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Contact Info: emberdione@gmail.com

All work copyright © 2006 Kim Acuff Pittman and



The front hall of the Mary Celeste. This view serves as an iconic image for fans of the show.


 
Project: Mary Celeste Duration: 3 Months
 
Role: Level Designer Engine: Quake 4 (Radiant)
 
Downloads: Play through the Mary Celeste (4.4 MB, requires full version of Quake 4)
 
Description:
 
The Mary Celeste sought to combine visual storytelling with a recognizable environment. As part of the Directed Focus Study (DFS) requirements custom artwork could not be added. At this point I decided to attempt to create a recognizable environment so I chose something I felt very deeply about, Serenity. Basing my level on the ship from the TV show Firefly, I began planning how to create the look and feel of the ship without creating new assets. Soon after we were informed that we could only have 5 rooms, max. I removed rooms and chose the two hardest to create in Quake without new assets, the Common Area outside of the infirmary, and the Dining Room, between the front and back corridors. This allowed me to move the infirmary upstairs and create a flow with very little back tracking. I also felt this greatly added to my ability to create a design to someone else's specifications.

Several goals of this map included having a tense, isolated mood for the player and a strong visual replication of the ship Serenity. I created the mood and atmosphere with small rooms, sparse objects, and a script. The script began as soon as the map loads and slowly over time dims the lights to full darkness. The player could end up searching the ship with only his flashlight. To prevent "problems" while trying to fight monsters, I removed all monster encounters until after the player powered up the lights. The player finally feels relief from the darkness and fear (that actually did not exist), to discover that they are in danger.