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SYSTEM LEAK is a group school project originally titled “Project Escape.” As the name suggests, the goal was to create a game in which the player must escape something or somewhere.

Here is a quick trailer for SYSTEM LEAK:

My role on this project:

Even though I'm credited as a Level Designer on this project, I primarily prototyped and implemented a variety of systems — ranging from the 3Cs and the main hazard system to scripted events used in both cinematics and gameplay situations, just to name a few.

That said, I was the main Level Designer on the project, and given my professional goals and experience, it was completely logical to credit me as such.

Let's dive into my work, shall we? :)

Credits

Well at first, the level design for the game was planned to be completely different from the one we got at the end.

Here are some screenshots of an advanced version for the first level blocky:

So as you can see, this level was designed around a specific theme — in this case, the Western theme. Originally, each small level was meant to revolve around its own theme, and this one served as the Western example. The idea was that the player would progress through old, abandoned movie–set environments while playing mini-games in a deadly atmosphere.

Every 60 seconds, an acid-like deadly rain would fall, killing the player unless he was hiding inside a special location called an Acid Shelter. These shelters could only be used once, forcing the player to strategically plan his next move as time was constantly running out.

Yet, this thematic level never made it past the Alpha phase, as we realized it would be far beyond the scope of what our level artists could reasonably produce. Because of this, we had to find new ways to create multiple thematically inspired levels without overwhelming the team.

After a lot of thinking and planning, we finally found a way to design our levels without overwhelming the art team.
We decided that the game’s overall environmental theme would revolve around a single setting: a high-tech prison. This approach allowed for extensive asset reusability, which greatly relieved the workload for the art team.

Here is the first level "Level Tuto" for the game in the blocky state:

Level1_Blocky

For simpler in-game readability, I decided to only allow the player to walk on one floor of the level. The added floors only serves as level art to immerse the player in this prison.

Given the small amount of time given to us for playtesting, this level is the one that we playtested a lot between us as it was the first one level design speaking completed as there were not a lot of difficult game mechanics to introduce to the player.

Here is the final version of this level:

Level1

The level flow was designed around a clear three-act structure:

Act 1 — Introduction
- The player spawned facing a lit mini-game activator.
- Activating it launched the first mini-game.
- After completing it, the player could advance to the next area.
- The first acid rain typically started here, pushing the player to take shelter in the visible Acid Shelter.

Act 2 — Discovery
- After the rain ended, the player could move to the second section of the level.
- A broken mini-game activator awaited, requiring a missing battery.
- The battery was hidden somewhere in this area for the player to find.
- Bringing the battery back restored the activator and unlocked the next mini-game, allowing progression.

Act 3 — Conclusion
- Completing the second mini-game unlocked the final section of the level.
- The player was guided to an acid-damageable box containing the key to the starting door.
- By waiting for the next acid rain to break the box, the player could retrieve the key.
- With it, they could unlock the door and proceed to the next level.


Here is a gameplay video of the first level:

For the second level of the game, I tried to keep the three-act structure, as I found while working on the first level that it was a simple yet efficient way to guide the player through challenges while giving me enough time to work on other aspects of the game that required my attention.

Level2_OldBlocky

Being the second level of the game, I initially aimed to make it a bit bigger than the first one, building it around the idea of three thematically distinctive sections: the Cells Hall, the Mess Area, and finally the Armory.
However, while this idea was well-received by several team members and artists alike, the production schedule simply didn’t allow us to pursue this direction—at least not to the extent of having three clearly distinctive thematic sections.

Level2_Blocky

And so here is the updated version, taking into account what was possible to make and not make given the time we had left while trying to keep the three act structure.

And here is the final version of the level that has been included in the game:

So as said previously, the level flow was designed around a clear three-act structure:

Act 1 — Entrance
- The player spawned facing a lit high-tech screen stating that the Acid Shelter can only be used once.
- They encountered a familiar mini-game activator.
- Activating it launched the first mini-game.
- The player needed to locate the "Tower" of this mini-game, hidden within the first section.
- Upon completion, the player could progress to the next area.
- The first acid rain typically began around this moment, prompting the player to take refuge in the visible Acid Shelter.

Act 2 — Level Evolution
- After the rain ended, the player could proceed to the second section of the level.
- A locked door requiring two keys was positioned in front of the player.
- Another familiar mini-game awaited the player.
- Completing it rewarded the player with one key.
- The second acid rain typically began here, prompting the player to take shelter in the visible Acid Shelter.
- During the rain, a pillar would fall, opening a new temporary area for the player.
- In this area, the player could find the missing key needed to unlock the third and final sector.

Act 3 — Tight timing
- A door requiring one key awaited the player.
- A broken acid pipe blocked the player’s path to higher ground, forcing them to scout for clues elsewhere in the sector.
- A familiar mini-game was hidden in the area; completing it rewarded the player with a tool to safely break the acid pipe elsewhere, preventing acid from spilling on their path.
- Once the pipe was handled, the player could find the missing key card in an acid-damagable box, similar to the one in Level One.
- Two scenarios could then unfold:
       - If the last rain had not passed, the player could use the rain to break the box and retrieve the key inside.
       - If the last rain had already passed, the player could use the broken pipe spilling acid to break the box and                 obtain the key for the final door.


Here is a gameplay video of the first level:

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