Tim Davies - Level Design
ABOUT
Far Cry Primal is an action adventure FPS set in the mesolithic era, 10,000 BC. The player's character, Takkar, is a hunter from the Wenja tribe. As the sole survivor of a saber tooth attack Takkar travels to the land of Orus and in doing so meets other Wenja.
In the process of rebuilding the tribe he learns of his special ability to tame wild animals which becomes a vital skill when battling the oppressive mesopotamians and neanderthals.
MY WORK
During this project I was responsible for the epic hunt, "The Great Scar Bear". As this was the major mission in the area I was also responsible for the open world design for the rest of the map. This involved creating enjoyable routes to traverse the spaces in between missions and working closely with other designers and artists to make sure their desired gameplay was catered for.
Towards the end of the project I also took charge of the "Snowblood Wolf" hunt. As well as bug fixing I spent time creating mechanics for each of the leader wolves. This gave them more personality and created readable scenarios for the player to learn.
THE GREAT SCAR BEAR
The bear is immensely powerful with high HP and resistance to penetrating weapons. He can also swim and will seek water within a certain radius if he is on fire. Fighting the the bear head to head is therefore unadvisable unless the player is either a very high level or has the valuable assistance of another epic beast. The most successful tactic to defeat the bear is by outsmarting him. By luring him into either man-made traps or natural hazards large amounts of damage can be inflicted.
Video by Shirrako
For this mission I chose a terraced landscape. This allowed me to create a number of pinch points where the player could build traps or use the environment.
It also provided locations where the player has an advantage while traversing. The bear is very fast but cannot jump or climb so the player can make a quick escape by either diving into the deep water or grappling up a rockface, sending the bear the long way round and hopefully through a trap.
Additionally some of the bear's behaviour is scripted. The landscape is divided into 5 areas. When taking a certain amount of damage the bear will be sent to the nearest area that they were not previously in, potentially through a trap.
After hitting an overall HP threshold the bear is sent inside his cave for the second part of the fight.
SNOW BLOOD WOLVES
As wolves are pack animals I decided to add a reinforcements mechanic to the wolf in the marsh. After taking a set amount of damage he will run to the edge and call for friends. This not only shows progression to the player but also gives the player a small amount of time in which to recover for the next attack.
The wolf in the village is more intelligent, he will try to avoid the player as much as possible. If the player takes the path along the ridge then the wolf will run through the village and visa-versa. This encourages the player to use the traps in the village and drive the wolf towards them, it also forces the player to capitalise on any opportunities to damage the wolf.
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