The Locked
Puzzle Dungeon
Level Designer/Scripter
ENGINE: Creation Kit
LANGUAGE: Papyrus
DEV TIME: 7 Weeks
GAME MODE: Single Player
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Level Design Doc
Design
Teaching Puzzles
One of the key problems I had to solve when designing "The Locked" was how to teach the player how the binary doors worked without boring or frustrating them. To do this, I laid out puzzles so that they slowly increase in complexity over time. The first wing of the level is meant to introduce the player to the basic premise of the level, as well as the main puzzle themes: levers that activate traps or ambushes, and levers that change how the larger level can be navigated. While these puzzles are simple and harmless, they can be completed very quickly by savvy players.
First Wing Rooms
The second wing introduces more danger to the player, but doesn't significantly increase puzzle complexity. The whole first floor is essentially an extended tutorial that ensures they player understands how binary doors work, with combat and traps interspersed to maintain player interest.
Second Wing Rooms
The basement floor is where the player begins to explore the consequences of the binary door system. The third wing (first wing in the basement) includes one puzzle where opening the room door blocks off the direct path to that door and another puzzle where the correct door to exit through is not clear.
Third Wing Rooms
After the third wing, the player finds the Staff of the Architect, which allows them to use levers from a distance. This opens up puzzle design, and really tests whether the player understands how the binary doors work, forcing the player to use the staff to flip levers in hard to reach places or even other rooms. I felt confident designing these more advanced puzzles because I gave the player enough time to acclimate to the binary door mechanic before they were forced to demonstrate mastery of it.
Fourth Wing Rooms
Assisting Navigation
Because many of the puzzles in "The Locked" rely on the player understanding how levers flipped in one room effects another, it was critical that I design and decorate each room in such a way that it was easier for the player to remember where they were. To this end I made sure to choose the Skyrim tileset with the most variety: Nordic ruins. To further improve mental mapping, I divided the level into wings, each with its own theme. The first and fourth wing rooms are snowy. The second wing rooms use the base Nordic theme. The third wing is a series of crypts.
 Snow ThemeCool tones with lots of rubble |  Crypt ThemeDark and filled with graves |
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 Normal Nord ThemeLots of statues and large spaces |
Within these themes, I focused on having a unique element in each important room that the player might need to return to, such as the fallen statues in the first floor hub or the shrine to the staff in the central room of the basement.
 First Floor HubFallen statues and central grate points of interest |  Shrine to the StaffStaff shrine and statue pillars |
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Puzzle Consequences
Early on, while testing my binary door mechanic before settling on a design for the level, I found that many of the puzzles devolved to the player searching for a lever, using it, and then continuing on. This was boring and wouldn't challenge the kind of puzzle-loving players who were my target audience.
To solve this problem, I started looking into what unexpected consequences the binary door system had, particularly when using the Staff. One of the most interesting consequences of the system was that you could open a door with a lever, go through the door, turn around, and close the door by using the staff on the lever. I also found that most players will not consider opening doors using levers outside of their immediate room, even if they could easily do so using the staff. I incorporated puzzles based on these consequences into the final wing of the level as a last challenge for the player.
 Lever and Door PuzzleThis lever is easily visible from the door and must be triggered with the staff to advance |  Lever in Another RoomThis room doesn't seem to have a lever, until you realize that it looks out into another room which does have one |
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