Andrew Leverich
Technical Level Designer
Fired Fighters (Work in progress)
Concept:
This idea started off as a passion project to keep refining my skills as a level designer while also seeing how hard I can push myself to write better code. With the help of my colleague and friend Alex we have been slowly turning these ideas into reality through hard work and dedication. I always love slap happy humor, what is even better is when you can share it with friends.Our game is about firefighters who risk there lives running back into a burning building to save your beloved bag of chips, or precious Temu vase. These fire fighters will do their best to save all of the missing items before the building collapses. Soon you will be reunited with your precious pieces that may possibly end up in multiple pieces.Throughout this blog I will be discussing my progress as the Technical Level Designer, Lead Developer, and Producer of Fired Fighters. I will try to post assets Alex has made as well when possible.
Week 19
9/27/2026
I am back and ready to go. This week I finished off optimizing the fire so the work load wasn't destroying anyones CPU. I also started working on the UI sides of things.
Fire spreading and damage is completed and optimized.
Main menu UI and UX mostly finished, and is all wired up.
Death screen is created along with a simple UI/UX set up that is easy to navigate.
Home screen audio has been added, interaction audio still needs to be added.
In game audio has been added as well, however this will be worked on continously as interactions and animations are added into the game!
Week 18
9/24/2026
I am out of town, no updates. Schedule has also changed but work load is consistant.
Sunday Meetings instead of Thursdays.
Week 17
9/17/2026
Much of this week was finishing the fire hazard now that it was able to spread I need to make sure it was optimized properly there were a few change listed below as well.
Alex decided he would create custom floorboards for the hazard to give it more pisaz.
Fire is now completly randomized.
There is also now a functioning health bar.
Fire will do continious damage to the player when ever they enter the collision box.
Week 16
9/10/2026
One of those productive weeks. I am pretty proud of what was able to be achieved. I started programming the hazards section so this was more work than I thought it would be. 1 out of 3 hazards is started. The other 2 hazards have a plan created, which will envolve a lot of dismantling. Last but certainly not least we discussed player retention.
Created the spawning for the fire. Here there was lots of moving parts such as programing how it would spread, where it would be able to spawn, and even how it would interact with the character. Still needs to be finished but great progress so far.
I created files and organized the assets that were to be uploaded. I then had a meeting for this as due to the new Unreal Engine update we were getting instances where we shouldnt be. This created a couple of roadblocks however we were able to manage that.
For hazards 2 & 3 these will be collapsing floorboards and ceiling panels. In order to do this I will have to dismantle on of the blueprints by removing the floor and replacing them with individual panels in order to achieve my goals.
One or possibly two secret unlockable game modes will be added to the game.
Week 15
9/3/2026
I have succeeded this week in achieving last weeks goals. My work around was not utilizing only the blue prints for the two rooms but also utilizing an overarching blueprint for the randomization. Instead the blueprints for the room would be used solely as spawn points.
Randomizing Items (Check)
No Item Repeats (Check)
No items stuck in the wall. (Check)
Have 13 items. (Check)
Week 14
8/27/2026
This week was a bumpy road, I was working on randomization for object spawning. However the code had to be completely redone sadly. My goals for this week were:
Randomizing Items (Being Worked On)
No Item Repeats (The ISSUE)
No items stuck in the wall. (Check)
Have 13 items. (Check)
Week 13
8/20/2026
My goal for this week is to add in a widget to display the score. This will have a couple of parts as I have to get the widget to translate the score and have to update the goal code as well. This has been fixed and edited properly. I have also came up with a way to reset levels based on the amount of items picked up
Widget set up successfully
Goal code updated
Level transition based on items picked up
Week 12
8/13/2026
We have set up a multi-user plugin that allows Alex to input his assets & textures into the current Unreal level. These will start to be replaced.The goal code has been finished so that when you take objects to the exit they destroy themselves and then they add a point to your score.Future codes for this will need to have it so that this is set up as one level and the objects that you need to bring to the end increase by one for every level.The next upcoming steps.
Randomizing object spawning
Create window physics and new goal areas.
Create hazards and spawning.
Create a UI menu
Set up servers and multiplayer.
Replacing blocked out meshes with beautifully created assets.
Week 11
8/6/2026
Finally finished and fixed the code for throwing and picking up. This week we also discussed the textures for the outside building and how to avoid warping and issues when it comes to windows. Windows will have the feature for objects to be tossed out of them to land on safety mats or for them to be damaged (earning less points but the goal can still be completed)
Fixed gravity being activated and deactivated to prevent sticking to the ground.
Fixed the block rotating and the location snapped to player when grabbing the object so it is consistent.
Fixed the collisions on the object as well.
Week 10
7/30/2026
Started working on the picking up and throwing aspect of the game. However, I have ran into a few issues: The block flies and never drops, Now the object gets stuck into the ground. Now I can pick it up and throw it again but It wont get re-picked up.This week we also discussed FX that will be needed. I am confident with SFX however when it comes to particle effect we will be using licensed effects and I will be updating them with in house FX after the game is complete.
Week 9
7/23/2026
I have worked on lighting in the building by turning off shadows for the time being so that the building can be walked through. Things added this week were:
New lighting for the building (this will be changed again)
Operating stairs for the character
Hallways for the outside doors (4 hallways/4 Entrances) There be zero overlapping.
Building size and shape is quite cemented.
Week 8
7/16/2026
I have fixed the issue with the rooms pointing in the same direction. I expieriemented with rotating them, and then messed around with the pivot points, however there was still issues. The way I achieved this was by setting a negative scale for the rooms on the opposite end of the hallway.Also this will be the first of many shout outs to Alex for creating great props and textures that will help bring this game to life. Thank you my friend!
Week 7
7/9/2026
Procedural generator is working, It has all the following listed below however there is an issue with the the rotations of the rooms on the opposite end of the hallway so this will need to be fixed. The building itself looks great on the outside.
Have there be alternating Studio and double rooms in the apartment
Have the builidng be 3 floors tall
Have a single hallway dividing the rooms.
There be zero overlapping.
Week 6
7/2/2026
Started the progress on the procedural enerator. The goals for this are seperated as listed. In order to get this done I have blueprints set up specifically for a small room and a big room. These have static meshes associated that are a collected group of everything in in each room. Moving forward for new objects/assets being created by Alex will be children under this static mesh. This way they can have seperated interactions.
Have there be alternating Studio and double rooms in the apartment
Have the builidng be 3 floors tall
Have a single hallway dividing the rooms.
There be zero overlapping.
Week 5
6/25/2026
Small room is completly finished. Starting to figure out how to make a procedural generator work so the apartment building can form properly.
Sizing of each object For small room.
Small room is half the size, studio style room.
Block out for small room is completly finished.
Experimented with lighting
Week 4
6/18/2026
Blockout of the larger room has been finished. This part helped solidify the assets that would be needed.
Sizing of each object.
Overall large room scaled 2:1 from the small room.
Block out of Large Room Finished.
Small Room Started.
Week 3
6/11/2026
This Week I started my blackout for the larger room. Based on what discussions were and also after we created our asset list as well.
Asset List
Block out of Large Room Started.
Week 2
6/04/2026
This is wear we scheduled our first meeting and decided to have once a week meetings to discuss projects and what would be worked on next. During this week we discussed concept plus what software to use and how to create the game in the most efficient manner.
Mythic Hollow Studios first offical title
Unreal engine 5.7
Blender
Adobe Substance Painter
Weekly Meetings Every Thursday
Week 1
5/28/2026
This was the initial start of it all. During this phase I worked on sketching everything out and mapping out the entire concept itself.
