Building: Middle Earth

Shadow of Mordor was an action slash adventure game based on J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth universe. Originally, there was only a one-page  directive from someone in Warner Brothers looking to make a quick buck off the upcoming Hobbit movies, which, reportedly, said little about what the game should have, but had plenty to say about what it shouldn't, and that was any characters, locations, or plot points referenced in the book or movies to come. In other words, create a story from Tolkien, but not actually using Tolkien, or something like that - we were never quite clear on the subject.

STORYMAPS

Storymaps are stream-of-consciousness riffs presented in a hybrid form that is part storyboard, comic book, and mission document, all rolled into one. By conveying as many ideas and information as possible up front, there is something to respond to-- positively and negatively-- and suddenly everyone on the team has myriad points of entry, whether they are designing an environment, coming up with gameplay scenarios, or developing the story arc.

No story. No concept. No design. I had only a passing familiarity with Tolkien's work, so I did the sensible thing and wrote a story arc in two weeks. I never quite made it to the third act, but the exercise served its purpose. Dozens of designers and artists would be soon joining the team and we needed to give them something to do while the powers that be figured out the details, like script, lead designer and game engine.

To move out of the starting gate, we agreed on a standard three-act narrative, with each act set in one of the established Tolkein "worlds" of Mirkwood, Moria, and Misty Mountains.

Everything follows from the environment-- from the people who live there (and the enemies), to their buildings, the things they do and the abilities they have. From there follows abilities and tasks and missions, and so on down the line.

The Mines of Moria were an attractive option because they were all interior and would be the easiest to partition for streaming purposes.

We could have built an entire game around a descent/ascent through the endless levels of the Deep Mines,

SKETCH-MODELS

The aqueduct portion of the Moria sequence was the first level built for playability. We were being incredibly optimistic as it was too early in the process to have characters running around, and instead became the set for internal demonstrations.

"Dwarftown" was going to be the hub and first level in the game. This was an interesting challenge since we really had little resource material to work with except the problematic name.

The complex on the right side is the player launch from where they can portal off to other levels while enjoying the view of the city across the water-- the five-stage town that has to be secured before moving into the mines (inaccessible).

Basic combat standards were established during this phase, which allowed me to start creating modular components for use in blockouts. It's always a relief to reach the point where I can start creating building standards. At some point we realized this level probably wouldn't work and was shelved.

LEVEL DESIGN

We kept coming back to the mines, and so that became our environment for the first actual playable level.

The Foundry serves as the hub and focal point for the level, and final mission for the spoke. Three tunnel arms radiating outward to reservoirs with unique missions for each.

Too ambitious by far, and so the first of many cuts came as the greater cave complex was jettisoned in order to focus on a single arm.

An arm becomes two joints as the travel portions are eliminated in favor of portals.

In the end, we had one cave that we could climb around in.

My involvement in this project ended soon after, as it went through a complete overhaul to shift from a two-person co-op into a third-person shooter.