Fan-Made — ASSASSIN'S CREED LEVEL DESIGN

Below is a design for a fantasy Level inspired by the Assassin’s Creed franchise.
I enjoy the level design in their games because they like to offer the player multiple ways of reaching the same goal. It is built in The Sims 3.

BACKGROUND

The story idea behind this level is that this is an enemy headquarters that the player must infiltrate to steal an important Quest Item or Assassinate the enemy Boss (or both). The house is a top-secret research institute which is somewhere in the British Empire, some time before the year 1900.

While I imagine that the building is heavily guarded by British forces, the inspiration for the design of the building itself is European. The idea is that this institute was founded by a secretive European order (Ex: Templars) and is now in the hands of the big, bad British Empire.

The building itself is laid out in a U-Shape with a courtyard in the middle and fountains at the back. The house is decorated with a different exterior design on each floor in a faux-Renaissance inspiration. At ground level the stones are large and irregular but they get smaller and finer as you move up the building. The top floor is decorated with red and white bricks.

GOAL

The top floor of the house is the Boss’s office. It is difficult to access and the Boss may notice the player and fight back if they are not careful. The office contains loot in a chest which in this case represents some important artefact or document that the player is trying to obtain on the Assassins’ behalf.

**The Boss is represented by this burgundy mannequin.**

LOOT - The goal of this level waits for the player in this small chest, just inches away from where the Boss is working.
Copies of this chest appear throughout the level and represent bonuses, power-ups or loot.

SPAWN

The player would spawn near the front of the building (by the statue, where the random Sims are standing). This gives the player an opportunity to view the whole building before starting the level. There are also numerous bushy plants in front of the building to give the player somewhere to hide while they plan their first move. This is typical of many Assassin’s Creed levels.

ENTERING THE HOUSE

Here the player has the option of storming the front door, however it is guarded by two enemy soldiers who will attack the player on sight. The roof is also defended by enemies with rifles who can see and attack the player from a great distance. Staying hidden in the bushes might be advisable. Most of the windows appear to block the player and it’s not yet clear how the player might get into the building undetected.

The house is swarming with enemy Redcoats - Or at least red-coated mannequins!

PLAN OF THE GROUND FLOOR

The main floor contains multiple rooms. Most, but not all, have enemy soldiers inside.
Each wing also has a staircase leading up to the second floor.

COURTYARD

The back courtyard might be the easiest way to enter the house. It contains many bushes and a haystack that the player can hide in, however there is one guard permanently stationed in the corner, watching the courtyard. Guards on the roof may also be able to see the player in the courtyard.

In the middle of the courtyard I have placed a fire pit, however I considered that this would also be a good place for an alarm bell, a common item in Assassin’s Creed levels. When an enemy sees you they will often ring the nearest alarm bell to alert other enemies. This floods the area with guards who will search every bush and hiding place for the player.

Despite these risks the courtyard remains a good option. There are three doors leading into the house from here, so if the player decides to infiltrate the ground floor and go up the stairs, this might be their first step. The presence of only one single guard also makes it easier as it is possible for the player to take out this enemy before any other guards see or hear.

ALTERNATIVE ENTRY POINTS

It turns out that not all of the windows in the house are alike. The Boss’s office has two large pane-less windows which the player could access with a well-timed jump from one of the lower roofs. There are two issues with this method: First the roof is well-guarded by no less than six guards who are all able to attack the player from a distance with firearms. Second, the windows are right next to - not behind - the Boss, so the Boss will likely notice the player more easily if they come through the window versus climbing the stairs (Boss has their back to the staircase).

Despite these risks, if the player times their climb up the side of the house carefully it is possible that this method might be faster and more discreet than infiltrating the first floor and climbing the stairs. The high number of guards does not remove their weaknesses entirely and they will tend to pace up and down along the length of the roof they are standing on. The player can therefore wait for the right moment when guards might not see them.

TOP OF THE HOUSE

The top of the house is decorated with a school bell in keeping with the academic theme (this house is meant to be some kind of research institute after all). As with the fire pit in the courtyard, this could represent an alarm bell that the guards would ring upon seeing the player. This makes the highest-up guards the greatest obstacle to a player who decides to try climbing the roof and jumping in through the window.

First, the top guards have a smaller platform and so likely do not move around as much as the guards on the lower roofs do. Because they are higher up they may also have a greater range of vision. Finally, they don’t turn around completely. While the guards on the lower roofs may walk up and down the roof, leaving their backs turned for longer bits of time, the higher-up guards probably only shuffle left and right a little bit. A player who is committed to jumping through the window might want to climb all the way up and take out the two top guards before they can ring that bell.

Mandatory Perch + Haystack Combo

A player who reaches the highest point of the house’s roof will notice a common (near-universal) element of building roofs in Assassin’s Creed. There is a perch, from which the player may “synchronize” or take a good look at the surrounding area. There is usually a haystack beneath it on the ground. The player gets a good view from the top but when they’re ready to come down (“Leap of Faith”) they have an obvious safe place to jump to. Sometimes the safe place to jump to is a body of water but it is usually a haystack or a cart filled with hay that breaks the player’s fall. In both cases the player can remain hidden from enemies until they leave the haystack. This gives them time to review the threats on the ground before acting.

LEADING THE PLAYER WITH HAY

Like a trail of bread crumbs, hay is often used in the Assassin’s Creed franchise to show the player a particularly good or useful place to hide. One of the defining characteristics of the franchise is that the player can hide almost anywhere and should remain hidden as much as possible. Outdoors, the player can hide in most shrubbery and indoors they can hide behind all furniture.

Hay that is not there to break the player’s fall usually indicates an important hiding place that the players should notice. Stacks of hay are often placed near an important entry point or along the path of an enemy that the player might want to take out. In this case I wanted to lead the player to the drainpipe on the side of the house. The drainpipe, like the hay, is a visual cue that fans of the franchise will recognize. It tells the player that this is a place where they can climb all the way up to the roof. Most walls can always be climbed if there are windows or other features close enough to each other that the player can jump between them, so this house would probably be completely climbable on all faces. However, there is nothing else in the design of the house that explicitly invites the player to climb. I wanted at least one spot where this option would be evident.

There are two drainpipes (one on each side of the house) and only one has a haystack next to it. Players who have trouble making it through the house from the main floor may see these cues and realize that there is another way to solve this level. They may not realize it until they are hiding in the haystack but the hope is that the hay itself draws them closer to the pipe and that this combination of visual cues will be a useful hint. The haystacks are used so liberally in the franchise that they often feel out of place. Horse-themed décor has been added in the hopes of mitigating this.

WHAT DOES THE LONG WAY LOOK LIKE?

So you’ve decided that climbing to the roof is too dangerous.
Let’s return to the main floor of the house and look at the rooms in more detail.

THE BAR

The Bar is adjacent to the back courtyard and is one of the two rooms containing a staircase up to the second floor. Off-duty guards enjoy a drink here. The entire house is off-limits to the player, including the bar, so even these guards will attack the player on sight. It would be very difficult to get past these four guards without causing a fuss because they are facing different directions so one of them will almost certainly spot the player no matter which direction they come from.

THE ‘PRIVY’

Next to the bar is a bathroom with a toilet. No guards are using it at the moment. Assassin’s Creed games usually do not have bathrooms in the buildings but for this design I wanted to include it. Usually the setting is in a city or other settlement where we assume there are many bathrooms hidden. My idea was that this facility is somewhat remote and must have this amenity. This room is a good hiding / fighting spot. In the event that the player is seen by a guard it might be possible to limit the amount of noise and alarm caused by luring them into this room and fighting them here. This room should be out of sight and earshot of the guards. (There is also loot in the Privy)

THE HALL

The Hall connects the front door to the courtyard and also joins the Privy and the Billiard room. There are no guards posted inside, however there are several guards in the adjacent billiard room who might see or hear the player through the large archway that separates these rooms. Most rooms in the house are separated not by doors but by large wide archways. This is for the same reason as the large pane-less windows in the Boss’s office: It’s a visual queue for the player to confirm for them that they can move through here and to make doing so easier. Of course the improved visibility and movement of the space also makes it easier for the guards to see, hear or attack the player.

BILLIARD ROOM

Similar to the Bar, the Billiard Room is a popular hangout spot for the off-duty guards. The billiard room is adjacent to the Hall and the Mess Hall and contains four guards enjoying a game. Through the wide arches they will see most of the adjacent rooms however the guards slowly walk around the billiard table as they take their turns in the game. This will result in some moments when none of the guards are looking directly into the Mess Hall or Hall and slipping past their field of view might be possible. It is not advisable for players to try to go into this room. Like the Bar they will be caught very quickly. Players would be well advised to go through the courtyard, where guards are fewer and hiding places more plentiful.

MESS HALL

It’s not that messy but it’s where the guards can enjoy a meal. The Mess hall is adjacent to the Billiard Room and is across the courtyard from the Bar. Just like the Bar, the Mess Hall has a staircase up to the second floor. Going through the Mess Hall is the player’s best chance of reaching the second floor undetected. There is only one guard in here and they have their back to most of the room as they are working at the counter. This guard will probably notice the player trying to sneak up the stairs but the player can sneak up behind them to take them out discreetly. The real risk in the Mess Hall is the wide open archway to the Billiard Room, where any of the four guards might witness the player in the middle of heinously attacking the guard in the Mess Hall.

PLAN OF THE SECOND FLOOR

SECOND FLOOR: THE LABYRINTHINE LIBRARY

So you made it to the second floor? A-MAZE-ing! Unfortunately the staircases from the Bar and Mess Hall do not go any higher and the player must use another staircase to keep climbing. The major obstacle is that the library is a labyrinth of bookshelves with many dead-ends. The player must find their way through it to reach the stairs to the third floor. The maze is not very difficult but I assume that the player would not have a top-down view of the map as in the image above. With a first or third person perspective it might be possible to get lost in here. Two of the dead ends have loot chests and two of them have guards waiting to catch the player.

The maze is stretched across two rooms on each wing of the house (four rooms total) which are connected in the central room above the Hall. This is where the player will end up when they make it through the maze and it is a dangerous room. The centre of the library is not so labyrinthine and has more regular shelving which forms small reading alcoves. Unfortunately for the player there are four guards posted in this room and they shuffle back and forth between the various reading nooks. I would hope to plan the movement and animations of these guards such that it would be possible to sneak past these guards with correct timing.

This room is going to be the first major obstacle for players who have so far gone undetected in the house. In theory the player might be able to hide behind a bookshelf or take advantage of a moment when no one is looking to sneak by. Or maybe even sneak around behind the staircase itself. In practice the player will probably get caught here and will have to fight these guards quickly and quietly, before the commotion causes an army of guards to come up (or down) the stairs. These guards would probably not have firearms on them, so a quick melee victory can avoid alerting the other guards in the house and allow the player to climb to the third floor.

THIRD FLOOR: OFFICERS’ OFFICES

The third floor is a simple square room. This is the office where the higher-up members of the institute conduct secret special research. This floor offers a challenge similar to the floor below. While none of the guards directly face the staircase, it is highly unlikely that the player can be sneaky enough to get past all these guards in such a small quiet room. In all likelihood the nearest guard will spot the player before they even finish climbing to the third floor.

These officers should have better weapons / skills versus the regular guards. This floor is to double-check the player’s skills before allowing them up to the top floor. If the player was stealthy enough to sneak by the second-floor guards, or skilled enough in combat to quickly dispatch them, this floor will give them more of a challenge.

REACHING THE GOAL

A player reaches the Boss’s office either by jumping through one of the pane-less windows or by coming up the stairs. This offers one last battle before the player can claim the Quest Item loot chest next to the Boss’s desk. If the player comes up the stairs, the Boss will not be facing them. Under normal Assassin’s Creed rules, the player would be able to sneak up behind the Boss and take them out with a single blow.

There is a trade-off of difficulty here. A player who fought through the whole house can skip the final battle with the Boss, whereas a player who avoided all the traps of the house by coming in the window will be caught by the Boss. The Boss should have better weapons / skills even than the third-floor officers and so should be able to put a bit of a fight before giving up the prize.

100% COMPLETION?!

Is that it? All this level has to offer? It would be incomplete without an Easter egg or extra loot. There is a hidden room in this level: the basement. The stairs down to the basement are hidden underneath the staircase that leads up from the Bar to the second floor. This is intentional because this Easter egg is a prize for someone who fearlessly explores every corner of the level.

A player who did not know of this staircase would have to have checked every corner and have fought every guard in the Bar (maybe the whole house) to find it. I put this staircase only in the Bar because I believe players are less likely to accidentally find this one. Most players will probably notice that going through the Mess Hall to the second floor is way easier than going through the Bar. Players who explore the Hall and Privy and approach the bar from that side are also more likely to discover this compared with players who approach from the back courtyard, again rewarding those who took the time to explore the house thoroughly.

Level Design Concept - Fantasy Assassin's Creed-style Level