Cryo Protocol
A fast-paced sci-fi FPS focused on aggressive combat and encounter pacing.
The project explores how player abilities, enemy behaviour and level layout can encourage players to stay mobile and push forward instead of playing defensively.
Brief showcase of the game
The experience takes place aboard a spaceship where pirates have hijacked the vessel. The player must fight through the ship and reach the command cabin.
Project Overview
Originally conceived as a level design project, Cryo Protocol evolved into a full gameplay prototype where I implemented and polished the core systems of a small FPS experience.
The goal was to create a complete combat loop, including movement, weapons, enemy behaviours and level progression, and then tune them to support a fast and aggressive playstyle.
​Project Details
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Genre: FPS Sci-Fi
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Focus: Combat pacing and encounter design
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Engine: Unreal Engine 4 (Blueprint)​
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Production Time: 2 months
Core Systems
To support a fast combat rhythm, the project includes several FPS systems:​​​
High-mobility movement
Sprinting, crouching and jumping allow rapid repositioning and support a dynamic combat style.
Weapon variety
Three weapons were implemented, each supporting different combat situations:
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Assault Rifle - reliable mid-range combat.
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Shotgun - powerful close-quarter option.
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Light Machine Gun - sustained pressure against groups.
Enemy AI behaviours
Enemy agents patrol the environment and engage the player once detected. Their accuracy dynamically adapts based on player movement and distance, encouraging players to remain mobile during encounters.
Design
Design goals
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Create a fast and adrenaline-driven combat experience.
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Encourage players to play aggressively instead of defensively.
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Use level structure and encounter design to support clear combat pacing.
Key design decisions
Fast health regeneration
Player health regenerates quickly after avoiding damage for a short time.
This encourages players to re-engage quickly instead of hiding, maintaining the rhythm of combat encounters.
Delayed weapon introduction
Weapons are introduced gradually during the level.
This allows each new weapon to be highlighted in a dedicated encounter, helping players understand its role better before the next system is introduced.
Enemy reaction to player positioning
Enemies actively look for cover once the player is detected. This serves two purposes
This encourages players to re-engage quickly instead of hiding, maintaining the rhythm of combat encounters.
The section after getting the shotgun is a narrow corridor
Combat pacing
The pacing of encounters follow a deliberate rhythm that alternates between combat intensity and short recovery moments.
During gunfights the player is encouraged to seek shelter and pause briefly, to reload and regenerate. This structure helps maintain tension while avoiding player fatigue.
Combat flow chart
The related pacing curve
Level design
The level was designed to gradually introduce mechanics while maintaining a consistent combat rhythm.
Whenever the player receives a new element (such as a weapon, narrative beat or enemy type), the following encounter is structured to immediately reinforce its use.
The layout also alternates between:
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narrow corridors that create high pressure fights that reward aggressive pushes.
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larger spaces that allow more tactical movement and repositioning.
This contrast helps maintain pacing variety while reinforcing the aggressive playstyle encouraged by the combat system.
Level wireframe
Challenges and solutions
Challenge - Encouraging aggressive gameplay
One of the main challenges was ensuring players felt rewarded for pushing forward instead of playing too cautiously.
If combat became too punishing, players would naturally fall back to defensive play.
Solution
Several systems were tuned together to support aggressive behaviour:
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fast health regeneration.
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enemy accuracy that punishes static play.
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encounter layouts that encourage movement.
Rather than relying on a single mechanic, the solution came from aligning multiple systems toward the same gameplay goal.
Challenge - Implementing believable enemy behaviour
Enemy AI required careful tuning to feel responsive without becoming overwhelming.
Players do not necessarily care whether enemies detect them through realistic sensing systems - what matters is that enemy behaviour feels believable and fair
Solution
Enemy reactions were tuned to maintain the illusion of awareness while keeping encounters readable and manageable for the player
Lessons Learned
Cryo Protocol was my first project focused primarily on level design and encounter pacing.
Early versions of the level consisted mostly of a straight corridor. Through iteration and feedback sessions, the layout was expanded and reworked to introduce greater spatial variety and more meaningful encounter spaces.
This project helped me better understand how level structure directly affects combat pacing, and how even small spatial changes can significantly influence player behaviour during encounters.
It also highlighted how achieving a high level of polish on simple mechanics can require significant time and iteration, an insight that has been very useful when evaluating the scope of projects ever since