Level Building for Stealth Gameplay Randy Smith (see slide notes)

Who Am I?  Thief series of games  Freelance Designer  Might & Magic: Dark Messiah, Arkane Studios 

Roles  Level Builder  Designer  Project Director

Level Building for Stealth Gameplay  Talking about:  Moment to moment gameplay  Sneaking around undetected  NOT:  Story / Objectives  Level Editors  Game Systems  Process  Combat

What Stealth Games?  Splinter Cell, Metal Gear Solid, Thief  Zelda Wind Waker, Deus Ex, Beyond Good and Evil

What Stealth Games?  Splinter Cell, Metal Gear Solid, Thief  Zelda Wind Waker, Deus Ex, Beyond Good and Evil  Sniper Games

What Stealth Games?  Splinter Cell, Metal Gear Solid, Thief  Zelda Wind Waker, Deus Ex, Beyond Good and Evil  Sniper Games  Submarine Games

What Stealth Games?  Splinter Cell, Metal Gear Solid, Thief  Zelda Wind Waker, Deus Ex, Beyond Good and Evil  Sniper Games  Submarine Games  (levels tend to be a little boring)

What Stealth Games?  Any game that emphasizes a model of player hiding / discovery

Content Must Match Game Systems  Game Systems = toys  Levels = the playground  How do you design a playground without knowing which toys?

Are the lights extinguishable?

Content Must Support Aesthetic Vision  What play experience are you trying to create?  More than genre or fiction  How does it feel to play the game?  The aesthetic of the interaction

Slow, Thoughtful pacing

Faster pace, Think on your feet

The MDA Framework Staggered Alcoves, Patrol Paths Carefully Timed Moving and Waiting Slow, thoughtful pacing

Common Stealth Game Mechanics  Guards  Patrol Routes  Light / Darkness  Sound and hearing  Sneaking up on guys

Common Stealth Aesthetic  Create the illusion of a securely guarded area that the player can sneak through by virtue of leveraging their unique abilities and tools to create and exploit security flaws

Common Stealth Aesthetic  Success  Stealth makes player powerful  Someone less stealthy would get caught  Creating/exploiting security flaws  Failure  Stealth is unnecessary  Area isn’t well guarded  A non-stealthy solution is easier and/or more fun  Stealth doesn’t work  Get caught too often

The Low Threshold for Failure

Challenge of the Aesthetic Goal  “Create the illusion of a securely guarded area that the player can sneak through”  Make the player feel like they are special enough to do the impossible

Combat = High Threshold For Failure  You get shot repeatedly but don’t fail

Stealth = Low Threshold for Failure  If guards see you, you get caught quickly

Implications for Level Building  In a combat game, it’s valid to create a challenging room and assume all players will experience some degree of failure.  To support stealth gameplay, you can’t assume players will fail.

The Balancing Act  For every stealth encounter, you must…  Provide a means for the player to experience little or no failure

The Balancing Act  For every stealth encounter, you must…  Provide a means for the player to experience little or no failure  “zero failure”

The Balancing Act  For every stealth encounter, you must…  Provide a means for the player to experience zero failure  Communicate those means

The Balancing Act  For every stealth encounter, you must…  Provide a means for the player to experience zero failure  Communicate those means  Don’t be too obvious about it

The Balancing Act Not enough help, Player feels incapable Too much help, Player doesn’t feel stealthy

What’s on the scales?

Challenges vs. Advantages Guards Loud Flooring Dead Ends Scouting Locations Connectivity Shadows

Design Tools

These are all Design Tools Guards Loud Flooring Dead Ends Scouting Locations Connectivity Shadows

Not…  …player tools  Hiding in shadows  Radar jammer  Lock picks  ….level editor / software

Design Tools  Mechanics you add to the level to manage the player’s experience  EG - Shadowy Alcove  Dynamics you understand to predict the player’s experience  EG - Players are drawn to shadowy alcoves

Useful for Managing Challenge Level Guards Loud Flooring Dead Ends Scouting Locations Connectivity Shadows

Manage the Experience Towards Other Goals, Too  “Players are drawn to shadowy alcoves”  tool for controlling pacing

Environmental Tools

Build A Combat Encounter

Add Enemies…

Then Add Power-Ups!

But it’s also the level layout  Advantages  Hard cover  Sniping Locations  Low wall for cover  Challenges  Blind corners  Tight passages  Low wall that restricts movement

Environmental Tools!  Advantages  Hard cover  Sniping Locations  Low wall for cover  Challenges  Blind corners  Tight passages  Low wall that restricts movement

 Advantages  Darkness  …more to come…  Disadvantages  Light  …more to come… Stealth Environmental Tools

Use Tools To Balance Encounter

But obviously there’s more going on here  Balancing Advantages vs. Challenges is over- simplified  Let’s analyze that example

Closer Look at Balancing Act  Imagine you’re the player  What can you see from the scouting spot?  How do you feel?  What is your plan?  So what might the player do?  What is the effect of the guard’s patrol?

Some observations  What is meant by Advantage?  Anything that makes it easier to succeed at stealth  What is meant by Disadvantage?  Anything that makes it easier to fail at stealth

Some observations  Some things are both Advantages and Challenges, depending  Patrol path  Hard cover

Some observations  Player Psychology  Understanding the “on-the-ground” experience  Guard out of sight at far end of patrol path  Predicting how player will behave

Environmental Tools  Soft Cover  Darkness  Hard Cover  L-shaped rooms

Environmental Tool  Loud Surfaces

Environmental Tools are Sneaky

 They impact gameplay even if they weren’t intended to  Common offenders from Thief  Doors  Staircases  Furniture  Tile flooring

Over constrained problem  Constraints  Beautiful  High performance  Not too dark on the monitor

Dungeons and Abandoned Places

Environmental Tools  Soft Cover  Hard Cover  Blind Corners

S shaped curves in Unreal

What’s the solution?  Acknowledge you’ve created gameplay relevance  A good design tool:  Stealth Friendly vs Stealth Unfriendly

Stealth Friendly vs. Stealth Unfriendly

 Environments only, don’t worry about enemies for now  Stealth Unfriendly  More environmental challenges  Stealth Friendly  More environmental advantages

Macro vs. Micro Application of Stealth Friendly / Unfriendly  We’ve already been discussing the Macro level  If stealth unfriendly…  Add environmental advantages  Or don’t put guards here  Or recognize its impact on player experience

Micro Application of Stealth Friendly / Unfriendly  Let’s revisit this example

Micro Application of Stealth Friendly / Unfriendly

Predicting Player Path Players are drawn Players are repelled No charge

Predicting Player Path

Overlaying With Guard Data

Predicting Player Path Players are drawn Players are repelled No charge  Players move from island to island of stealth friendly areas.

Using The Tools To Support Zero Failure  Tools  Stealth Friendly / Unfriendly  Predict player path  Enemy Placement

Changing Domains…  Soft Cover  Bushes  Hard Cover  Trees  Loud Surfaces  Water

Supporting Zero Player Failure

Environmental Tool  Scouting Location  Player can observe upcoming challenges from a position of safety

Player Psychology  Scouting  Avoiding the pitfall of thinking like yourself  The player doesn’t know if danger is coming up

Scouting  Scouting Locations  Player can observe upcoming challenges from a position of safety  Safety = Stealth Friendly  Observe = Good sight lines, things worth seeing  Examples  Dark crossroads / alcoves  Balconies / Rafters / Hills

Uses For Scouting Locations  Learn  Existence of challenges  Location / behavior of challenges  Formulate and execute plans  Relax

Turning Blind Corners Into Scouting Locations

Stealth Unfriendly Scouting Area!?!??  Players don’t use Stealth-Unfriendly scouting spots  Perceived Affordance  Does it really do what it looks like it does?

Perceived Affordance  Does it appear as Stealth-Unfriendly as you know it to be?  Bad = Tile flooring in darkness  Will the Scouting Location draw the player in?  Bad = Brightly lit balcony

Supporting Zero Player Failure

Now Consider Enemy Placement  We know the player’s path, so where do we place enemies?

Enemy Placement  Use the Friendly / Unfriendly metric  Enemy power is relative to their environment  One guard in a Stealth Unfriendly area might be too much  What territory does the guard control?

Territory

Territory plus Path

Enemy Behaviors  Static  Controls fixed territory  Patrolling / Changing Direction  Covers more territory overall, but doesn’t control it all the time

Enemy Behaviors  Unpredictable behavior  Player doesn’t know what they control when  Long patrol paths  Branching patrols  Scripts

Path Plus Enemy Placement  If path = bush  tree  water  Enemy placement and behavior provides windows of opportunity to support this movement  Patrol route = works  Static guard = does not

Path Plus Enemy Placement

Path Plus Territory

Open-Endedness

Open-Endedness

 Throw on tons of Challenges and Advantages  Create a playground, don’t author an experience  But understand the paths and balance them

Applications of Player Path  Sneaking past enemies  Sneaking up behind enemies  Sneaking up to treasure  Sneaking up to use your tools

Balancing Risk and Reward

Tuning the Player Path(s)  Determine paths  Compare paths to enemy placement  Confirm there is at least one zero failure path  Balance paths for risk and reward

Rule of Thumb  Create a rhythm of Stealth Friendly and Stealth Unfriendly  Break up consistencies  Creates a cycle of tension and relaxation  Significant aesthetic of stealth games

Approaches to Using These Tools  Place tools to encourage a particular path  Figure out which tools are already present, balance the emergent path(s)  Create a rhythm of Friendly / Unfriendly

Phases of Stealth Gameplay  No Enemies Present  Undetected by Enemies  Being Searched For  Been Caught

Phases of Stealth Gameplay  No Enemies Present  Undetected by Enemies   Being Searched For  Been Caught

Phases of Stealth Gameplay  Level design must support phase-specific player goals/needs  Adds more constraints to the environment  Requires more player psychology

No Enemies Present  Do players know that?  Radar?  Other cues?  Perceived Affordance  Relevant Design Tools  Scouting Locations  Treat as Undetected By Enemies phase

Being Searched For  Player Goals  Move away from Enemies along a safe path  Remain undetected  Higher pace, not controlled by player  Does the environment support this?

Environmental Tools  Connectivity  Connected Islands of Stealth Friendly  Obstructions  Furniture  Loud Surfaces  Dead Ends

Dynamic Tool  Ring Around The Rosy

Been Caught  Combat  See elsewhere  Fleeing

Fleeing  Player Goals  Get away  Reset the experience  Does the environment support this?

Environmental Tools  Connectivity  Enemy can’t follow  Balconies  Reset Areas  Such as Scouting Locations  Obstructions  Dead Ends

Props for Scouting Locations  Learn about challenges  Formulate plans  Cycle of tension and relaxation  Reset spots

Dynamic Tool  Out of the Frying Pan, Into The Fire

Summary  Low Threshold For Failure  Create Zero Failure Player Paths  Predict Player Paths  Stealth Friendly / Stealth Unfriendly  Tune Player Paths  Environmental Tools  Enemy Placement and Territory  Phases of Gameplay  Player Psychology

Q & A Slides and Questions:

Design Tools  Soft Cover  Scouting Locations  Connectivity  Ring Around The Rosy  Hard Cover  Static Enemies  Dynamic Enemies  Blind Corners  Loud Surfaces  Unpredictable Enemy Behavior  Obstructions  Dead Ends  Out of the Frying Pan, Into The Fire