Level Design - Zero Protocol: Outskirts
The prologue stage of Zero Protocol: teach the basics without a tutorial, introduce a companion who never becomes an escort quest, and end with a boss that tests all of it. It's fully playable in the prototype.
By the end, the player has a weapon, understands traversal and crowd control, cares whether Jimmy makes it, and can see the breached city ahead.
Zero Protocol is an isometric action-adventure thriller in production at Northline Works. You play Cole Ryker, a Zero Force operator sent in when something has happened that absolutely can't become public. His orders are simple: work out what happened, kill anything hostile, contain any witnesses and destroy the evidence. The missions are dark, brutal and gory, and Ryker always starts the same way: on site, with no weapons, just his fists and combat suit.
Mission 1, Stage 1 is the prologue, and it has two jobs. First, it needs to teach investigation, attacking, dodging, blocking, moving between melee and ranged combat, jumping, climbing, grenades and Kinetic Charge. The suit turns damage into power, so Ryker gets more dangerous as he gets closer to death. Second, it needs to introduce Jimmy, the game's big companion idea.
Teach everything, tutorialise nothing
I had four rules for the stage: teach by doing; keep changing between pressure, discovery and traversal; make optional routes matter to Jimmy and the civilians; and give every new tool a new problem to solve. In practice, it's one descending road where each area gives the player one new thing and immediately asks them to use it.
The cold open teaches unarmed combat by throwing an enemy at the player when there's no other option. A pipe drops just before the first proper fight. The first gun, the Nullifier, comes from a dying officer at Barker's Gas Station, seconds before an arena introduces enemy groups the player needs to keep at a distance. The Broken Road pairs the grenade lesson with the first wallrun while two enemy packs wander below, ready to be blown up. I gave every area a rough time target, aiming for about 20 minutes across the whole stage.
Jimmy: a companion, not an escort quest
Jimmy is a civilian who happened to be there when Ryker's drop pod landed on his car, and decided to follow the one capable person in the apocalypse. The design rule is that he's never a burden: no escorting, no babysitting, no fail state attached to him. He follows along, comments on the situation, slowly levels up, picks up his own equipment and helps in combat. He can also die at any time - civilian casualties are normal in Zero Protocol, Ryker barely reacts, and the game just continues without him.
Parts of the mission play out differently depending on whether Jimmy is alive, but he's never required. The Picnic Trail branch only exists while he lives - he's the one who knows who Maria is - and its reward helps him grow rather than filling the player's inventory. I keep him out of traversal sections, dungeons and boss fights. He makes an excuse, disappears, and finds his own way back on the far side.
The Molten Tyrant: putting it all together
The stage ends with an area-denial boss. The Molten Tyrant leaves lava behind with every ability, steadily shrinking the ground the player can use. The fight tests what the road just taught: keep moving, stay out of the lava, swap between ranged and melee attacks, and use Kinetic Charge to turn damage taken into the power that finishes him. Jimmy watches from outside the barrier. If he's alive, he slowly heals Ryker, but he can't solve the fight.
Past the arena, the stage closes on a vista of Silvertown and a one-way drop toward it. I designed the whole stage in Miro - concept, flow, map, plan and a sheet per area - then built it in Godot. It's playable end to end in the prototype today.