Design Breakdown

What am I trying to achieve with this layout? As a third person survival-action-horror title (look at all those genres!), The Last of Us missions achieve a balanced gameplay loop of exploration, traversal / navigation puzzles, stealth sequences, and all-out combat. Punctuating this loop are powerful narrative moments. My goal was to emulate the effective pacing of the series, capturing all the touchstone elements.

In several areas, I take small design risks to creatively interrogate the linear nature that the series is known for without upending the established design principals or negatively impacting pacing.

What are those touchstone The Last of Us elements, and how do I achieve each? In what ways do I innovate?

1. Slow exploration that allows for environmental storytelling, world-building, and resource gathering to empower the player.

   1. I immediately establish the player’s goal and foreshadow conflict.

      1. The most immediate route is blocked, forcing the player to explore.

   2. Supplementary dialogue and a lack of combat reinforces the desired pacing and allows the player to get their bearings.

   3. Starting the player with few resources encourages this phase of exploration.

2. Light traversal / navigation puzzle that valves the player from the safety of the exploration area.

   1. I provide two routes for the player to navigate past a barricade, introducing multiple paths that lead to the same chokepoint as valid means of progression.

      1. Both path-solutions to this traversal / navigation puzzle have optional loot, and aid in establishing the narrative of the environment while also building tension.

         1. The first of these routes is more direct, taking advantage of the player’s ability to go prone (new to TLOU Part 2).

         2. The second route has an additional traversal puzzle inside that rewards greater loot: early access to a game-changing tool, the crossbow.

            1. If missed, this loot can be acquired later on in the level.

3. An introduction to combat against weak infected combatants. The player starts in stealth, and has the upper hand against these melee-based enemies. Here I simultaneously continue to foreshadow future conflict.

   1. Like most combat encounters in the series, this encounter supports various playstyles (stealth, stealth-aggressive, guns blazing).

   2. If the enemies detect the player, more combatants spawn, encouraging the series’ focus on stealth.

      1. These additional combatants come from the crashed school bus which acts as my lead-in to the next gameplay beat.

4. A (heavily encouraged) stealth sequence through a house full of infected. This challenges the player’s skill and encourages risk-assessment through observing enemy patrol patterns.

   1. The player enters the house on the second floor. The crashed, on its side school bus that acts as our lead-in to this space works twofold:

      1. Establishes the infected threat in the house, as seen through the windshield of the bus and with audio cues.

      2. Provides a means of forcing the player to navigate down through the house past the enemy infected.

   2. Two floors of a house covered in fumigation tarp ideally creates the low-light environment perfect for using the Listen Mode gameplay feature. The infected sounds from the first floor indicate the presence of more challenging enemy, a lethal Clicker, which naturally elevates tension.

      1. With this beat so closely following the previous encounter, the player is hopefully somewhat resource-depleted, adding to their caution.

   3. The valve for this encounter space is a door to the basement stairwell that, when closed, locks and prevents infected pursuit of the player.

      1. This valve creates a false sense of security before the next touchstone.

5. Scripted gameplay sequence, revolving around a series of button prompts or mashes. This could also be a scripted event that changes the environment or elevates the tension. In this instance, the player attempts to push open a partially obstructed door to the backyard, then engages in a tense Clicker encounter in the flooded basement.

   1. Opening the door draws the attention of a sleeping infected in the flooded basement, who comes around the corner to grapple the player. Repelling the infected via the gameplay moment draws the attention of a Clicker just out of sight in the basement kitchen. Control is returned to the player to fight the Clicker in a confined basement layout encounter.

After this beat, the tension is reset as we return to a space of exploration and resource gathering. We provide a shortcut that connects back to the original exploration space.

1. Now that the player has acquired more loot and upgrade materials, they can take advantage of a workbench shown in the beginning.

2. The player has an option to re-explore the first exploration space as well as progress forward through new territory.

3. The loop of slow exploration, traversal puzzle, player-favoring stealth encounter, larger combat encounter, and scripted gameplay sequence begins again, leading into the next part of the level: Missing Convoy - Cathedral.