Julia Redden
Game Designer
Engine: Unreal Engine 4
Role: Level/Associate Game Designer
Team Size: ~50
Platform: PC, Playstation 4&5, XBox, Switch
Project Snapshot
RUIN is a DLC for Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach in which players play as Cassie, a young girl searching for her missing friend in an abandoned Pizzaplex full of hostile animatronics, puzzles, and a mystery better left buried.
Cassie, using a mysterious mask that reveals the AR world to her, must survive the Pizzaplex to save her friend.
Level Designer
As one of three level designers, I designed and implemented three levels, designed and implemented a boss encounter, implemented transitory spaces, and created sound FX maps for audio for the first four levels.
Most of the areas in RUIN already existed in Security Breach, but I designed, whiteboxed, and implemented the only space that did not: the Sinkhole.
The Sinkhole
Level: The Sinkhole was the final level in RUIN. By now, our hero Cassie has been through hell and had to deactivate her favorite animatronic, all in the name of saving her friend, Gregory. When she gets to the very bottom of the Sinkhole, she discovers that she hasn't been saving Gregory, but the Mimic, a homicidal robot that's been trapped there for years and now is free.
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Design Goal: To create a tense, uneasy atmosphere building up to the climax of the story, and then have a frenetic chase to one of three endings.
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Details: The Sinkhole was the only level that required creating physical space that did not exist in the original Security Breach. I worked on this level from paper prototype to final touches, with liberal application of tight crawl spaces, musty old abandoned pizzeria rooms, and an alien underground cave with red water and glowing waterfalls to make the player feel uneasy, out of place, and like they've crossed a threshold to somewhere they were never supposed to be.
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I also shaped the level as a downward spiral, so the player is constantly descending deeper into the ground until they meet the Mimic. During the chase, they run upwards until they find more old building fragments where they can use the elevator, but no matter what ending the player gets, it's implied they're trapped deep underground, possibly forever.
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Security Breach had established that this place under the pizzaplex was the old pizzeria that the player had run in FNAF: Pizzeria Simulator, so I chose to pull elements from that game that would excite older players and intrigue newer players. The biggest example is the inclusion of Candy Cadet, a character that appeared in Pizzeria Simulator that told unnerving stories if given tokens.
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What I would do differently: If I could go back and re-design the space, the first thing I'd do is add a more substantive gameplay sequence in the underground cave with the glowing water, maybe with a puzzle or mini music men lurking in the water to hearken to two separate sequences the player had played previously. At the time, I believed that searching for prizes would keep most players there long enough to pace the level, but players ended up zooming through the space, so I would have liked to give them something to both break up the long descent and to allow the area to build up more atmosphere (especially after how hard art, VFX, and lighting worked on it).
Glamrock Salon
Level: Glamrock Salon is the level immediately after a tutorial for the AR Inhibitor mechanic. Cassie, our hero, is midway through her adventure trying to save her friend, Gregory, when she comes across her favorite animatronic, Roxy. Roxy runs when she hears Gregory's voice, and as Cassie desperately tries to warn her friend, she finds herself forced to get through obstacles in the AR world that hit uncomfortably close to home.
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Design Goal: To push the player to master the AR Inhibitor mechanic. The AR Inhibitor forced forced the player to stay in the hazardous AR world until they either turned off the inhibitor or were hunted and killed by the enemy, MXIS.
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From a narrative perspective, this level also was meant to give the player insight on Cassie herself, and why she is willing to go through so much to help Gregory.
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Details: There were two AR Inhibitors that would trap the player in the AR World, and one area they had to solve a puzzle to exit and escape to a place outside of the Inhibitors' influence. I built the spaces to feel like they were too open and vulnerable to attack while keeping them small so the player did have a reasonable chance of reaching and deactivating every inhibitor before being killed by MXIS.
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I took advantage of the unreality of the AR world to dig into the player character, Cassie, and give players context of why she is braving the dangers of the Pizzaplex for Gregory and how much she loves and admires the character of Roxy. These beats paid off later in the game when Cassie encountered Roxy, and then when she found Gregory.
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I designed and built this level from paper prototype, whitebox, gameplay creation and refinement, and then collaborating with Sets to achieve clearly communicated story beats and a sense of character.
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What I would do differently: If I were to redesign the space today, I would make the passages and gameplay areas more enclosed, and add a roof to them to make them feel more claustrophobic. MXIS is menacing, and I like giving the players space to kite it to and fro, but I think that the wide open space made it too easy to run and strafe around MXIS.
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Cupcake Bakery
Level: The Cupcake Bakery was a level immediately after the maze-like and slippery catwalks level, so I designed it to be more linear. This served two purposes: it gave the player a sense of tonal variety, and it allowed the player to focus mainly on two freshly introduced mechanics.
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Design Goal: To teach the player about Audio Distractions--a mechanic where they could guide the movements of animatronics through cameras--and to teach the player about AR Inhibitors--a mechanic that trapped players either in the real world or in the AR world, locking them out of puzzles and into dangerous situations until they deactivated the inhibitors.
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Details: The Cupcake Bakery was a preexisting area from Security Breach, but I was given the opportunity to design a level within it using new structures because there had been construction and vandalism within the building in-story. I used the freedom to design a much more linear and controlled experience with narrow paths that guided the player to clearly see and understand the new mechanics. I also added multiple canned scares paced out with the intention of keying up the player and keeping the threatening atmosphere thick.
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What I'd do differently: The space had a few canned scares to keep the tension up, but if I were to design it today, I would space the scares out more to avoid the player missing some or growing numb to them.
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Bonus: Monty Boss Fight
Level: There is an extended transitory area between Glamrock Salon and the next level. Later in production, we realized that the transitory area dragged somewhat, so I was given the privilege of designing a boss encounter with the character, Monty.
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Design Goal: To make an engaging and scary boss encounter that wraps up the story of Monty in a satisfying way.
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Details: I took heavy inspiration from my favorite sequence in Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Monty lurks in the water, hunting the player, as they try to climb on to different boxes that are just too far away to jump to without going in the water. After the player braves the water and does a puzzle while in the water (specifically designed to give the player a panic moment), they're treated to a cinematic where Monty is electrocuted by a neon sign of a character he killed. Players who pay attention to the story can enjoy the irony.
What I'd do differently: If I were to return to this design, I would love to make Monty feel more like an actual alligator. Floating under the water, watching the player, and lunging for them if they hesitate at the edge of the boxes too long or go into the water. To compensate for the harder difficulty, I'd like to give the player some means of tricking Monty, like pushing a mannequin to the edge for him to lunge at while they run to the next box. I would also tweak the box placement to force the player to take a more circuitous path to the doors.
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