Abandoned Museum - level design blockout

This was an assignment for a level design course at Futuregames.

 For this assignment I wanted to build a derelict, abandoned museum. I wanted the entire level to take place inside one single building. The player must walk through the building to get to the other side.

The idea is inspired by real swedish museums and the gameplay of The Last of Us. There are no enemies in the level but it’s built to accommodate possible enemy placements as there are many obstacles the player could theoretically hide behind. This could be for either shooter game or pure stealth game. This building could exist in a post-apocalypse or in present day but simply abandoned for any number of reasons.

The architecture of the building was inspired by various scandinavian museums. The exterior was partly inspired by Nationalmuseum in Stockholm.

One distinct feature that I kept seeing while researching museums were arched windows and doors. This was something I decided was important to implement throughout my building.

When designing the musuem I imagined the building as being very old and was originally a library or personal mansion - but then a few years past had a renovation and was redesigned as a modern museum. On top of this I had to imagine the current state of the building in disrepair. So I had to design the building with these three layers of history in mind.

One thing I wanted inside the museum was a big glass dome in the ceiling. This was to serve two purposes – as a light source to highlight the stairs and as a visual anchor to help the player recognize the main hall and center of the entire building.

I also added some extra light sources around the dome that lights up an open door on the second floor. This serves as a guiding light for the player on the second floor.

Because the building is abandoned and in disrepair I wanted to avoid electrical lights (which would have made guiding the player much easier) but this was a challenge I foresaw and accepted.