The Silos - Crysis 2, single player level

The Silos is a medium length singleplayer level in which the players are tasked with investigating a missile silo that has fallen into enemy hands and stopping them from launching the missiles there. This level has been designed to allow for for a variety of play styles for greater player freedom and replay value.

I used the process of creating this level to get a good depth of knowledge of working with the Cry Engine tool set. As my focus was on level design the Crysis 2 version of the tools, though older than the latest version, seemed like the best fit for this project for multiple reasons including:
it offers a fully functioning game to use as a base; the game comes with lots of pre-made assets which would allow for a for a rapid concepting, prototyping and initial layout phase; many of the core processes and tools in the Crysis 2 version of Cry Engine survive in the latest Cry Engine Sdk so I believe the skills and processes I learn in the older version will still be relevant in the newer sdk.

In addition to re-using some assets from the main game I also created a number of new textures/materials and models for the level such as new buildings. The models were made using SketchUp as I felt it made iteration faster. As my focus was on the level design and gameplay I purposefully left many of my models in comparatively simpler geometry and textured states, so long as their form reached the level of its desired function.

Alongside the Crysis 2 version of Cry Engine Sand Box 3, I also used Sketchup and Photoshop to realize this this level. The level took roughly 5 months to reach this level of quality.

Below you will find: a video playthrough, screenshots of gameplay, flowgraphs and in-editor. A download will follow in the near future once I have ironed out some bugs.

 

My work on this level consists of:

  • Landscaping the environment
  • Desiging and creating level layout
  • Designing, laying out and implementing all combat/stealth encounters using the Cry Engine 3's tools (Flowgraph, track view editors)
  • Implementing additional game logic such as Objectives and animating objects using the Flowgraph and trackview editors
  • Creating the final cut scene sequence using the trackview editor
  • Creating a number of new models using SketchUp
  • Creating a handful of new textures/materials using Photoshop
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Below you find a selection of the many flowgraphs I had to create to make this level function.

Below are a few in-editor screenshots.

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