Ridgeline
Introduction
Ridgeline is a campaign-style level blockout for the VR game Bonelab made using Blender and the Bonelab Community SDK. Its purpose is to provide a tightly constructed and action-packed 10-20 minute experience as the player works their way towards a helicopter in a canyon at dusk.
Windows and Meta Quest builds of the map can be found here.
Ideation and Design
Having enjoyed the gunplay in Boneworks and Bonelab greatly, I had wanted to toy around with it in custom maps. Bonelab's official modding SDK was insufficient to properly support an experience like this, but a community fork could bridge the gap and Ridgeline grew naturally out of my testing with that.
When planning Ridgeline I made a point to lean into large, open spaces as much as possible. They were a major facet of Boneworks's level design but were mostly absent from Bonelab, so I wanted to return to that sense of scale. To that end I set the map along the walls of a massive canyon. The level uses a looping design to subtly ground the player in the space and orient them towards their objective, creating a smooth and dynamic experience.
Final Design
The player starts facing the helicopter that acts as their objective. The prominent positioning and lighting makes it stand out as the goal.
The player begins by sliding into a narrow area with sparse Nullbodies and Crablets and making their way into a cave opening. This opening area only involves melee combat and some blunt weapons are scattered around.
The player emerges to a large indoor area with a chasm in the middle. The side they entered on has more Nullbodies and Crablets, this time on more precarious ground requiring some jumping over gaps. At the end is a small room with an unaware Hazmat soldier and a handgun with ammo.
Across chasm the player can see some kind of outpost with a tunnel on one side and an elevator to the helicopter's platform on the other.
A ramp upwards from the gun room reveals the open sky as the music swells. More Hazmat soldiers can be heard around corner, but the player has the jump on them.
The player starts at the bottom of this arena, but the short range, plentiful cover, and unaware enemies make for a manageable encounter with the pistol. A second pistol sits in the center to encourage dual wielding.
The path ahead gives the player a shotgun and presents a locked entrance to the tunnel from earlier. Ahead is a base on an isolated clifftop with a prominent building at its peak, inviting the player to investigate.
The obvious bridge into the base is blocked by concrete barriers and guarded by sentry guns, but a jumping Crablet alerts the player to another path along the outer ridge of the mountain. Bold players can use a nearby garbage can lid as a shield and try to charge the bridge anyway.
The lower route takes the player through encounters with more Nullbodies and an ambush by a horde of Crablets as they climb their way around the perimeter of the base.
The path eventually brings the player to a back entry to the base with the enemies inside still unaware. An AK-47 and an ammo cache are in a building nearby as a reward for the detour.
In either case, the player reaches the base, which is structured with three waves of enemies as the player moves upward.
The area is filled with many Hazmat troops, making for intense room-to-room combat in close and medium range. Additional weapons scattered amongst the buildings let the player improve their firepower as they go.
A button in the building at the peak opens the tunnel from before with an affirmative pulsing light. The framing through the window draws attention to a zipline connected to the roof of the building leading back across the gap.
Another squad ambushes the player as they reach the end of the zipline, but the player is dropped back near the tunnel.
When the player passes through tunnel to the area seen earlier, a siren blares, the entrance closes again, and action music kicks in for the final battle. The arena is roughly circular and dotted with Hazmats on multiple elevations. The elevator to the helipad lies across the space.
Endless waves of enemies assault the player's position after the elevator is called, forcing a holdout until it arrives.
Enemies on a ledge overlooking the arena continue to fight the player as they ascend in a dramatic finale.
Finally, the player reaches the helicopter and finishes the level; their starting point is visible just to their right, closing the loop they've taken.