developer

Software: Fallout 4: Creation Kit

Mode: Single Player

Development Time: 80 Hours / 2 Months

Platform: PC

Download the LDD!

Design Goals

Follow the Clues

The main hook of this level is “follow the clues” - a master treasure hunter has been killed and he left behind notes of his endeavors of finding the lost treasure of the town of Hollow Branch. Players must follow the clues, markers, and other telling methods to uncover the trail left behind.

Environmental Storytelling

Trails of dead bodies show a way around obstacles.
Blood, markers, and more conveyance objects
Lighting, locked doorways, and secret passcodes are imbedded in the surroundings.

There is no NPC dialog in this level; notes are the only method of written storytelling used.

The rest is discovered by exploring the level and investigating clues in the scenes presented.

Written in Notes

Postmortem

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Postmortem -----

What Went Well?

Workshopped the idea for this level quickly and created concept maps of the small world.
Small scope which allowed for more time for polishing the level in later milestones.
No NPC dialog - all through notes and environmental storytelling to guide the player.

What Needs Improvement?

Lack of NPC dialog can be troublesome for some players since Fallout 4 is a heavy dialog game. Some players just don’t read text/dialog.
Some areas could benefit from more breadcrumbing to help push the player along.
The combat doesn’t feel good until the final boss fight - needs more polishing.

What Did I Learn?

How to quickly concept and build a small, custom level for Fallout 4 from previous experience.
Using the environment and visual storytelling to guide the player along and create some unique puzzles.
Pivot to adding/subtracting sections of my level based on stakeholder feedback.