Under & Up
Summary
Under and Up is a single player mod for Hello Neighbor. The player has been trapped within the neighbor’s yard, while the neighbor’s house is in the middle of a radical plumbing renovation. The player starts out in the neighbor's gardening shed and has to navigate verticality through three levels to solve the water pressure, steam valve, and platforming puzzles in order to open the exit gate, all the while avoiding the ever-present neighbor, Sosed.
Design Commentary
Conveyance: Water Pressure Puzzle
Hello Neighbor’s puzzles offered an interesting design challenge due to possible puzzle element combinations. The challenge was Hello Neighbor did not provide conveyance mechanics to support the player comprehension of puzzle progression.
I created a water pressure puzzle progression feedback system to convey the cause and effect of using the valve handle knobs to reroute the water pressure back to the central Hub. The problem is that the stock Valve has only auditory feedback when activated or deactivated.
Hello Neighbor’s puzzles offered an interesting design challenge due to possible puzzle element combinations. The challenge was Hello Neighbor did not provide conveyance mechanics to support the player comprehension of puzzle progression.
I created a water pressure puzzle progression feedback system to convey the cause and effect of using the valve handle knobs to reroute the water pressure back to the central Hub. The problem is that the stock Valve has only auditory feedback when activated or deactivated.
Conveyance: Lock Pick
A challenge I ran into is teaching the player what a lock pick looks like and its intended use, in particular, opening up my level red locks. My solution was to create a miniature vignette where I place broken open red locks around the lock pick to show its use. The goal of lock pick vignette is to show the player that the lock pick can be used on the red lock in the basement to access the steam generator.
Flow: Locked and Unlock Paths
When playtesting my level, I encountered a design problem which was the initial flow opportunities that the player has available to them.
To increase path options, I implemented additional flow paths for the player with locked paths, unlocked paths, and platforming paths. Locked paths reward the player for finding and using tools. Unlocked paths are “hidden in plain sight” paths that require exploration of the level to uncover them. Platforming paths require either precise jumping or the use of stackable objects. The additional paths support varied styles allowing players to choose their own path.
The added variety of flow paths solved bottleneck problems that the player encountered when trying to execute on puzzles and evade Sosed.
One of the additional flow paths that I implemented is the roof air vent system. To reward the player for unlocking the roof air vents, via the crowbar tool, I created a stealthy vent system with three exits that enable the player to drop down into all of the house's major rooms. To allow the player to time their exit from the vents, I also created "porthole" windows in the vent system that allows the player to safely observe and Sosed's pathing from a safe spot.
Chunking: Puzzle Elements
I wanted to focus in on making the puzzles in my level easily distinguishable and decipherable because of Sosed’s whereabouts creating a constant obstacle in the player's puzzle solving.
In designing how to chunk my level's puzzle elements, I utilized high contrast to create easily recognizable spaces to enable the player to comprehend intractable puzzle elements.
These pictures illustrate how I implemented a high contrast approach in designing recognizable puzzle elements that stick out from the rest of the environment in order to lead the player.
Sightlines: Sosed's Vision
Due to the small scale of my level, a challenge that I faced was managing the sightlines and angles that exposed the player to Sosed. It was a key problem that I had to solve to reduce the punishing aspect of the Sosed's core action of chasing and resetting the player to the start location.
In designing Sosed's house, I placed limitations on where Sosed, while pathing in his house, could view the player navigating the exterior yard space. The windows in each room were placed to create blind spots in Sosed's vision to allow the player the ability to time and move between Sosed's gazes. This allows the player the chance to stealthily navigate the exterior space.
These pictures show the views that Sosed has when he is patrolling through two main rooms— the kitchen and living room.
The living room with its larger window and the afforded line of sight was a challenge to balance due to the view that it provides Sosed. It exposes a player especially when they're trying to utilize the exit gate or cross from the left to the right side of the yard.
I chose to keep the large window because it adds believability to the house's construction. To solve the line of sight problem, I placed a line of bushes to act as a sight blocker in the front yard for the player to navigate behind when crossing the front yard.