Love From Beyond
Solo Project | Creation Kit | Summer 2023 | 8 Weeks
"Love from Beyond" is a single-player level in Fallout 4. It is a narrative and puzzle-focused level.
The player must explore the home where an unfortunate tragedy happened, find keys, and solve riddles and puzzles to find the "treasure" hidden behind doors. By digging into clues, the player can find the truth about the treasure, along with the murderer who caused the tragedy.
Base Parameters
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1 narrative-focused main quest
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1 interior space
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6 rooms in total for the critical path and free exploration.
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Around 15 minutes to complete the main gameplay.
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8 weeks of development.
Design Goals
Goal 1
Combinations of Puzzle and Story
Goal 2
Clear Conveyance
Goal 3
Environmental Narrative
Goal 1: Combinations of Puzzle and Story
In this narrative-focused level, I combined story pieces within the puzzles to create an experience in which the player will naturally understand the story as they progress through the level.
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I want the player to read narrative elements to solve puzzles, and puzzles also lead them to the next narrative beat.
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Instead of using quest objectives, I used conveyance & notes to hint at the next step.
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Players solved the puzzle = Players learned the story.
First Puzzle = Simple Teaching Moment
The quest objective leads players to the first narrative note.
The note says the refrigerator key is on the dining table.
The player finds the refrigerator key on the dining table.
Through playtests, I noticed that once the player learned they needed to read notes or investigate to find the next needed item, they would start actively looking for narrative elements throughout the level.
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The challenge ramps up throughout the level.
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Instead of the note directly telling the player where the key/item is, the player now needs to solve it themselves by searching around the house based on the given hint.
Note: the key is near Mom's talent
The newspaper in the living room tells Mom's talent is power armor.
Find the key inside one of the power armor figures.
All Narrative Notes Combine Together
Every note used to solve a puzzle was part of a later challenge.
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After solving 4 individual puzzles, the player needed to combine all the notes together.
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The message on the terminal gives the hint: "The number they speak, the date forges order."
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The player will need to use the 4 notes to form a password.
Secret Ending Based on Exploration
Apart from the critical path, I want to encourage the player to explore the space and find more narrative-related items.
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2 secret notes unlock a secret ending, leading the player to the truth behind the story.
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3 different endings depending on the player's choices.
Without objective markers, clear conveyance was essential to lead the player to explore the locations of critical objects.
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I used light & shadow contrast to attract players' attention.
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Intense light to point out key objects and puzzle clues.
Light Pointing to the Dead Body
led to the first clue and newspaper on the table.
Light Pointing to the Safe
led to the next main puzzle that the player must solve
Goal 2: Clear Conveyance
Breadcrumbs
For puzzles requiring multiple steps, I set up breadcrumbs to ensure the player sees the ultimate goal first and then can figure out their current goal.
Ultimate Goal
Current Goal
Current Goal
Immediate Feedback
When the puzzle included multiple items, I placed them in the same viewport to ensure the player could see all the feedback reacting to their actions.
Players Can See Both Doors Open/Close
Players can see the lights' color change if they shoot the correct target.
More than the critical path, I also set up storytelling scenes throughout the level to tell more micro-stories of the family's life.
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Clues about the mother's talent, habits, and how she used to support the family.
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How their lifestyle changed after the mother passed away.
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The father's hidden secret and how he treated his son.
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The son's habits and his traces of life.
Mother's Talent - Power Armor
Goal 3: Environmental Narrative
Investigatable Objects
In addition, the player can pick up objects in the environment to learn more detailed information about each family member.
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These objects reveal more secrets about the family to the player.
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Even if the player doesn't find them, the critical path still gives the basic version of the story.
Gallery
Postmortem
What Went Well
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Players understood and solved puzzles quickly and rarely got confused.
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The story marries with puzzles tangibly. Explorer-type players can easily reach the true hidden ending and be satisfied with the freedom of the final choice.
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The overall layout is very close to a real structure of a family house. Players all agreed that the space does feel like a real home.
What Went Wrong
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The initial design document was lacking in gameplay. I adjusted the overall flow during the first playable milestone to enrich the player's interaction with the environment.
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The initial story did not fit the overall puzzle. I changed the motivation of the NPC so that the puzzles connect to each other while fitting into the story.
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A soft lock was discovered during playtests because the player had one pencil in their inventory. The required three pencils didn't spawn because I wrote an incorrect conditional statement in the code.
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Solution: Playtest with all types of conditions instead of using a clean level 1 character.
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What I Learned
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When something goes wrong, don't stick with the original design, and don't be afraid to make changes.
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Iteration and playtesting is the best way to see if puzzles and riddles confuse the player or not.
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I learned how to create a great experience using environmental storytelling.