#Blocktober 2 — Marta Dobińska

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Lilayah

CD PROJEKT RED


This month, we’re participating in #Blocktober to highlight the work of our talented Level Designers! For our second post, Marta Dobińska shares her process behind creating an Increased Criminal Activity location in the Luxor Heights spa complex.

"For the planned mini-boss fight here, I knew that I wanted to provide an open space that would allow for different approaches, including stealth, and would make it possible to circle around enemies in combat. At the same time, I wanted to use a unique theme that would allow me to shape the space believably and create a setting that is interesting in its own right. Together with Piotr Ruszkiewicz, the Environment Artist for this area, we decided on a luxurious pool complex, allowing me to use empty pool basins, rock decorations, and jacuzzi bathtubs to create stealth paths and combat spaces.

Once Dogtown was taken over by Kurt Hansen, construction in the district stopped, so Luxor Heights was never fully built. I decided to use abandoned scaffoldings to provide verticality, including higher-located paths with a better overview of the hall. The theme the location was built around resulted in interesting ideas for the mini-boss fight, with the use of water and electricity providing a twist to the encounter. Ayo Zarin, the enemy group leader, has implants that allow her to use electricity to regenerate — in the second half of the fight, she retreats to the water-filled pool and uses electricity to create a more hazardous battle for the player."

Marta Dobińska:

 
I loved it. When you arrive and look out you see a huge place full of options, full of enemies and you can make a combat strategy... I remember spending a few minutes analyzing how I would do it.

It's a place that adapts to the player's imagination. How do you want to do this? That's great. As an expert Netrunner, I combined hacking attacks from a distance with fast and aggressive attacks on enemies with a sniper rifle. I don't like melee, I like to be precise and for enemies not to know who killed them (as long as the place allows me to).

It's a map with a lot of work, you feel very comfortable in it having so much space during combat.

Congratulations Marta Dobińska. Hoping that you do your magic again.
 
This map was super memorable! I did a bunch of recon and sneaky netrunner stuff to start out. Messed up and turned it into a bloodbath. Ended up getting slammed and had to run and hide to lose agro. Got stuck on the ground floor with everyone searching for me. Felt like I was constantly juggling the cooldown on the blindness quickhack to get out without starting another gunfight
 
Did really great work with this, I was just jumping around in panic shooting everything that moves in the end though I had a plan to try to do things calmly and focused and use my quick hacks. It was great fun.
 
Yeah, very very nice job with this layout. Whether you go in guns blazing or strike silently as a stealth runner, the environment was well crafted to suit either playstyles. (y)
 
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