Tea III is a Hotline Miami 2 level designed with a Hong-Kong gangsters movies flair (from John Woo to Johnnie To). The player is a mob who has one final assignment before retirement: killing the boss of the tea parlor. Hidden above a mall, the parlor is heavily defended. Once on site, the player will meet an old acquaintance who seems to be waiting for him. Then the elevator takes the player to the boss floor. The mob boss is greeting you. You were just being tested for your allegiance.
MY GOALS
Design a challenging yet accessible level
Use the Hong Kong neo-noir films tropes as gameplay elements
Create variations in the gameplay
CONSTRAINTS Few mechanics No more than 3 min. walkthrough
CHALLENGES Unstable editor Giving each floor a memorable experience
SOLUTIONS Playing with the AI to create variations Using the assets and the enemies to master the rythm and guidance
DESIGN INTENTION
CONTAINED FREEDOM
The level gives the player the opportunity to clear each floor the way he wants to. But I used the the framing, the level art and the ennemies as breadcrumbs to show the player the most efficient way to get to the next floor.
HIDE AND SEEK
I took inspiration from the highly cinematographic John Wo's gun fights to design the rooms. Therefore I used column, windows and furnitures to give the shootouts a hide and seek feeling. The player can use it to his advantage so can the enemies too.
STORYTELLING
Each room has been designed with a tangible purpose in the game but they also support the gameplay. The NPCs help the player to understand the lore. One of them gives a hint for the final level.
The first floor starts with a branching path but one way is easier than the other one. Indeed, the player starts with bare hands so he should avoid gunfight and first steal a knife from the nearby mobs. Then it gets easy to grab a handgun in the arcades room. At the security area, a NPC will tell the player to go upstairs to find the parlor.
The second floor is tougher but once again, the player has the choice to go straight to the parlor (shaped like an arena) or to follow the hallways and clean the surroundings. Enemies lie behind columns and windows so the player should be careful before runing to the end of the area. He should pay extra attention to the fat mobs who are deadlier and take time to die. Once it is cleared, the player meets his old pal who gives him a hint before going upstairs.
The third floor is the toughest one and starts with a windowed hallway with enemies lying around. The player can rush in and hope for good gunfight skills. But he can also take the silencer gun that his former colleague was talking about. Then he can get rid of the enemies whithout waking them all up.