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Su Chen
Level Design
Best Practices : Creating Tension With Colored Lighting Contrast
“ PlanB ” is a level made in Dying Light using best practices for creating tension with colored lighting contrast . This project employs theoretical research to establish best practice methodologies for using colored lighting contrast to shape a tension curve that players respond to as they engage with the game .
The artifact consists of two parts : an Unreal Engine color experiment and a playable level , developed over 350 hours . In Unreal Engine , I conducted two colored lighting tests — single-colored lighting and colored lighting pairs — and identified eight pairs of colors to create a predicted tension curve .
The level features 10 distinct areas across three thematic settings , including an abandoned lab , an underground pipeline tunnel , and a church .
Players navigate each area , experiencing dynamic tension through various paired colored lighting schemes , and scored their feelings of tension in each area . Upon analyzing survey results and feedback , I discovered that the primary trend aligned with my predicted curve , but some fluctuations occurred . The result reveals discoveries including that green lighting elicited more tension than anticipated and that dark and light play different roles when lighting intensity changes .
My thesis offers valuable insights for level designers seeking to enhance gameplay experiences and immersion through colored lighting contrast . This research could pave the way for further exploration by incorporating additional level design techniques .
32 LEVEL DESIGN