Breaking down our main objective into smaller sub-goals that could take about 2 minutes each (this is based on our extensive knowledge of payday 2). We decided to shoot for 10 - 15 minutes of gameplay. Keeping the objective simple and intuitive is important in multiplayer games where players can drop in and out of the experience at any point in time. The main objective was to infiltrate the depot and steal an EMP bomb. We decided that the theme of the level was a small train depot run by a group of mercenaries shipping large weapons. Making this decision early on helped us create better movement options for the player and focus our efforts towards balancing patrols and objective placement. For the short period of time given to us, we decided to stick to stealth only. There's a lot to go over, so let’s get started!īefore we start drawing or building layouts, we make the call if we are going to create a Loud level (combat only), Stealth level (avoid combat), or Mixed style map. The idea was to create a small heist that took around 10-15 minutes to finish with high replayability.
Between the two of us, we figured out the scale of the project based on the needs of our studio. My partner took the role of Level Builder / Environment Artist and I took the role of Designer / Scripter. This map took 6 weeks to make between 2 people. I'll also break down how we consider using RNG (randomization), and the ways we apply it to objectives and mechanics to keep the level fresh and replayable. I'll start off by saying that Payday's stealth mechanics are not perfect and can be flawed in some areas, but I wanted to focus on the decisions behind the map design, specifically for the heist Murky Station. The skill level of this article is for junior to mid-tier level designers, if you are a senior designer some of this article may sound familiar to you.
While parts of this article are specific problems and solutions for Payday level design, I made sure to discuss them in a broader sense. Today, I wanted to talk about my adventures designing stealth levels for Payday 2 before leaving Starbreeze in January 2018. With a thriving subreddit, it has consistently been in the top ten games played on steam. It was released on Augand has since shipped over 50 DLC packs and counting.
Payday 2 is a four player cooperative first-person shooter with RPG elements that centers around robbing banks and stealing rare loot.
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