The Bridge is a level design exercise for a realistic 3D, third-person stealth/shooter with narrative elements set in a post-apocalypse. This layout was made in Maya in June 2025.

This was a solo project in which I tested my level design, game design, and environment art skills to fit the constraints existing of game/system mechanics. For this exercise, one exploration beat and one combat beat was designed. Some details are changed and omitted as I signed an NDA for this exercise.

The Bridge Flythrough

Pre-Production

Establishing Level Requirements

Scenario: The player must travel through a post-apocalyptic town in the Western Americas. They must make haste as they need to rescue their friends who have been kidnapped by marauders.

In the designing of this layout, I had to predetermine several factors that align with the level requirements in the given set up.

Environment type: Post-apocalyptic, apocalyptic, Overgrown, Dilapidated, Midwest/West

I chose the environment type based on the game scenario, the given location in the scenario: A specific state in the West of America

Time of Day: Dawn, or Early Daybreak

I chose the time of day as shortly after The Player’s friends are kidnapped (night) as I know The Player’s Character is the type to act immediately, so in this context, they have been tracking the marauders during the night and into the day. In order to preserve tension, I wanted the time of day to be in between night and day to add a sense of urgency and discomfort in the lack of cover of night and full visibility of day.

Location in Story: The area surrounding The Bridge at the outskirts of This Particular Town. 

This is the location named in the scenario, albeit where the kidnapping occurs. I decided to keep the location in this area, but closer to the edge of the state. In choosing the exact area, I took into account the rest of the set up. The Player and The Character’s friends were camping out. Their horses limit where they can camp for the most part as they don’t really fit in buildings that well and often in the game. I chose a park as the starting point because of this. Choosing the goal for The Player had to do with choosing a large landmark in this Town and somewhere marauders would be. I decided The Bridge was a good location because of its layout, visibility, and location. It connects the two core locations (in the game), and is an ideal choke point for marauders to hang around to ambush or rob passerbys. It is also by a water source, which is what humans gravitate towards when looking for a place to settle. It is also hard to transport a horse through water, so taking a bridge would be the best way. The proximity of The Park to The Bridge made me cement the area as the location of the level.

Available Character Abilities:

  • Movement

    • Crouch

    • Prone

    • Dodge

    • Walk, Run

    • Vault, Squeeze, Slide, Jump (Environment based)

  • Combat

    • Melee (usually sneak)

    • Pistol (can have silencer)

      • Short range

      • Mid range

    • Rifle

      • Long range (across the map or even above or below)

    • Consumables

      • Smoke, stun, molly

      • Med kits

      • Trapmines

    • Can hear enemies visually and audibly through walls

  • Game Play

    • Rope swing/climb

    • Throwing bricks and bottles (to divert attention and detonate traps)

    • Pushing assets to climb onto them

    • Unlocking safes for resources

    • Crawling through holes and walls

  • Crafting and Resource collection

    • Collect ammo, resources, and weapons from areas in the map, defeated enemies, and corpses

    • Can hold multiple guns but only have one or two in holster

    • Collecting resources to craft

    • Craft most things anywhere except for upgrading weapons which must be done at a workbench

I chose to limit the abilities to the earlier part of the game, as I felt this setup happens earlier in the game since they just left the beginning area of the game and haven’t arrived in the final general location of the game.

Enemy Types:

Humans

  • Ranged mostly

    • Short pistol, medium pistol

    • Long range gun

  • Can be snuck up on

  • Communicates with others on your location

    • Announces when they close in on the player

  • Patrol

  • Can notice bodies

  • Can be distracted by thrown objects

  • Don’t really ambush like zombies do

  • Likely to drop ammo and guns

  • Can be on higher levels of verticality

I chose the behaviors of the human enemies that are encountered earlier in the game for the same reason as the player abilities.

Drafting the Layout

Based on the determined level requirements and the need for a layout that offers a subversion of expectations for the goal, I chose the specific location on a map in this town to base my level off of. This particular area has a connecting underpass under the bridge, allowing for another route to the goal.

In the draft, I plotted out the basic placements of where buildings and boundaries would be. I marked how many floors I thought each building should be based on the pacing. I also designated which areas were for which beat.

In my observation of the game to determine the level requirements, I also took note of common environmental assets and scenery. Combining that with my preliminary research of this town, I modeled several assets to be used in the blockmesh. I expected to need assets relating to small-town stores, fencing, houses, wood, foliage, cars, and camping. I used a human model to scale the assets according to the character’s height in this game.

Graybox

Following my drawn up layout draft, I grayboxed the general direction of the level. I got the sizes of the buildings I wanted down, laid out the design of the main street, and I placed foliage and proper assets at places I knew for sure were the bounds of the map. In similar fashion to the game, I used quarantine zone fences to establish certain map boundaries. I lined up the player model I was using at the start of the layout to figure out the placement of The Bridge. The roof of the first house was blocking the view, so I broke the roof in half. This allowed for The Player’s eyes to naturally look at the odd roof and then through it to the beacon of The Bridge. 

Then, I went and laid out the interiors of the buildings I knew the player was going to go through, leaving the optional buildings for later. For the residential area, I laid out the interiors of the house The Player starts off in front of, and the complex The Player must climb onto the balcony to get to. I knew I wanted the complex to be taller so that The Player could see The Bridge again, and for the player to get out of the residential area through an unconventional method because the street is blocked off.

I approached the rest of the level in a similar manner, but for brevity’s sake I’m going to move onto the level breakdown.

Layout Breakdown

In this layout, The Player traverses through three total “areas” inspired by a real part of the outskirts of this Western Town. The first beat takes The Player through a residential area and the main street, exposing The Player to the remnants of the domestic, commercial, and industrial culture of The Town. The second beat takes place under and at The Bridge, transforming a beloved scenic walking and camping route into a graveyard of tragedy, exploitation and conflict.

Top-down view of the residential area:

The red star represents the starting point.

Path A represents the intended route for the player.

Path B represents an optional route for resource and narrative collection.

Player view of The Bridge at the beginning of the layout

Player view of the hole in the wall where the beacon shines through, and the window to progress to the next area

The Character starts off at the star symbol. The beginning area represents the edge of The Park in The Western Town. This area is where I had the characters hypothetically camp out before The Character’s friends are kidnapped. This setup made the most sense to me for the layout as it is hard to camp out in a building with horses. I set up The Character’s starting point by intentionally indicating where they need to go, as they can immediately see the blinking red light on The Bridge over the roofs of the residential houses. The blinking red light is made slightly more visible with the contrasting cool blue lighting I chose, which is meant to represent a transition to daybreak as The Character’s friends were kidnapped during the night.

In this layout, The Character has tracked the marauders down during the night. Their rescue pursuit happens shortly thereafter, inciting a feeling of limited time and tension for the player. I also felt this was appropriate for The Character, as I interpreted this rescue set up to have happened earlier in the game, when The Character is more impulsive and quick to act. In addition, this transitional period between night and day adds to the tension, as it doesn’t provide the player with the comfort of complete nightfall nor the full visibility of daylight. 

The Character will make their way down from the edge of The Park through the crumbled wall that acts as a ramp down into the first house. All of the buildings are formatted to have opportunities for resource and narrative collection in the form of shelves, tables, etc. The interior layouts of all the buildings are damaged and in disarray, aged with time and overgrown with foliage. As they make it out of the first house, they will see an optional house to explore and a moveable dumpster (indicated by the handles on its mesh). The dumpster can be moved so that they can get onto the balcony of the two-story building. 

Inside the building, there is a hole in the wall where the player can see the blinking red light of The Bridge again. This is meant to reinforce the goal for the player, and reflect how The Character remains focused their friends even while traversing through a destroyed settlement. Additionally, there is another light from an open window that informs the player that they can progress through it. The Character will vault through the window, landing on large air conditioning units outside. They will have to squeeze through the fence and be prone under a fallen trunk (the ground is marked with a lighter dirt color to inform the player they can be prone under it) to get to an alleyway that leads to the main street. These required movements remind the player that they may be expected later on as well.

The First Beat

Top-down view of the main street

Path A is the intended route the player must take. 

Path B is an additional and optional route for narrative and resources within buildings. 

Path C is an optional exploratory route for environmental storytelling and resource collection.

Player view of the watch tower from outside the alley

Perspective view of a fallen tree blocking a part of the main street

Player view of the entrance to the paper building

As The Character jumps from the cliff of the residential area onto a trash pile, the first sight they are met with is a dead body slumped against the side of the alleyway. The corpse’s placement near the piles of trash offers an opportunity for narrative and to warn the player of potential danger. This creates tension, as the player must be alert while focusing on getting to their friends. As the player makes it onto the main street from the alley, they can see a watchtower through the pileup and foliage that blocks the street.

Depending on where the player stands, they can also see The Bridge from here. It is clear that the road to the goal is blocked, and the player must find another way around. Behind the player is a quarantine zone fence that informs the player of military presence and that they cannot go that way. A sign tells the player that The Bridge is to the left, so the player is inclined to move forward in that direction. The player has the choice to explore three to four buildings in this area before they progress. Two buildings are standalone, and the third and fourth are connected by a hole in the wall. 

The street is in a state of disarray and littered with bodies and debris. I color-coded the bodies to be green and yellow, with yellow representing civilian bodies and green representing military bodies. In the middle of the road is an overturned military truck and a tractor with spikes on its grill. There are wood and log formations placed all around the main street and in the boarded up windows of buildings. Through research on this specific town, I found that their major industries are agriculture and timber processing and production. I wanted to include these real world elements in my layout through transforming what was once the town’s prided industry into a necessary defense against the infected and a weapon for interpersonal conflict. The environment portrays a potential narrative conflict in the town’s past. The player is meant to experience this in a unique way, by passing through a post-conflict area while occupied with a present, ongoing conflict. This continues to create a feeling of tension, as the player juggles several questions on top of their urgency to reach their friends.

Guided by the sign and leading lines of the placed assets, the player makes their way to the left of the pileup. There, they see bodies with gunshot splatters to the head. In the same area, there is a small car by a ladder leading to a door. The player must ultimately move on from the tragic scene, just like The Character must push past their doubts and fears to rescue their friends. I designed the entrance so the player would have to climb on top of the car to get to the ladder and to the door. This is to prime the player for the second beat, where climbing cars is encouraged. The player will make their way through the building’s second floor, down to the first, and out the door to the other side of the street.

Top-down view of the building that leads to the main street

The second floor is on the left, the first floor is on the right

The other commodity that This Town is known for is paper production. To represent this industry, the building is full of office assets and file cabinets, especially on the second floor, allowing for more narrative collection. The general layout of the building is in disarray and crumbling, adding more opportunities for environmental storytelling.

Perspective view of the second half of the main street

As the player makes their way out of the office building, they enter a wider expanse of the main street. Here, there are broken tents, concrete barriers, overgrown spike barriers, and more evidence of civil conflict. There are several areas for the player to explore. Much of the alternate routes showcase props that give opportunity for environmental storytelling. Ultimately all paths lead the player toward the entrance of the bridge. There is also a watchtower in the middle of the main street, which the player can climb. Like the other buildings, there are resources inside the watchtower, as well as a view that informs the player of a change in plans. There is a body by the window, and the player must stand beside it to look out; in doing so, the feeling of discomfort looking out is amplified.

Player view looking outside the watchtower

From the watchtower, the player can see that there is a huge car pileup blocking the entrance to the bridge. Beyond the pileup, the player can see a big banner hung up on the bridge, indicating human presence. Under the bridge, there is a light from the campfire of a marauder camp. This informs the player to anticipate conflict upon this sighting. The player can also see that the river separates them from the camp. The staircase from the camp to the bridge is visible from the watchtower as well. With this information, the player realizes the path to the goal is not as straightforward as they were initially led to believe by the paving of the main street. As they make their way back down to the ground, the next step is to take a closer look at the pileup, as there is not another direction to explore. All of the other views of the watchtower indicate fenced off areas or forest for miles.

Player view of the entrance of The Bridge

If the player skips going to the watchtower and heads toward the entrance of the bridge, they will come to a similar realization that the path to the goal is not straightforward. A surviving pillar informs the player that the bridge connects two important locations. A great gray owl on top of the pillar flies away as the player gets close, grabbing the player’s attention should they miss the sign. Native to the area, these owls are known to guide people spiritually, having wisdom and knowledge beyond this world. Whether it is warning or guiding the player is up to interpretation. Additionally, the “RIVER” sign informs the player that the body of water before them is a river, and the slant of the sign leads the player toward the brush to the right. The tire tracks on the ground also lead the player toward this area. The tree branches frame an area for the player to look at. 

Player view of the marauder camp from the other side of the river

From this vantage point, the view is similar to that of the watchtower, but closer. They can see most of the marauders, and their patrol patterns. They will also see potential alternate methods of dealing with the marauders. For example, there is a swinging rope at the top of the bridge, and a maintenance platform by the leg of the bridge. This offers a way onto the bridge besides the staircase. This view instills more tension in the player as they anticipate conflict, challenge, and the possibility of being seen by the marauders from the camp. In addition to this tension, there is a feeling of uneasiness as there has been a lack of enemies up to this point, and the anticipation of a surprise encounter looms over the player as they cautiously make their way over to the camp.

Perspective view of the path leading to the bridge underpass and bridge

As the player makes their way across the brush, they will realize there is an alternate path to get to the bridge and marauders by going through the warehouse (the blue building). The player cannot skip the warehouse, as there is a huge sculpture and foliage blocking the way around it. I designed this building and sculpture to be more prominent in the layout, as it is one of the first buildings present in the Google search results of this town; the sculpture exists in the real world and the blue wall is covered by a mural. I felt it necessary to keep these details, portraying them as an obstacle rather than art.

Top-down view of the inside of the warehouse

The left is the view without the second floor railing visible. 

The right is the view with the second floor railing visible.

The warehouse is built to be the last place the player will feel any strong sense of safety before the second beat begins because it is an enclosed building with one entrance and seemingly no exit. Inside are several opportunities for more narrative and resources to be collected for weapon upgrades, throwable consumables, and med kits. By the yellow car is a workbench where the player can upgrade their weapons with the resources they have collected thus far. There are also several traversable methods in this warehouse, the player can climb up the pallet stack to get to the second floor or climb the ladder. When the player is ready to progress, they must be prone under the garage shutter that is being questionably held up by the crumpled yellow car. The tire tracks on the ground also hint to the player that they must head this direction. This brushes up the player on their proning abilities, so that they can use it during the second beat.

Top-down view of the bridge underpass and bridge

The red star represents the starting area.

Path A is the intended route. 

Path B are routes for narrative and resource collection. 

The rope is circled in red.

Perspective shot of the first half of the combat beat

The image is annotated to indicate the paths the player can take during this beat. Starting from the star symbol at the warehouse, the player has the option to look for more resources by the dumpsters next to the warehouse. As they make their way toward the road there is more opportunity to look at the camp and notice horse tracks directing the player toward the camp. This reminds the player of their goal and lets them know they’re heading in the right direction. From there, they will make their way down the road toward the patrolling marauders. As the player gets closer, they can plan based on their observations of the camp how they want to approach this next area. The orange truck offers final opportunities for resource and narrative collection before the combat encounter. The player can take several routes to progress past this beat. They can engage in combat with the marauders in the underpass and on the bridge using any route. Alternatively, they can stealth past the enemies through the cover of the assets and brush by going through the grassy area or taking the rope up to the bridge. On the bridge, they can stealth past the enemies by weaving through cars, proning on the grass and under cars, and getting to higher ground on the blue bridge structure via the maintenance box on the side. 

The Second Beat

The second beat is split into two areas: the bridge underpass and the bridge itself. The player must get past the bridge underpass to get onto the bridge, with marauders present in both areas. The marauders behave the same way human enemies do at the beginning of the game. They are all capable of ranged attacks with guns, and melee attacks when you are close enough. They engage in a duck-and-shoot style of combat from afar. They announce when they will advance toward the player, notice bodies, and alert each other of the player’s location upon sighting. They are likely to drop weapons and ammo. The enemy’s skills are chosen specifically in this way because this second beat is designed to be early in the game, there shouldn’t be any newly complex human enemies. In this scenario, The Character must get past this area of the bridge to get to them.

Top-down view of the underpass combat/stealth area

This image is edited to show the pathing of the enemies (shown with red arrows).

The enemies are the pink marks in the image.

The short grass is the lighter more muted green, and the tall grass is the darker green.

In the underpass area of the second beat, there are seven total enemies. One is patrolling in a loop around the boxes under the bridge. One is patrolling up and down the staircase leading to the bridge. One is patrolling back and forth on the road leading up to the marauder camp. Three are sitting around the campfire, and one is by the tent not too far away from them. I designed it this way so that the player starts off dealing with the first patroller closest to them as they approach the camp, as a warm up before the rest of them notice the player if they get sighted or choose to engage. A lot of cover is provided because this is a level in which The Character does not have a companion to back them up. There are two tents nearby the furthest patrolling marauders (the staircase marauder and the sidewalk marauder) to prime the player into expecting human presence nearby, warning them of the two patrollers.

This layout allows for players of all play styles to deal with this scenario as they wish. Below are some hypothetical methods the player can take.

Combat method:

  • The player can engage with any of the enemies to alert all of them, and they will make their way to the player. 

  • The player can take out the more linear patrolling enemies by placing trapmines in their pathway. 

  • The player can deal with the enemies one by one by sneaking around covers provided such as the short grass, tall grass, cars, boxes, foliage, portapotty, barriers, and bridge legs. 

  • The player can climb onto the fallen yellow bus, take cover behind the sand-bag barrier, and attack the marauders with ranged weapons. The distance of the enemies is made so all enemies can be shot with a pistol at this range. 

  • The player could throw a brick or bottle in a condensed area and then a ranged consumable such as a molotov on the three marauders by the campfire and take them out that way. They could potentially take out five marauders that way if they’re lucky.

Top-down view of potential stealth player paths at the bridge underpass

The red lines with arrows indicate possible paths to take. The pink marks represent enemies. The rope going up the bridge is circled.

Stealth method: 

The above image illustrates the potential paths the player can take if they want to stealth past the marauders.

  • The rope

    • Players can be prone under the bus and sneak past the covers through tall grass or through the truck around the bridge leg and onto the maintenance platform. This is possible if they don’t alert the three marauders by the fire and if the patrolling enemy by the maintenance platform isn’t in the area as the player passes by. They must then climb the rope up to the bridge. There is a lot of tension at this point as the player must quickly get up before they are sighted by enemies below.

  • The staircase

    • Players can sneak through the short grass, tall grass, foliage, vehicles, etc. They can crouch and prone and wait for the patrolling enemies to get far away enough from them to progress up the stairs onto the bridge.

Top-down view of the bridge with the Blue Bridge structure visible

Top-down view of the bridge with the Blue Bridge structure hidden

This is the view of the enemy paths on the main bridge. 

The red indicates their pathing. 

The pink marks represent the enemies.

On the bridge, there are five total enemies. Three of them are patrolling. One is patrolling the middle of the bridge. One is patrolling around the boxes near the end of the area. One is patrolling above on The Bridge structure. One is on a truck behind a sand-bag barrier, and the other next to the truck. They are placed in this way to be in proximity of the player at most times based on the entry and stealth points. If the player manages to take the rope up, they are rewarded with a sniper rifle from a dead body nearby and a med kit in the truck. The med kit is for starting off further back than those who take the staircase. The rifle is to help with the majority long ranged enemies and their vertical placement in the layout. If the player takes the staircase up, they can enter the truck where they will find resources to help them craft a consumable throwable. Of course, the player can access both resources if they walk either way across the bridge.

Perspective shot of The Bridge

Top-down view of potential player paths

The red stars represent the possible entry-points.

Path A is the intended direction the player must ultimately head.

Path B indicates possible other routes.

Enemies are marked in pink.

The ladder leading to the upper level of The Bridge is circled.

The bridge was designed to allow for several playstyles, as well as a new challenge in long distance attacks and verticality. There is less cover than the underpass, but an adequate amount to progress and engage in duck-and-shoot combat. The cover was also placed in a way that allows players to safely emerge from either the rope or staircase onto the bridge without being sprung immediately into action. The truck offers cover for those who enter from the staircase, and the rope is further away from the enemies. Granted, when the player gets up from the rope there are bodies in the cars that you can see in the pileup that are too close for comfort. The player has to walk past them in order to move forward. I did this to preserve the tension in a way that doesn’t directly threaten the player’s safety, but does keep them on edge even after getting past the underpass. The Bridge structure serves as an upper level in the combat area to which the player can possibly traverse up, as indicated through the presence of a marauder. There is a height and stealth advantage in battle to being up there, but the challenge is getting up there as well as making sure you don’t fall off the beams. In addition to all of this, if the player didn’t eliminate the enemies at the underpass, they can follow the player up the staircase. This is especially the case for the patroller directly on the staircase. This is why there are not as many enemies on the bridge compared to the underpass, because unlike the enemies on the bridge that can’t follow you down, the enemies at the underpass can follow you up.

Below are some hypothetical ways players can play through this area:

Combat:

  • The player can use the covers provided to sneak and deal with the initial patrolling marauder, and then use the covers to zigzag their way toward the end by shooting at the enemies and advancing as they defeat them. 

  • They can use the covers to close the physical distance between enemies and fight them up close. Players can also throw bottles and bricks to distract the enemies before defeating them behind cover, as a group, etc. 

  • They can use the sniper rifle to deal with most enemies in this layout, granted they take out enemies in closer proximity first before they close in on the player.

  • They can get on the upper level of the bridge. From there, they can defeat the enemy up there and use the height as a vantage point to defeat the marauders below, using the bridge structure as cover. They can do this by climbing up the cars onto the bus and jumping across a gap to get onto the Bridge structure, or by getting to the maintenance box and climbing up the ladder onto the upper level.

Stealth:

  • The player can take the alternative routes indicated on the above image, there is a way to get past the marauders through both the upper (Blue Bridge structure) and lower level (main bridge road and sidewalk). 

  • They can sneak and prone in the grass and under the bus to get past the enemies. Taking the proning route on the sidewalk still leaves them vulnerable to the three enemies by the truck. They will have to make sure the patrolling marauder is not nearby before sneaking around the red car past them all. 

  • They can use bottles and bricks to distract the enemies as they get to the maintenance box, climb up, and get past the marauders that way. The enemy up there can be distracted the same way or the player can wait until the marauder is turned away to sneak past.

Player view on The Bridge