Weekend Jam - Risk of Rain Medieval Fantasy
This past Saturday I set out to see if I could create my own level for the Risk of Rain franchise in UE5 using only a couple assets packs, the UE modeling tool, and a lot of elbow grease.
The vision was that of a Sci-fi Medieval Fantasy level that felt like it occupied a liminal space. Much like Risk of Rain, I wanted it to feel like an otherworldly location but with a juxtaposition to a very familiar architecture style. I wanted things to feel off in terms of our logical expectations surrounding medieval castles, and more in the Risk of Rain style of just treating the level like a playground. Movement needed to be fluid with terrain smooth and sloped properly for step height. With any Risk of Rain level, I constantly focused on verticality and providing a range of elevation changes to give fun vantage points to scope out a teleporter or loot.
Unlike some Risk of Rain levels, I wanted to put more of my own touch on things by introducing a wide array of level mechanics for traversal and encounters. Unfortunately there were not enough free hours in the weekend, so I did not have the time to get to implementation of the mechanics and instead chose to focus on the layout.
Breakable Props
One of the biggest annoyances in a game like Risk of Rain, or any game for that matter is getting stuck on collision when trying to dodge an attack. Lord knows I’ve been struggling with this after the latest map changes in Deadlock. However, props do wonders to improve the final art of a space and help with theming, so why not make them breakable? When I move through a space filled with crates and barrels, they break on collision with the player, or when shot. Some may be empty, while others contain XP, Health, money, or maybe even a common item if you’re lucky!
Grapple Points
Taking a page out of the Borderlands 4 notebook, I thought that regardless of the character it could be fun to have grapple points throughout the map to help with rapid vertical traversal. Being able to latch onto a point and swing to a platform is a classic game mechanic that is almost always fun though sometimes considered over-used. One concern is that this could conflict with a specific Survivor abilities, so I considered some alternatives.
Zipline
Ever since playing Just Cause & Black Ops Zombies as a kid, I’ve loved ziplines in video games, especially when it gives you a fantastic vista moment. Shooting from ziplines? Even better.
For maps as large and with as much verticality as many Risk of Rain 2, ziplines seemed like the perfect fit for cross-map traversal.
Windmill Launchers
A true medieval classic, Windmills take a steady breeze and convert it to milling power. But what if the wind was so strong, it provided lift power? Risk of Rain 2 is full of launch/bounce pads that help with vertical traversal, and a Windmill Launcher is no different, it’s just themed to suit the map aesthetic :)
Pay to Elevate
While launch pads are great and convenient, what if access to some elevated regions of the map were gated requiring players to spend more time gaining the funds to access the area which could potentially have a high item benefit, but not necessarily get them closer to their teleporter goals? Pay to use elevators may be the answer.
