I placed 2nd in the Ubisoft Toronto NEXT Level Design Competition 2026. This project is a re-imagining of Marineland as a compact stealth map with recognizable landmarks, clear routes, and lots of small decisions that make players feel sneaky as they outsmart enemies.

Role: Level Designer

Project length: Sep 8, 2025 - Feb 11, 2026

Tools: Unreal Engine, Illustrator, Blueprints

Game: Ubisoft Toronto NEXT Competition - Level Design

Placement: 2nd Place Finalist

What I wanted to achieve with the level

I wanted to build a stealth level where players always have a plan, even if that plan changes mid-run.

Design intentions

  • Support multiple playstyles and paths

  • Keep the park feeling realistic, dense, and readable, with clear landmarks and quick decision loops

  • Deliver memorable traversal payoff using the Sky Drop tower as a set piece

View of Full Level

How I wanted to achieve it

I built the level around “choice moments” and made sure each beat had at least two valid answers.

My approach

  • Bake options into the main beats (front gate, theatre, aquarium), so routes are not “bonus paths”, they are real solutions

  • Use readability tools to guide players without UI hand-holding (leading lines, cables, sightline breaks, hard locks)

  • Teach a new mechanic in a safe space, then re-use it later under pressure (Dry Ice fog)

Constraints I designed around

These rules actually helped the level get sharper and more intentional.

  • The challenge required a linear stealth action-adventure level with traversal challenges, light hostile presence, and a required lock-and-key

  • Production limits forced smarter layout choices: 12 AI cap and a condensed play space

Process

Phase 1: Mission Design Document (top-down)

I started by mining the instructions for constraints and “must-haves” (lock-and-key, traversal, multiple solutions) , then brainstormed grounded real-world locations. Marineland clicked because it naturally gives you big landmarks and clear themed zones.

I learned Illustrator during the competition, and honestly, tracing patrol loops with my finger on the screen helped me find routes that were both readable and interesting.

Midpoint check-in

I used the check-in to validate three things: whether the level still encouraged stealth, whether sightlines felt fair, and whether the beat-to-beat flow stayed clear even without objectives fully implemented yet .

Phase 2: Playable blockout

When I moved into Unreal, I had to tighten scope fast: shrink the footprint, reduce enemy count, and clean up areas that were cluttered or hard to read .

Flow Chart of Beats

Obstacle placement

Enemy Placement

What changed and why

1) Exterior readability and guidance

Problem: the outside space felt too open and objectives were easy to drift past.
Change: condensed building scale, added key in fountain objective, and used cables/leading lines to connect related interactions .
Result: players had stronger direction without losing freedom.

2) Theatre clarity and stealth options

Problem: theatre space was cluttered and hard to parse.
Change: restructured to be less congested, improved sightlines/obstacles
Result: cleaner pathing, better scouting, and can learn the dry ice mechanic

3) Better Sky Drop Payoff

Problem: riding the tower was functional but not exciting.
Feedback: “Tower is boring for something so special looking.”
Change: turned it into a sequenced event where it breaks halfway, forcing a climb with a real traversal finish.
Result: the tower became a memorable story beat, not just an elevator

New ingredient: Dry Ice Smoke

I wanted a stealth tool that fit the location and solved a real level problem: long, monitored sightlines inside Arctic Cave. Dry ice already existed in the fiction as show fog, so repurposing it into a throwable smoke tool felt grounded and “in-world,” not a random gadget.

Design goal: give players a way to create temporary cover where none exists, without turning it into a shoot-out.

What it does for stealth

  • Breaks sightlines in tight corridors and observation halls, letting players cross “impossible” spaces without defaulting to kills.

  • Creates safe lanes through patrols and cameras by shrinking detection while the fog is active.

  • Enables a clean, non-lethal interaction with the VIP courier by masking the pickup moment.

Blueprint implementation

I built it as a small chain of simple Blueprints that plug into existing project patterns rather than rewriting core systems.

Pickup + UI

  • BP_DryIcePickup uses the same structure as ammo pickups: collect, hide the mesh, add to the player, update UI.

  • BP_PlayerCharacter increments the dry-ice count and updates the HUD.

Deploy

  • BP_DryIceDeploy activates particles on impact, enables a collision/overlap volume, and checks enemies inside the cloud to trigger a behavior change event.

  • Throwing uses the same baseline logic as the existing rock throw, just tuned for this item.

AI response

  • I handle the “lost in smoke” effect by clearing player-location related values and reducing sight while inside the radius, then restoring normal behavior when exiting.

Playtesters had trouble following button connections. I used cables and leading lines to guide players.

Before After

Front gate ladder

Playtesting

I ran structured playtests with specific questions around ammo balance, readability, enemy path clarity, objective confusion, and route choices.

My workflow:

  1. Collect feedback

  2. Sort into “can act on” vs “cannot act on”

  3. Prioritize by effort vs impact

  4. Patch, then retest

Multi-route stealth

Theatre: Castle

Sky Drop to Aquarium

What I learned

  • Constraints are not a limiter, they are a design tool. The AI cap and space limits forced me to cut “filler” and keep only meaningful guards and cameras .

  • Teaching a new mechanic needs a deliberate “teach → test → challenge” plan. I got close, but I would structure it even earlier next time .

  • A big landmark must earn its screen time. Turning the tower into a traversal sequence was the single highest-impact change.