Black Haven - nickydu.net

Black Haven is a 3D Psychological Horror game. The player will take the role of a homeless, starving girl, finding her way into an abandoned amusement park. As the player solves different types of puzzles, the evil truth behind the park gets revealed…

Started: Oct 2020 | Shipped: May 2021
Unreal Engine 4, PC
I joined a group of 12 that mostly consists of talented 3D artists and made a fully playable set of 6 levels with narratives, puzzles, voice acting and Cthulhu-style worldbuilding.

Role: Lead Level Designer, System Designer, World Designer
Responsibilities: Design whiteboxes for maps and environments. Realize puzzles and mechanics in Unreal Engine 4.

Full Gameplay

World and level design

I designed 6 levels for Black Haven, each contains a different map, with the exception of Level 4 reusing Level 2 but as a reversed racing map.
Each level has a distinct way of play, from slow-paced tutorials, to creepy puzzle solving, to action-heavy escapes.

Almost everyone in Black Haven’s development team is 3D artist or environment artist specialized in environment art. Knowing the specialty of our team (and a resulting lack of programming/animation, I utilized the advantage to design scenes with disctinctly different accents and atmospheres, without getting too deep into actions and inventory system.

Level 1 Blizzard Valley (Tutorial)

The first level also serves the prequel and tutorial of the game. It happens in an individual scene, where the player controls the girl to learn basic mechanics before passing out in the snow.

Level 2 Abandoned Amusement Park (Puzzle)

Level two is where the player applies the mechanics learned in level 1 to enter an amusement park and power it on. The player utilizes the controls to solve a series of gradually complex puzzles in order to turn on each part of the park. As the lights and speakers turn on one by one, the air is filled with a comforting atmosphere. The circus tent opens and welcomes the girl inside.

Level 3 Circus (Action and Puzzle)

Level three introduces danger and hostility to the player. They must dodge attacks from the machines and solve a puzzle to escape. By using the hostile flamethrower, the player is able to ignite the canon and break their way out.

Level 4 The Escape (Running)

Level four sends the player back to the outside of the park, but the player needs to run to the escape as quickly as possible while dodging the chase from Bobas. The seemingly short path turned out to be a loop. As the music gets more chaotic and the speed goes up, more and more Bobas join the chase and the player is trapped in an intense parkour until the end of the cycle.

Level 5 Maze of Flesh (Maze)

The escape doesn’t bring the player outside. Instead, it sends them to the fifth level, which later turned out to be inside the body of a Great Old God. It creates this theme park illusion to lure little kids and consume them.

Level 6 God of the Past (Action, Running)

The final level is an infinite race against death in the Great Old God’s dimension. If the player has consumed too much flesh before, the girl will start to grow tentacles that slow her down, increasing the possibility of her getting devoured. If the girl managed to escape, she will wake up in the middle of the snow, finding all her efforts in vain.

Puzzle Design

Black Haven’s over all goal continues to change as the plot twists happen, and the gameplay varies across the six levels, too. For example, in level 1, the goal is to survive, and the gameplay is close to walking simulator with minimal obstacles. In level 2, however, the goal is to revive an abandoned amusement park, and the player is allowed to freely visit all of the POIs scattered around an open area to solve independent puzzles. Near the end of the game, the core gameplay changes yet again to a parkour-like escape.

Each of the mechanics gets introduced to the game intuitively in a safe environment. After that, the player will need to practice these mechanics in hostile situations, which will often result in many failed attempts.

For example, in this roller coaster puzzle, every element is resented through real objects, and only one interact key (E) is needed.

1. The player sees the paper on the wall, learning that they need to change the roller coaster lighting to match with the photo.
2. The player tries to interact with the four buttons and uses the model on the desk to find the pattern.
3. The player sets the right lightings and goes out of the room to check if the roller coaster matches with the photo, and then pulls the trigger.