Greybox the Vertical Slice

Step 1 — Place your scale references

Before placing a single wall, place a player-scale reference in your level: a player capsule or simple character mesh at 180cm tall (the standard human reference) and a door opening at 100cm wide. Leave both in the level the whole time you’re building. Every hallway, arena, ceiling, and doorway gets judged directly against these two numbers.

Step 2 — Block the critical path

Build the route a player has to take to get from the start of the slice to the end. Simple shapes only: cubes for walls and floors, cylinders for pillars, ramps or stairs for elevation changes. Ensure the player can traverse the entire length of the slice without encountering dead ends on the primary route.

Step 3 — Block out the secondary spaces

Build combat arenas, puzzle chambers, discovery nooks, and optional branching spaces off the critical path, strictly adhering to your team’s GDD and scope contract. Keep geometry untextured and unlit so testing remains fast and low-cost.

Step 4 — Label every space

Drop a 3D Text Actor in every distinct area naming its intended gameplay function in a word or two: COMBAT, PUZZLE, SAFE ZONE, REWARD, HAZARD. When external playtesters or teammates walk the level, labels ensure everyone instantly understands what the space is designed to ask of the player.

Step 5 — Walk it, repeatedly

Test the level at actual player speed in first-person or third-person mode — never rely on flying around in the editor viewport. As you walk:

• Note anywhere the scale feels cramped, oversized, or awkward relative to the 180cm reference.
• Check whether the critical path reads clearly or causes unintended confusion.
• Assess whether the pacing feels flat or successfully provides an alternation of tension and rest.

Step 6 — Fix what you find

Adjust geometry immediately based on what walking it revealed: widen narrow choke points, raise low ceilings, clarify sightlines to guide the player, or reshape an arena to introduce a deliberate lull before a combat beat.

Step 7 — Playtest with someone outside the build

Have a teammate or classmate who was not involved in building that specific section walk the greybox blind without spoken guidance. Watch where they hesitate, where they look first, and where they get lost. That behavior is neutral diagnostic data, not a personal critique of your layout.

Step 8 — Save and share it

Save the completed greybox level into the shared project repository. If working in the same project file or Git repo:

• Coordinate verbally who is actively in the Unreal editor and saving at any given time to avoid silent file overwrites.
• Confirm with your team before beginning and after completing your editing session.
• Push or commit your level changes cleanly.

Step 9 — Write it up and document

Assemble the team and individual documentation:

• Producer: Record and post a playthrough video or a set of annotated screenshots tracing the critical path, accompanied by the team’s notes and findings from the outside playtest, to your team’s shared documentation.
• Individual Studio Members: Post to your personal Google Sites portfolio Coursework page under the GAD2 U2 section documenting:
  1. Which specific area or encounter in the level you blocked out.
  2. One concrete change you made to scale, pathing, or pacing after walking it yourself.