The Audit

Level Blockout

Level Overview

The level is a Hub-and-Spoke Dungeon. The player must explore non-euclidean spaces to find two objectives, with the final goal of escaping the simulation. There are basic weapons and ammo pickups around the environment. The player will fend off enemies while navigating the confusing environment and managing their ammo supply.

The hub is an abandoned mall that loops infinitely. When the player traverses down the stairs and reaches the end of the mall, they are teleported back to the beginning. They maintain their relative location in an identical-looking space so it does not look like they have been teleported. This creates the illusion of an endlessly descending space.

Narrative Overview

The level takes place within The Consumer Correction Facility, a decaying digital simulation designed to rehabilitate and punish criminals through tailored simulations. The player takes on the role of Subject 808, a new arrival whose crime is Tax Evasion. His method of reconditioning is forced consumerism. The environment is rendered as an infinite shopping mall. The facility is managed by a degraded Warden AI. The simulation has glitched, trapping Subject 808 for an indefinite sentence. The player must navigate the facility, battling "The Defaulted" other subjects who have lost their minds in the simulation.

Maintenance Corridor

The path to the waterpark is an empty maintenance corridor. At the intersection of two paths, whichever way the player looks, there will be 3 large enemies in that corridor. The other path will be empty except for some ammo on the floor. If the player turns around and goes the easy way, they will find themselves walking towards another identical intersection. This loops until the player decides to face the enemies. The exit to the waterpark will spawn in the tunnel behind the enemies. The player will likely enter this area with very little ammo and be discouraged from immediately engaging the enemies.

The image above is part of the maintenance tunnel blueprint. This is responsible for flickering the lights, teleporting the player back to the beginning, playing audio cues, and resetting the enemies. Before this, a raycast is sent out from the player to determine which hallway they are looking down first. This determines where the enemies and the exit will be spawned. The more the player loops, the more unlucky they will feel, seemingly defying the odds and picking the wrong direction every time, until they realize that it's a trick.

Echo Beach

The indoor waterpark is a maze-like space designed to resemble liminal spaces that are very triggering for some people. It is meant to appear familiar but off and uncanny, like a bad dream. This is where the player obtains the shotgun. To exit this section, the player must flip the auxiliary power switch in the breaker room. This powers the doors, and also turns on the power to the cinema.

The Cinema

When the player first enters this part of the mall, the cinema is on the ceiling, and the exit to the level is on the ground. When the player approaches the exit, the warden AI rotates the entire room, flipping it upside-down so the player cannot leave. The interior of the cinema is larger than the outside. I did this to add to the uncanny feeling. I want everything in the simulation to feel a little off, or even impossible, like a glitch in the matrix. This space is very dark and will encourage the player to use their flashlight. Here they will find the power core they need to interact with the physics engine.

Gravity Shift

The physics engine is a physical manifestation of the systems being used to run the simulation. When the player first approaches it, they will be prompted that they require a power core to interact with it. When the machine is activated, it will flip the player's gravity upside down, allowing them to walk on the ceiling. Walking on the ceiling will allow the player to reach the exit and get to the final part of the level.

This blueprint is designed to smoothly reorient the player after going through a portal. This is necessary when the player's gravity is flipped at the end of the level. Many of the doorways in the level are secretly portals, allowing for the illusion of non-euclidean geometry.

Expanding Hallway

The path to the simulation room (the escape from the simulation) is a short hallway. As the player starts to walk down the hallway, it stretches out, expanding as the exit gets further away. The more the player runs towards the exit, the longer the hallway becomes. The simple solution is to walk backwards, this shortens the hallway until the exit comes to the player.

This image is from the expanding hallway blueprint. This portion of the blueprint is designed to create a dramatic FOV shift as the hallway expands. The hallway "expands" by simply moving the exit door further away. By altering the player's FOV, it creates a dolly-zoom effect that makes the walls look like they are stretching as the exit gets further away. This makes the overall effect much more convincing.