Starfield Quest: a day with david (WIP)

Genre: First Person Shooter | Game Mode: Single Player Mission | Engine: Creation Kit | Development Time: 2 Months (as of March 2025)

I’m currently developing an original side quest inside of the Starfield Creation Kit engine, to learn an entirely new engine that focuses on fps single-player level design.

Level Overview

HIGH CONCEPT

Piece together the story of a derelict outpost and decide the fate of it’s sole remaining colonist.

DESIGN SUMMARY

In “A Day with David”, the Player comes across a dilapidated outpost that appears to be a once thriving research center. As they explore, the Player uncovers several data logs that scratch the surface of its history and downfall. Inside the main base is David, who lures the Player to descend to the bunker and retrieve something of great importance.

As they explore the bunker, the mystery of its downfall becomes both clearer and more complex, revealing David's questionable role and culpability. The Player will face multiple combat scenarios, including a terrormorph in the bunker and a final confrontation with space pirates looking to loot the outpost. By the mission's end, the Player will use all the gathered information to decide whether David’s life is worth saving or if he poses too great a threat.

GOALS:

  • Challenge Myself by learning a completely new engine / level editor with Bethesda’s Creation Kit.

  • Craft an engaging and rewarding side quest for Starfield, focusing on narrative and environmental storytelling aspects to provide meaningful decisions that have impact on the Player.

  • Improve upon my single-player level design skills, namely pacing, flow, combat encounters, and scripting.

david’s outpost - exterior

In this mission, the Player will explore both the outdoor and indoor parts of the outpost, with the former area being the first focus for development. The exterior includes the base, landing pad, and abandoned buildings where the mission begins, along with explorable spaces linking these key points. This area will use environmental storytelling to convey the outpost’s backstory while also setting the stage for the final confrontation with the space pirates, which the Player may face with David's help.

Below are breakdowns of my approach to these elements, detailing my design iterations and how they support the overall goals.

LEVEL HIGHLIGHT: ABANDONED BUILDINGS

The goal for the first section is to establish a slow pace for the Player to explore the initial clues in the outpost. The elevator shaft catches the Player’s eye when they land, signaling where they need to go, but first is a linear section of abandoned buildings they need to traverse through. Here, the Player can find the first data slate that provides the first beat to the story, along with retrievable health packs, chests, and other items.

First Pass: A pair of buildings before an upward, natural path leading to the main level. An abundance of negative space and lack of clearer pathing were the biggest detractors here. The path, as well, is intended to build up to the big reveal of the horrid state the Player finds the outpost in, necessitating a more grand and enticing visual pull.

Second Pass: Negative space was addressed, with the left building having an explorable interior. A zig-zagging staircase now leads to a higher vantage point for the reveal of the outpost. Visual pull was still lacking here, and more clearer telegraphing of the path meant additional improvements were needed

Current Pass: A large elevator shaft now stands high behind the abandoned buildings, which are now conjoined together with a single entrance in the front. The visual pull for the Player to explore beyond this initial area, compounded with the building’s exit leading straight to the elevator, made significant improvements to overall flow, which is something I’ve very satisfied with. I intend to continue iterating here with more environmental storytelling in the future.

LEVEL HIGHLIGHT: THE BIG REVEAL

Creating an exciting and grand unveiling of the outpost—the area in which every other aspect of the mission would branch out from—took multiple attempts to achieve the intended effect of sparking genuine excitement and curiosity from the player. This meant reconfiguring level ingredients and overhauling the pathing a handful of times. In its current form, it’s something I’m incredibly proud of, as both the visual density and environmental storytelling gives off the vibe and effect I was aiming for.

First Pass: The burning vehicle and messy exterior were fine in this first iteration, but the big issues here were the base being against the rocky mountain on the far right, barely being in view. In addition, the aforementioned natural path meant that, at the player’s eye level, much of the explorable space would be blocked by the geometry.

Second Pass: The added staircase provided a higher vantage point, improving visibility. The base was also repositioned 45 degrees from the Player's position. However, the dense geometry still made it difficult to discern details. An even higher vantage point would make things more clear, as well, such as the burning vehicle now at the far end of the landing pad.

Current Pass: The elevator shaft’s increased height now gives the Player a clear view of all POIs ahead. With reduced geometry on the decrepit path and added lights leading to the base’s entrance, the reveal highlights exploration opportunities for narrative clues and loot, while setting the desired atmosphere for the mission.

LEVEL HIGHLIGHT: THE BASE

This part of the level exterior presented its own set of challenges as it needed to attract the Player’s attention from the reveal’s POV, as well as provide clear and engaging level design that would accommodate the final encounter. I went through some major overhauls with the base and its surrounding architecture, and I’m pretty pleased with where it currently stands.

First Pass: This first version of the base was a constructed early in my time with Creation Kit. The base was lacking a certain flare and identity that would make it visually stand out to the Player. Moreover, I needed to reconfigure the geometry to accommodate and enhance the final encounter.

Current Pass: With a large dome as its center, the base now is unmistakably the primary location for the Player to access. As for the encounter area, the geometry has been overhauled so to loop the Player around the base depending on if they want to veer left or right from where the encounter begins.