Project Overview: Jungle Temple Treasure Hunt
This level design assignment centered around the concept of a jungle temple treasure hunt. My main goal was to create a linear experience with Titanic open spaces, leading players toward a hidden treasure.
I designed this level with a focus on core level design principles such as flow, guidance, push-and-pull dynamics, and spatial storytelling. Inspirations included Uncharted, Tomb Raider, and some Call of Duty campaign maps.
Narrative and Environmental Themes
The level is split into three distinct zones that follow a loose narrative arc:
- The City (a place of decay and tension)
- The Jungle (beautiful but dangerous)
- The Temple (the treasure’s final resting place)
This journey reflects a symbolic transition from man-made corruption to natural purity, but also explores the idea that both civilization and nature have light and dark sides.
These ideas are expressed not through direct exposition, but through environmental storytelling and player observation.
Initial Planning and Flow Graph
Before building the level, I constructed a flow diagram to define emotional beats, encounter pacing, and player movement. Each zone was planned to offer a specific experience:
- City: Introduction to the world, character motivation, and oppressive atmosphere.
- Jungle: Visual contrast, increased verticality, and stealth navigation.
- Temple: Narrative climax, visual payoff, and final decision moment.
The “S-shape” layout I developed in my ninth flow sketch became my favorite, offering strong line-of-sight control, spatial foreshadowing, and meaningful backtracking possibilities.
Setting the Scene: Starting in the Slums
The player begins in a poverty-stricken district, giving immediate context to the character’s social standing and motivations. A friend NPC introduces the treasure hunt via a poster, kicking off the player’s quest.
The environment communicates tight spaces, overcrowding, and hardship through level geometry, animation, and NPC behavior. These contrasts set the tone for what lies ahead and build player empathy.
The Wealthy District and First Obstacle
The next goal is to reach the wealthy area of the city, which is blocked off by heavily guarded gates. This creates the first major obstacle and introduces stealth gameplay.
The player must find a secret high-ground path to bypass the guards, providing a moment of vertical exploration and light platforming.
This section also introduces a marketplace environment full of animated NPCs, simulating a dense, interactive crowd. Here, players overhear conversations about the Adventurer’s Guild racing for the treasure, building urgency and competition into the narrative.
From Streets to Wilderness
After narrowly escaping a guard chase, the player exits the city and enters the jungle. A blocked main path (due to a crashed wagon) pushes the player to explore a hidden alternate route.
This starts a new gameplay phase with platforming, environmental navigation, and light puzzles.
A short climb brings the player to a vantage point overlooking Guild members setting up camp. This creates a stealth encounter, where players must navigate past patrols, learn about the treasure’s location, and optionally interact with a map to reinforce narrative context and player orientation.
River Crossing and the Waterfall
Guided by information from the Guild’s map, the player reaches a river crossing, involving a platforming sequence across stones and logs. This maintains pacing and keeps the traversal engaging.
At the end of this segment, the player climbs up and reaches a visual reveal: the temple nestled in dense jungle foliage, far below.
This is a major visual payoff, using framing and elevation to deliver a strong sense of mystery and anticipation.
The Temple Reveal and Final Camp
Descending from the overlook, the player spots the Adventurer’s Guild base camp set up between them and the temple.
This encounter provides narrative clarity: the treasure is confirmed to be inside the main temple building, which is highly visible and serves as a strong orientation anchor.
This moment requires another stealth approach, sneaking through the camp and avoiding detection while absorbing more world-building through overheard dialogue and environmental clues.
Narrative Choices and Level Philosophy
The level culminates with the player reaching the temple entrance, now fully aware of the moral ambiguity behind the treasure. A critical moment arises: Is it really worth taking the treasure? This final narrative beat mirrors earlier environmental themes, challenging the player’s assumptions.
From a design perspective, this project was about guiding the player without handholding, balancing action and exploration, and layering meaning through space.
While the animation assets were sourced from Mixamo, all coding, layout design, and gameplay logic were developed independently.
Every decision was rooted in the desire to create a level that feels alive, guides intuitively, and tells a story through play.