This was the first game I worked on as a level designer, where I contributed to three of the game's main missions: Breakout, Viper, and The Safecracker. Breakout was the mission I worked on from start to finish, guiding it through all stages of development. For Viper, some rooms from my initial work remained the same in the final version. My work on The Safecracker was limited to the first iteration, with only one room staying mostly unchanged.
Breakout is the second main mission on the planet of Kijimi where the player has to find and help Ank escape the Ashiga Weapon Factory.
Tools: Snowdrop
Date: August 2024
Team:
Quest Designer : Raluca Picioroaga
Artist: Jens Peppler
The Breakout mission in Star Wars Outlaws is an adventure that begins with Kay Vess infiltrating a heavily guarded Weapons Factory. Her mission: to rescue the skilled safecracker Ank while evading detection from patrolling guards and droids. After successfully reaching Ank, Kay is tasked with acquiring her Lucky Charm, a precious heirloom crafted by her late husband. However, before they can escape, Ank decides to take a more direct approach, blowing up the door to her workshop and forcing Kay to follow and protect her through the factory.
The courtyard features two main paths, left and right, interconnected by several smaller pathways to form a larger, more dynamic area.
To create variety, the left path focuses on traversal, requiring the player to evade just two enemies, while the right path presents a greater challenge with more enemies, encouraging careful planning and strategic decision-making.
The fan room is where the player first encounters Ank, overhearing her in a conversation with one of the guards.
This room features a small puzzle designed to engage the player. It requires positioning Kay in a specific spot and sending Nix to assist in turning off the fans, enabling the player to proceed further toward Ank.
From a world-building perspective, this room represents the end of the production chain, where the Ashiga Clan stores their finished explosives.
The room is guarded by a patrolling droid in the center, which cannot be distracted by Nix. This forces the player to carefully time their movements to avoid detection and navigate the area safely.
This is the main section of the Ashiga Weapon Factory, the expansive production floor where weapons are being created. After the explosion triggered by Ank, the alarm is already raised, causing the workers to evacuate while guards patrol the area.
As Kay's identity remains unknown to the Ashiga, the platform allows for versatile gameplay, enabling players to approach the mission through stealth or engage in full combat.
I envisioned this area as an ambush point for Kay, where enemies would remain hidden until she entered, springing from cover to attack. This is also where Ank gets 'stuck,' requiring the player's help to disable a forcefield.
In the final version, the concept evolved to include three patrolling NPCs to maintain a sense of realism. If the player is spotted, reinforcements are called in, but the space now offers the flexibility to approach it stealthily as well.
At this point in the mission, Kay gets stuck on an elevator and relies on Ank to restore its power.
While waiting, two waves of enemies appear on the main platform, creating a long-range encounter. However, with precise timing, the player can eliminate both waves by strategically shooting nearby explosive barrels.
This final part of the mission features a dynamic fight, where Kay engages enemies across the rail tracks without actually crossing to the other side.
From a world-building perspective, Ank’s path in this segment goes against the flow of the Ashiga Clan’s production process. While the rest of the factory handles finished products, this area is where the Ashiga store raw materials, further emphasizing the contrast in Ank’s actions and the mission’s progression.
Working on this mission was one of my favorite parts of the project. While there are aspects I might approach differently now, I feel this mission effectively captures the dynamic between Kay and Ank—a central focus of its design. From Kay helping Ank by stealing her lucky charm, to Ank's explosive tendencies creating chaos for Kay to navigate, the mission showcases their contrasting personalities. This culminates in a moment where Ank helps Kay escape a stuck elevator in her own unpredictable way—by blowing things up.
The second main mission on the planet Akiva, Viper begins with a skirmish against a Viper droid before the player infiltrates an Imperial base to disable its defense grid, paving the way for a Rebel assault on the facility.
In this mission, I contributed across all stages of development, from the end of preproduction through production and into the debugging phase. While some areas were reworked during development, key sections remained as originally designed by me, including the fan puzzle after infiltrating the facility, the reception area leading to the listening post, and the lab where the Super Viper Droid hangs from the ceiling. Even the reworked spaces retained the core concepts I developed, albeit in a different form.
Set on Kijimi, the first main mission on the planet, "The Safecracker" begins with the player seeking a skilled safecracker named Ank. However, the player soon learns that the true objective is to pay off Ank’s debt to secure her help, which involves retrieving a valuable relic from the Ashiga Clan's underworld.
For this mission, my work focused on the prototyping stage, up until the start of production. I'm especially proud that the main room housing the artifact remained mostly unchanged from my original design. The two-story layout, with the player starting above to get a clear view of the challenge ahead, was a concept I created. I feel the small additions and changes made during later development enhanced the experience, and I'm thrilled with how my initial idea evolved.
