ViceBound

Project Overview

ViceBound — Team project, 25+ people.  A third-person, cooperative stealth-action heist game set in a medieval fantasy world where players take on the roles of rogue-like characters infiltrating castles to steal magical artifacts, treasure, and secrets — either solo or in a coordinated team of thieves.

Role: Level Designer 
Responsibilities: Level layout, gameplay scripting, map blockout, asset placement, 

Goal Of The Level 

• This level is designed as a castle infiltration experience where the player must navigate the environment to locate a primary objective item and escape back to their hideout without being detected. The core goal is to encourage player freedom and strategic decision-making by allowing multiple entry points and paths through the castle, with no single “correct” route.
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  In addition to the main objective, the level includes optional loot such as chests, rewarding exploration and risk-taking. The layout supports different playstyles by providing opportunities to utilize player abilities at key moments, which are intentionally designed and scripted into the environment.
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  The overall design focuses on player choice, replay ability, and environmental guidance, ensuring players can approach the objective in their own way while always having clear points of interest to navigate toward.

Level Planning

Level Planning Doc

Before beginning the map, I conducted research on both video game environments and real-world castles. I looked at titles such as Kingdom Come: Deliverance and Dark Souls for gameplay-driven castle design, while also studying real-life medieval architecture to ground the level in realism.

The design of this level is heavily influenced by both historical and fantasy elements. From real-world references, I incorporated features such as high outer (curtain) walls, multiple towers, and a variety of interior spaces to reflect the structure of fortified castles. These elements also support player navigation, exploration, and tactical decision-making.

In addition, I drew inspiration from fantasy settings to introduce a slightly stylized and exaggerated aesthetic. This allowed for more creative flexibility in the layout, scale, and overall atmosphere of the level.

A central courtyard was included as a key focal point, as it appeared consistently in nearly every castle I studied. These combined references helped shape both the structure and mood of the environment, creating a space that feels grounded in realism while still supporting engaging and strategic gameplay.

After gathering references and establishing the core design direction, I created a 2D map using Figma. This helped me plan the layout of the castle,

Blockout Phase

More Pictures

During the blockout phase, cover elements were added to support stealth gameplay, allowing players to sneak past guards more effectively. A player hideout was also established, serving as a return point after retrieving items from the castle. In addition, a moat was implemented with multiple crossing points to create varied traversal and encounter opportunities.
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The team also planned to include a village to support additional gameplay systems and interactions; however, it was not completed within the available development time and was ultimately cut from the final blockout scope.

Gameplay & Iteration 

• 1. Cover For The Player 
• 2. Expanded Guard Placement and Environmental Cover Outside the Castle
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Cover For The Player
When I was first placing cover for the player, I knew the level needed cover but wasn’t sure about the exact amount or distribution. During this initial pass, I placed cover across the map while mentally simulating how the player might move through the environment. As I did this, I began to visualize potential routes and player flow, which guided my placement decisions.

After testing this layout, I felt something was off. The cover lacked variety and felt too uniform. To address this, I went through a second iteration where I added more diverse cover types and shapes. In my first pass, I primarily used simple box assets, but this didn’t feel natural from an environmental storytelling perspective. By introducing more variation, the environment felt more believable and visually engaging.

However, after this second pass, I realized the space was becoming too cluttered and unbalanced. There was excessive cover, which made it too easy for the player to bypass enemies without engaging with intended gameplay mechanics.
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In my final iteration, I reorganized the cover layout and removed unnecessary pieces. I also created more intentional gaps and open areas to encourage the player to use their abilities to progress and interact with enemy encounters as designed. This helped achieve a better balance between stealth options, readability, and intended challenge.

Expanded Guard Placement and Environmental Cover Outside the Castle
Initially, most enemy guards were placed inside the castle, with only a few positioned outside the main gate. However, after walking through the level, it became clear that there was too much downtime before the player encountered enemies, which negatively affected the pacing.

To improve this, enemy placement was redistributed to create a more consistent flow of encounters. Guards were added along the approach to the castle, including the main trail leading up to it. This introduced a tiered structure for encounters, where difficulty and intensity gradually increase as the player progresses.
The outer trail begins with a small number of guards, giving players space to learn and experiment with their abilities. At the castle exterior, the number of guards increases, raising the challenge. Finally, inside the castle and along the walls, the player encounters the highest concentration of enemies, creating the peak of difficulty.
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The player must retrieve the objective and then escape back to the safe house. Because of this, guards are not only placed for the approach but also serve as obstacles during the escape. Instead of the player being “safe” once they exit the castle, they must navigate past guards on the outer walls and along the trail again. This creates additional tension on the return journey and reinforces stealth mechanics, ensuring the experience remains engaging from start to finish.
In addition, cover was added outside the castle walls. This was not originally planned during the initial design phase; however, after reviewing how the exterior gameplay functioned, it became clear that the experience would benefit from additional environmental cover. Since guards were positioned along the outer areas of the castle, adding cover created more meaningful stealth opportunities for the player. This allowed for better navigation of enemy sightlines, breaking line of sight, and moving between safe positions while progressing toward the castle, further strengthening the stealth gameplay experience.

Key Takeaways
For this map, I implemented World Partition and Data Layers to improve performance and streaming efficiency. This was my first time working with both systems, and it was a strong learning experience.

I focused on applying Data Layers primarily to the interior of the castle, since those areas are not visible to the player until they enter the space. Initially, my approach was to load the entire castle interior at once as the player approached the entrance. However, I realized that this would be inefficient, as it would load large portions of the level that the player could not immediately see or interact with.

To address this, I restructured the castle interior into smaller, sectioned Data Layers. Each section now loads and unloads based on the player’s position within the castle. I used collision boxes as triggers to control when specific sections of the map load and unload, ensuring smooth transitions as the player moves through different areas.
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Additionally, I configured the World Partition loading range so that when the player is standing near the center of the castle, the entire structure is fully loaded, allowing for a seamless gameplay experience without visible pop-in.
The loading range is also set to ensure that key parts of the castle—such as its far end—are visible from the player’s spawn, hideout, or safehouse. This creates a strong visual landmark and gives the player a clear point of interest or vantage point to move toward, helping guide exploration and navigation through the level.