Description
Interloper is the final chapter in Black Mesa. I was in charge of the first and last four of the chapter's maps. My goals for the chapter were to provide a sense of constantly pushing into areas you do not belong and progressively increasing the strength of the main enemy, the alien controller. This was accomplished by routing up drainage pipes, through large industrial machines, dodging automated alien pod scanning processes, and introducing new layers of alien controller abilities. The previous two chapters showcase an incredibly tall tower in the distance as a landmark; A landmark that is finally reached in interloper. Once inside the tower the player is launched vertically to great heights via alien pod launching pads and an epic final elevator battle. The elevator battle is the final gameplay set piece just before the end game boss and is designed as an epic final stand with the enemies increasing in desperation and durability as the player gets closer and closer to the top. Each layer of their increased strength and ability is introduced one stage at a time culminating in a difficult but comprehensive and clear final battle that is distinctly different from how they are first interacted with earlier in the chapter.
-Greyboxed layouts and iterated via playtesting
-Designed gameplay mechanics
-Designed combat encounters
-Designed NPC variations
-Refined map difficulty, flow, and pacing
-Composed vistas
-Implemented gameplay via source i/o scripting
