Recon: Last Descent
Land, build, fight, loot, extract… if you can. After the outbreak of an ancient virus humanity was forced to flee the earth and terraform mars to survive. Just before the terraforming is done the spaceship, which humans need to finish terraforming, breaks. It is now your task, as the player to return to earth and retrieve the parts needed to repair the ship. However, the earth isn’t what it once was. flora and fauna have been transformed into a dangerous environment which barely resembles the world humans once knew.
Recon: Last Descent offers a never-seen before mix of genres between RTS and Extraction. It sets itself apart from other games by giving players unique gameplay in which players must balance the risk og losing units and reward of finding more loot which will allow them to explore further.
Work Samples
Level Design
As the Level Designer, it was my job to create a level that was exciting to explore. I also had to place various resources in places that players would definitely find, to keep them hooked, but also in hidden places to encourage exploration. I was also tasked with creating enemy patrol paths. Here I was particularly concerned with making the enemies feel like they were cooperating on their patrols. To achieve all this I used the Unity Terrain and Pro Builder tools.
Game Design
As the Game Designer of the project it was upon me to think of all the different types of units players would be able control in the game. For that I looked at the most important gameplay aspects in RTS games as well as Extraction games. These were:
- Explore
- Fight
- Collect
Based on these three core mechanics I set out to design one unit for each of them. The abilities and design of the units were based on keywords I associated with these mechanics.
- Explore –> Light, Fast, Fragile
- Fight –> Large, Heavy, Sluggish
- Collect –> Versatile, Defensless, Compact
I then compared these archetypes with typical unit archetypes that are present in RTS games and designed the three main units for Recon: Recon, Fighter and Worker. Each of them has one designated task only they can do or they do best.
Download the Game Design Document HERE. Note: This isn’t the final version of the GDD, as the semester ended we had to stop working on the project. This is the version from that date.
On the left you can see the GDD entry for the Recon unit and its final design.
PROJECT TAKEAWAYS
Troubles
- New territory: RTS games are one of the few genres for which I had a blind spot prior to the project. Although I’ve tried to compensate for this weakness by playing some of the biggest names in the genre, I haven’t been able to fully integrate my knowledge of the genre into my thinking the way I have with other genres I play more often.
- Clash of ideals: The team for this project was made up of two different teams that had never worked together before. Each team had developed their own methods and workflows. These two different ways of working often clashed, causing constant friction within the team.
Successes
- Building bridges: As a game designer, I had to act as a liaison between two sides that were experiencing interpersonal friction. Through this work I was able to resolve some of the tensions and connect with these people on a deeper level than colleagues.
- New horizons: As this was my first „real“ 3D game, I was able to learn many things that were different from the 2D projects of the past. I was able to design the level for which I learned the Unity terrain tool as well as the ProBuilder features to create the level.
