Vengeance

Dev Info:

  • Game: Fallout 4

  • Genre: RPG, FPS

  • Play time: 1 hour

  • Mode: Single Player

  • Team Size: 1 Developer

  • Engine: Creation Kit

  • Development Time: 300 hours 

Level Summary

Vengeance is a standalone mod made for Fallout 4. The level takes place early in the game, after the player’s just discover Red Rocket. They meet Axel, a shy stuttering nerd, asking for your help. He explains that someone killed his brother in the utopia city, New Rome. Team up with Axel to his brother’s killer to justice. Once at the city, you explore the large city, including, a bank, mansion, vault, and a power plant. Uncover the dark secrets of the city and help bring justice to a town in need.

Responsibilities:

  • Level Design Document Conception

  • Quest Design and Implementation

  • Story writing

  • Scripting

  • Balancing

  • World Building

  • Lighting

Design Goals:

This was my thesis level in Fallout 4. The goal was to build a complex narrative involving several subversions (plot twists) to see if they engage players. So I developed an original narrative quest, that keeps the player guessing throughout the story. I wanted to create a large city that feels lived in and like it has a history. On top of the large city, I developed 4 unique interior locations, a bank, a mansion, a vault, and a power plant. Each one feels unique and is fully decorated and flushed out with combat. The combat is complex and engaging, which complements the intense story the player is going through.

  • Meeting Vance, the Mayor

  • Learning Axel's Plans

  • Nuka-Cola Bank

  • Overview Map of New Rome

  • Display Room in Mansion

  • Brothers Revealed

  • Vance's Death

  • Power Plant

Post Mortem

What went well?

  • Design documentation went well. This was my most detailed map in the documentation phase, which led to spotting problems early and being able to fix them and adapt before they became a large problem.

  • Aesthetic implementation went well. This was my largest level I’ve ever built on my own. A concern early was if the spaces would feel accurately decorated. Because of this concern, I spent more time focusing on it, and I think every interior space and the whole small world feels as pretty as Fallout 4 can get.

  • Wrote a compelling story that introduced several plot twists and subversions that engaged players to create a dynamic narrative.

What went wrong?

  • Initially, scope. This was my largest level I’ve ever had full ownership over. That meant I had to budget and plan my time accordingly. In the early stages of development, that was not going very well. But as we got deeper into the project, we became much more focused and manageable so that the level still was developed on schedule.

Even better if?

  • Would love to implement more scripted moments with more AI to create more intense moments like a mob gathering around the mansion. If I had more time, would love to engage the player more in the city of New Rome, rather than keeping the majority of the gameplay in the interior spaces.