∴Life is Strange – Farewell∴

Overview

    Farewell is a special DLC episode made shortly after the release of Life Is Strange: Before the Storm. It features Max returning as the player character, with Chloe becoming the central focus NPC. Despite being DLC, the bonus episode was handled more as a standalone endeavor with its own production period to accommodate more content per scene and the change in protagonist/time period. Now a Level Designer, I was in charge of over half of the scenes in Farewell. I worked very closely with the Narrative, Environment, and Programming teams to help reimagine the existing spaces with new story beats, layouts, and gameplay.

Game Info

Developer: Deck Nine Games
Genre: Narrative Adventure
Publisher: Square Enix
Game Engine: Unity
Platforms: PC, PS4,
Xbox One, Mac, Linux, Mobile
Team Size: Around 55
Release Date: March 5, 2018

Tools Used

-Unity Game Engine
-Microsoft Office
-Jira Software
-Confluence
-Perforce
-Photoshop
-Playwrite
-Storyteller

Tasks and Responsibilities

General

  • Created and iterated on 2D/3D layouts for existing environments
  • Prototyped early versions of full scenes to iterate on functionality, flow, and progression
  • Taking Levels from concepts to Final Polish
  • Designed and reworked puzzles
  • Built navmesh, camera colliders, and interact points so that the finished level would function
  • Set up NPC idles and related functionality
  • Helped manage the scene structure and order
  • Playtested and provided feedback for myself and others on the project
  • Fixing a wide variety of game logic and content bugs across all scenes
  • Collaborated with other departments such as Narrative, Environment, Animation, Cinematic Artists, Programming, and Production to achieve project goals for my levels

Documentation

  • Creating and maintaining Level Design Docs and maps for all of my scenes
  • Updated progress documents for game features
  • Tracked my solutions on my bug tickets/wrote bug tickets for other departments
  • Wrote, reviewed, and implemented hints/objectives to help give players direction
  • Organized strike team meetings and took notes to help plan new features
  • Made pitch docs for environmental storytelling, additional content, and unique gameplay

Research

  • Researched lore and timelines within the original Life is Strange to create content/elements/gameplay that was as accurate to canon as possible
  • Looked for moments, objects, and content to reference from the original game

My Levels

I oversaw the development of more than half of the total number of DLC scenes. My goal was to make each of them feel unique and give the player a lot of variety for exploration, puzzles, and gameplay. Let’s go into a bit of detail on all three of them.

Farewell DLC – Chloe’s Bedroom –

    The DLC begins inside of Chloe’s bedroom, with Max (player character) and Chloe attempting to sort through and purge any old “trash.” The player must navigate around the redesigned layout while trying to find something Chloe is actually willing to throw away. After unsuccessfully suggesting about 3 items to throw away, the plot will progress. Chloe has found an old tape from her father, which talks about a pirate themed treasure hunt for the two girls. The first step on this new objective is for the player to find the treasure map. After finding some hints in an old drawing, the player can complete the scene by searching the bookshelf for Chloe’s old textbooks. After finding the map, it details needing both a telescope and an amulet to discover where the treasure is buried. The core design for this scene was doing a full pass to make Chloe’s room feel very different from any other time the location has been used in the series. I did a lot of research to accomplish this goal, while simultaneously creating a flow for the critical path.
(1:46 – 23:15)

Farewell DLC – Price House Upstairs –

    The girls split up in this scene, with Chloe heading to the garage to find the telescope. Max is tasked with getting up to the attic to find the amulet. After finding the attic door in one of the closets, Max will realize that she’s too short to properly access the entrance. This starts a puzzle where the player must search the surrounding upstairs areas for objects to stack so that Max can reach the attic. After collecting a crate, stepping stool, and a stack of books, the player can progress upstairs. This is basically the one scene in the DLC where Chloe is entirely absent, giving the player a chance to look into side plots and content. I knowingly placed critical path objects in areas I wanted the players to go, giving them a better chance to piece together more information and plot threads that span the DLC, the main game, and even the original. (23:16 – 31:15)

Farewell DLC – Price House Backyard –

    After Max finds the amulet in the attic, she’ll join Chloe in the backyard, which is my final scene for the DLC. Chloe will need help getting the amulet to stay on the telescope which allows the player to search while exploring the area. Returning to Chloe with painter’s tape prompts a unique gameplay moment where the player must look around the yard using the telescope and line up the drawings on the lens with the surrounding environment. Directing Chloe to the red X will end the scene with the two girls digging up the treasure, a time capsule. I enjoyed working on the puzzle design for the telescope freelook because the visuals on the lens had to undergo multiple rounds of iteration and playtesting to figure out what the drawing needed to include. It needed to be decipherable, but not too simple. It needed some complexity to not be solved instantly too, which is why the rotation element was brought in.
(38:15 – 48:48)