Project Analysis
The Red District is designed to fit into the Dead By Daylight gameplay cycle and steps were taken during development to ensure the map would play well.
While this map is purely a solo project, efforts were made to communicate to players and get feedback on tiles and elements of the map to ensure gameplay would be enjoyable. Comparisons were also made against other maps in Dead By Daylight to ensure the map scaled correctly in size. Further below is an in-depth look into the design philosophy behind The Red District.
In August 2022 I finished porting the project to UE4.27 and implementing it into Dead By Daylight as a playable mod!
TITLE
THE RED DISTRICT
ENGINE
UE5, UE4
TEAM SIZE
1
DURATION
NOV 2021 - DEC 2021
OVERVIEW VIDEO
RESPONSIBILITIES
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Designed and built the environment in Unreal Engine 5.
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Iterated and changed elements based on player feedback.
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Designed the environment to fit into the gameplay flow of Dead By Daylight.
PRE-PLANNING
EARLY DRAFT -> FINAL
I started by creating a simple whiteboard of the map I envisioned in paint. Overtime this transitioned into the maps current layout as I added and removed areas and planned out the general location of generators and objectives for the survivors and killers.
DESIGN DISCUSSION
The Red District takes players into the dark underbelly of a once flourishing city now turned into an abandoned wasteland where the only population is you, and the killer.
By analysing and following design conventions found throughout Dead By Daylights current map rotation and using player feedback on what makes a map "good" and "bad" I set out a series of guidelines to follow when designing this map: (Note. Dead By Daylight offers such a vast variety in gameplay experiences so I have picked the most consistent and notable requirements found in every match)
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Design a map both compressed into a small area while not making players feel constricted into narrow paths.
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Design a map large enough so the killer cannot reach both sides of the map too quickly while not being a daunting task.
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Provide a central "hub" of the map where all paths can lead.
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Allow for vertical movement, otherwise certain abilities will not be functional.
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Spacing generators, hooks, pallets, exit gates and windows consistently so players are not compressed into small areas of the map.
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Offering both "strong" and "weak" interactive loops for survivors.
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Creating "Deadzones" (Areas where there are little or no resources for the survivor) while promoting survivors to enter these areas with generators.
"Design a map both compressed into a small area while not making players feel constricted into narrow paths."
Giving players freedom of movement.
The map both offers a small area, while not constricting most movement into a narrow pathway. Here you can see an example of that where small pathways intertwine, despite being a closed pathway there is still freedom for players to navigate.
"Design a map large enough so the killer cannot reach both sides of the map too quickly while not being a daunting task."
Consistent map size.
The distance between 2 of the furthers generators apart is roughly 90m. Using a 4.6m/s killer this would take the killer, assuming no movement blockage, about 20 seconds to navigate. Compared to a map such as "The Game" where the distance between 2 sides is 90m, this is fairly average for a Dead By Daylight map.
"Provide a central "hub" of the map where all paths can lead."
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Flipping established gameplay mechanics.
This area acts as a "hub" with all paths leading to it. The building is the basement / shack with a twist. Instead of the basement being underground, this itteration of the basement is placed in the sky, with 2 enterances. This alleviates player concerns around the basement often being a waste of precious time and killers camping the enterance. This allows killers to quickly begin fun and interactive chases with survivors at the trade off of allowing survivors easier access to the basement. It also acts as a tool for vertical mobility.
Creating gameplay variation.
The Red District offers players a variety of interactive loops, some are weak and some are strong. During design I used player feedback to find concerns over loops and tiles. One major complaint is that loops should not connect together in such a way where multiple "strong" loops are linked. This map is designed so that while loops will connect, they alternate between strong and weak tiles. Pictured is a somewhat strong pallet but one that allows certain killers such as "The Huntress" to be more effective on.
(Incase you're wondering, a "loop" in Dead By Daylight is somewhere a survivor, while being chased by the killer, will run around as to stop them from being killed)
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"Offering both "strong" and "weak" interactive loops for survivors."
FINAL TRAILER
Communicating danger through visual language.
An element of The Red District not touched on much is the visuals. When designing I wanted to give every area a theme and mood. Tall buildings play with line of sight. Dark alleyways feature dark red lighting giving a moody theme while open areas are littered and scattered with a rainbow of colours. Every street and path tries to tell a story such as the modern, glowing main street hiding the homeless structures set up behind. The map simply fades into black as you approach the edges, similarly to Dead By Daylight maps, they are mere captures of the real world and a small screenshot of a larger city. The Red District aims to tell a story as well as being enjoyable to play on.
This map was an amazing chance to expand my skillset as a level designer and I gained more experience in Unreal Engine as well as creating tighter playspaces while keeping the gameplay flow of a more open environment.
Notes and Additional Information:
This is a custom map and is not representative of work by Behaviour Interactive. I do not claim to be an employee of Behaviour Interactive. Some assets used in this map are owned by Behaviour Interactive and I do not claim to have created or modelled any of the assets shown on this map.