Overview

​Haunt is a linear time trial level for Parkour Fortress, a full-conversion mod for Team Fortress 2 that adds first-person parkour movement mechanics. The map is currently hosted on Parkour Fortress' servers as part of its ​official map pool.
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The goal of Haunt was to showcase linear level design techniques, as well as craft an intermediate difficulty parkour course that had a very high skill ceiling.

Development Role

Haunt was created entirely as a solo effort, using the existing Team Fortress 2 assets and Valve's proprietary level editing software, Hammer. 
As the developer of Haunt, I accomplished the following:
  • Informally Surveyed Parkour Fortresses' active user base to establish which existing levels were favored by the community, and why
  • Created initial Prototypes and Whiteboxes for the level layout
  • Ran public playtesting of the Whiteboxed layout to find issues and gather player feedback from Parkour Fortress' active user base
  • Made adjustments to the layout to better guide new players and assist them in completing the map
  • Designed all areas to contain multiple paths through them, varying in difficulty and speed
  • Fine-tuned specific areas after prototyping in order to make the route more consistent and enjoyable to run
  • Implemented all art and environment design by using and re-purposing existing Team Fortress 2 assets

Developer Commentary

Below are several short commentary videos that discuss the creation of Haunt

Player Guidance

Strong player guidance was a key focus during development, and many different techniques were used in order to lead the player through the level.

The Fountain

The fountain area was a sore spot in playtesting, and special care was taken in order to make the area flow smoothly & naturally.

​Alternate Routes

Intentionally crafted alternate routes & skips were an integral part of creating an intermediate difficulty parkour course that still had lots of room for high-skill play.

​Whitebox Examples

Examples of several areas in the Whitebox and how they translated to the final version of the level.