Today
Level design
Arno Kamphuis
Game Design 2010-2011
Today
• Level design
• What is level design?
• What are the contributing factors?
• Important aspects
• Such as design patterns
• How do you proceed?
What is level design?
• Game world design
• Look and feel (style)
• Immersion
• ”Realism”
• Control over the challenges
• Order of the challenges
• Learning curve
• Flow
• Enabling and restricting the movement of the player
(character)
What is level design?
Traditional
• Game world design
• Look and feel (style)
• Immersion
• ”Realism”
• Control over the challenges
• Order of the challenges
• Learning curve
• Flow
• Enabling and restricting the movement of the player
(character)
• Strongly dependent on genre/type of game
Today
Difference
There is a difference between:
• Game worlds
• Levels
• Game spaces
Questions
What is important?
• What is the main goal of the level?
• Related to the story
• Which part of the story is covered in this level?
• What objects/characters try to withhold the player
from reaching the goal?
• How does the level relate to the game world?
• Does it cover the part of the world?
• Or is the world re-used?
• What type of game spaces do I envision?
What is important?
Scope
Patterns
Flow
Information
Scope
Scope
• What is covered by the level?
• Openness:
• Is it an open space?
• Is it closed?
• Or both?
• This influences the rest of the design!
Major Pitfall
• Combining interior and exterior in one level
• Often unclear what to do
• Difficult to see relationships between outside world
and inside
• Better to split this
• Could be used for general ’story’ in the game
Flow
Flow
• Remember the flow
• Balance between
challenges and abilities
of the player
• This is achieved by
designing the level
correctly
• Difficult to fully design
beforehand
• Play testing is required
• Remember that this
could be paper
prototyping
anxiety /frustration
actual gameplay
challenges
flowzone
boredom
abilities
Activity Chart
Activity Chart
• The activity chart shows the order and duration of
the activities
• This helps to design the levels
Activity Chart
• After play testing a number of things need to change:
• The first area got slightly bigger to make sure the
player spent a bit longer in-game time before the first
puzzle emerged.
• A small puzzle was added in the middle to make sure
pacing was low before the next fight.
• A small puzzle was added right before the dialogue to
lower the stress on the player prior to the dialogue.
• A dialogue was added in the middle of the final battle
to get two waves and have the ability to add some
help in the battle.
Activity Chart
Patterns
Patterns
• Very little information about level patterns from game
research
• Very much information from architecture and urban
design
• Design patterns
• Software patterns, familiar?
• Very dependent on genre
• But first some basic principles from architecture...
The Path
• The path or circulation is the key to organizing good
design
• This is the main route through the game world
• The route in a museum
• The critical path in the game
• Platform games
• RPGs
• Isometric games
Circulation Patterns
• Many different patterns
• In architecture often very tight and economical
• Mainly because of the related costs
• In games a similar situation
• Costs not in Euros but in polygons and man-hours
• Patterns are different in different genres
Components of Circulation
Spaces
• There are three main components:
• Spaces These are the (virtual) spaces that make up
the world, and specifically the relative positioning
between them.
• Corridors/Routes These are the paths between the
spaces, the routes that can be taken.
• Views These determine what is visible. This has
influence on the choices players make.
Spaces
• Three important aspects:
• Enclosure of the spaces
• Relationship between spaces
• Relationship of spaces to the main path
• Note that spaces can be virtual!
Enclosure
Enclosure
• Influence on the experiences
• Freedom within the level
• Influence on the playability
• Think of open spaces in a First Person Shooter Arena
• Or closed spaces of Tactical First Person Shooter
Space Relationships
• Space relationships are often referred to as
Organization of Spaces
• Different spacial relationships:
• Space within a space
• Adjacent spaces
• Spaces linked by a common space
• Different organizations:
• Centralized organization
• Clustered organization
• Beware of the player getting lost
Use of enclosure
• Enclosures of spaces produce doorways
• These doorways are important for playability
• Enemies in the next space
• Face them one-by-one
• Or face them all-at-once
Space within a space
• A space can be completely enclosed by another space
• There should be a clear difference in size!
• Results in a hierarchy of spaces
• Spaces can overlap
• Remain their own identity
• Three possible situations giving different function to
the overlapped space
Space within a space
Space within a space
Adjacent Spaces
Adjacent Spaces
• The most common relationship between spaces
• Clearly defined spaces
• Feature functional or symbolic properties
• The degree of continuity depends on the nature of the
plane that both seperates and binds them together.
Common Space
Common Space
• Many forms of common spaces
• Most common form of Common Space is the Hub
• Example: The dungeon spaces in the Legend of Zelda
series
• The common space is large enough to become the
dominant space
• Another often used form is a chain of three spaces
• The middle space connects the two other space
(structurally)
Centralized Organization
• Composition of
secondary spaces
around central space
• Very balanced
• But confusing
Centralized Organization
Clustered Organization
Corridors/Routes
• Many spaces next to each other
• Three possibilities
• Axis-aligned
• Centralized
• No structure
Path-Space Relationship
• There are three main path-space relationships:
• Pass-by
• Pass-through
• Terminate
PSR: Pass-by
PSR: Pass-through
PSR: Terminate
Ordering of Spaces
Ordering of Spaces
• The goal of ordering spaces is to allow intuitive
navigation
• Many ways of ordering:
•
•
•
•
•
Axis
Symmetry
Hierarchy
Rhythm
Datum
• Axis: A line established by two points in space,
about which spaces can be arranged in a symmetrical
or balanced manner.
• Symmetry: The balanced distribution and
arrangement of equivalent spaces on opposite sides of
a dividing line or plane, or about a center or axis
• Used in many Capture the Flag-type games
• Hierarchy: The articulation of the importance or
significance of a form or space by its size, shape, or
placement relative to the other forms and spaces of
the organization.
Ordering of Spaces
• Rhythm: A unifying movement, characterized by a
patterned repetition or alteration of formal elements
of motifs in the same or a modified form.
• Datum: A line, plane, or volume that, by its
continuity and regularity, serves to gather, measure,
and organize a pattern of spaces
• Like boundedness of game worlds
Routes in FPS
Routes
• Placement and ordering of spaces is the main
contributing factor to the layout of routes
• Layout and construction of routes determines the
’story’ of the game
• Or reversely: The story will determine many aspects
of the placement and ordering
• However the genre influences this also, e.g.:
• Arena First Person Shooter
• Adventure/RPG
Routes in RPGs
Views
Views
• Views are determined by the visibility of certain areas
• For example: A bridge over a valley
• Valley completely visible from bridge
• Bridge visible from valley
• This gives rise to possible risk incentives
• Dangerous to be on the bridge
• Place e.g. a power-up on the bridge
Information
Information
• Information determines what the players knows
• Also what he/she is logically going to do next
• Information can consist of many things, like
• NPCs
• Items found
• In-game narrative (movie clips)
• Signs
• Placement of objects
Placement of Objects
• Placement of objects can be regarded in a similar
fashion as the ordering of spaces
• Placement of (usable) objects can give the incentive to
guide the player through the environment
Next lecture
Game Setting