Hidden Passageway was developed alongside the Gamkedo club. Hidden Passageway is a 3D, exploration and puzzle-solving game inspired by Myst. Roam around the abandoned game studio filled with a myriad of games to uncover and explore. On this page, I will be presenting the specific level I designed, modeled, coded functionalities for, and scored for Hidden Passageway.

The overall design constraints set for this level were fairly loose and we were able to design and develop it however we wanted. For this level’s design, I saw a good opportunity to take an idea I had been conceptually developing for an architectural design competition as a starting point: a lighthouse with a vertical light beam. With the lighthouse as the central piece of the level, I decided to go with the pacific island ambient and a night environment to create the appropriate scenario for the lighthouse.

The player is randomly spawned in one of three spots throughout the level from which their journey to the lighthouse begins. The level is design in a way where the lighthouse’s vertical light beam is always visible from anywhere in the level to function as a clear directional reference point for the player’s navigation and exploration throughout the island.

Once the player has explored and navigated to the footsteps of the tower, as the player is going up the stairs to enter the tower, all of the sudden the light beam goes out. The player is to make their way up the tower to the top floor where they encounter a power room. When the player replaces the missing battery cell, the light beam is turned back on and the player clears the level.

Light beam turns off when player arrives at footsteps of light house.

Player can pick up battery cell and insert it into empty slot to turn light beam back on.

I composed Wandering for Hidden Passageways’ Lighthouse level aiming to help communicate a light sense of increasing tension and seriousness as the player explores the unknown to solve a puzzle. I wanted to create a composition that played into exploring and solving mysteries at night alone in an unknown, somewhat ethereal place.