Chitty Chitty Bang Bang | Zachary Shewbart

Hammer++: Half-Life

Chitty
Chitty
Bang
Bang

Base Parameters:

Target playtime: 5 minutes per run
On-rails shooter gameplay with a predefined player path
Custom dynamic scoring system
Multiple destructible environmental scoring opportunities
Enemy kills and environmental destruction award varying point values
Score displayed and updated dynamically throughout the run
Designed for replayability, score optimization, and player mastery

"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" is a rail-shooter minigame built in Half-Life 2 that trades traditional level design for a focus on technical and systems design. Players move automatically through the environment while destroying props and eliminating enemies to earn points through a custom scoring system that dynamically tracks and rewards their actions.

Designed around replayability and player mastery, the project challenges players to learn the environment, identify scoring opportunities, and optimize their performance through target priority across repeated runs. Playtesting demonstrated meaningful variance between player scores as players became more familiar with the experience, highlighting the scoring system’s ability to reward knowledge, accuracy, and mastery while showcasing the project’s emphasis on technical implementation and systems-driven gameplay.

Design Focus: Technical Design, Systems Design

Engine: Hammer++: Half-Life 2

Development: 2 months

what i accomplished

Design

Technical Design

The project was designed around a custom scoring framework that transforms a traditional Half-Life 2 environment into a systems-driven rail shooter. Using Hammer’s scripting and logic tools, enemies and destructible objects were assigned individual score values that dynamically update the player’s total as they progress through the level. The system was designed to reward accuracy, environmental awareness, and optimization, with carefully placed scoring opportunities encouraging players to learn the level and improve across repeated runs. Playtesting demonstrated meaningful variance in scores between players and subsequent attempts, validating the system’s ability to support replayability and reward increasing player mastery.

Systems Design

The scoring system was balanced to ensure that player performance reflected skill and mastery rather than simply completing the level. Enemies, destructible objects, and environmental targets were assigned different point values based on factors such as difficulty, visibility, timing, and risk of missing the opportunity. Through repeated playtesting, score values and target placement were iterated on to create meaningful scoring decisions and a wide range of achievable results. The resulting variance between player scores demonstrated a clear progression as players learned the level, discovered additional scoring opportunities, and optimized their performance across repeated runs.

Level Design

The level was designed to deliver a fast-paced, high-octane rail shooter experience, with enemy encounters, destructible targets, and key locations carefully staged along the player’s predefined path. Sightlines and encounter placement were used to constantly pull the player’s attention toward new threats and scoring opportunities while maintaining a strong sense of forward momentum. Heavy emphasis was placed on gameplay juice through environmental destruction, explosions, enemy reactions, and rapid visual feedback, making successful shots feel impactful and satisfying. Playtesting informed adjustments to pacing, target density, and encounter composition to maintain intensity while still giving skilled players opportunities to anticipate upcoming targets and optimize their score.

Successes

Created a strong atmosphere through lighting, color, audio, and environmental storytelling, resulting in an interior space with a memorable identity.
Managed the project at a sustainable pace, allowing for consistent progress throughout development while delivering a complete, playable experience without excessive crunch.
Expanded my technical design skills by implementing several custom gameplay systems in Papyrus, including clone combat behaviors, security systems, and interactive environmental scripting.

Challenges

Prioritized production over documentation, which limited the level of design documentation and planning available during development. Better time management would have improved both areas.
The project's broad scope left less time to iterate on combat encounters, resulting in gameplay spaces that could have benefited from additional refinement and player-focused polish.
Some exterior geometry and interior layouts lacked the intentionality I was aiming for, highlighting the importance of investing more time in early blockouts and spatial planning.

Key Takeaways

Strong planning and documentation create a better foundation for production, especially when designing level layouts, flow, and encounter spaces.
Time should be focused on the elements that most directly impact the player's experience, while environmental polish should support and not replace strong gameplay.
Regularly seeking and acting on feedback leads to stronger designs. Learning to embrace critique earlier in the process has become an important part of my design workflow.