Summary
Tidal Basin is the final main mission of the Division 2 main campaign. I was the level design owner, ultimately responsible for bringing the mission from the planning stage to finished product.
My responsibilities included design documentation, blockout and mission scripting. During the course of production I worked with level designers Mikael Sofran and Valentine Danilenko.
Building a Hovercraft
As part of the mission design, I was responsible for creating the giant hovercraft that´s become synonymous with the mission.
The creation of the hovercraft was a logistical challenge, since it was basically built as one prop. That meant that encounters (including the final boss fight of the game) couldn´t change too much once artists started working on it. When iterations inevitably had to be done, we collaborated closely to find solutions that made sense from an art perspective, while making sure the gameplay didn´t suffer.
It was definitely the most challenging experience of the production, but also the most rewarding.
Boss fight
When creating the final encounter of the game, it was important for me to make it mechanically interesting while still retaining the Division 2 core gameplay. We came up with the idea of using missile launchers to force players to move around the space (to get a good angle at their various weak points) and making the launch of these timed. The time limit would force prioritization between taking out NPCs and making sometimes unsafe dashes to get line-of-sight on weak points.
The launchers also helped to segment the fight. By introducing them without the main boss character present, it was easy to introduce her mid-way to add variety and increase the difficulty.
IGN referred to it as “the best boss fight in the game”.
Closing Thoughts
Tidal Basin was a learning experience from start to finish and I´m happy with the result. The mission was well-receieved by players, who appreciated the variety in encounters and locales.
Screenshots
