Proceedings of the 2008 ACM SIGGRAPH Symposium on Video Games Pages Gillian Smith, Mee Cha, Jim Whitehead UC – Santa Cruz Don’t forget: Title, where and when it was published, and the authors – you do NOT need these questions and meta- observations in your slides, just my suggestions, will be bolded and italicized…

Article Structure 0. Abstract 1. Introduction 2. Related Work 3. Model Overview 4. Components of Platformer Levels 5. Structural Representation for Levels 6. Analysis of an Existing Level 7. Future Work and Conclusion 8. References Here’s where you can give an overview, “in your words,” on what the paper says.

1- Intro: Definitions and Vocabulary Levels “the space where players explore the rules and mechanics of a game” Good level design usually equals good game Broad principles applicable to all games, here pick one type of game to study, 2D Platformer most other research just surveys all types of games, without much depth, in this paper one type of game is studied in detail Platformer types did they define “platformer” early in the paper? – not until page 3… Super Mario World – single path, avoid failure = dexterity challenge motivation Sonic the Hedgehog – multiple paths, rewards easy to earn = challenge to finish quickly Donkey Kong Country 2 – exploratory playing rather than completing levels, collect rewards

2- Related Work Typically do not address level design If it is addressed, general principles discussed Generally not a great deal of analysis for genre-specific level design Except: Nelson – Breaking Down Breakout: System and Level Design for Breakout-style Games Decomposing levels into genre-specific components Giving rules for how to compose level elements in interesting designs – this paper follows this modeling technique

3- Model Overview Definitions Platform Obstacles Movement Aides Collectible items Triggers Cells – portion of linear gameplay Linked by portals Composed of rhythm groups

4- Components of Platformer Levels 1. The Avatar – character controlled by player does my audience already know this, do I need to define it? 2. Platforms – any object the avatar can travel across 3. Obstacles – major source of challenge 4. Movement Aids – help through level other than running or jumping 5. Collectible Items – rewards, ubiquitous in platform games 6. Triggers – interactive objects used to alter state of level or game rules

5- Structural Representation for Levels 1. Rhythm Groups a) Rhythm + pacing = enjoyable game b) Like a “music phrase,” have a start, middle, and end, culminating in a cadence c) The rhythm of hitting the buttons on the controller 2. Cells and Portals a) Represent non-linearity b) Cells = non-overlapping regions of linear gameplay c) Portals connect

6- Analysis of an Existing Level 1. Figure 13 – labeled rhythm groups and portals 2. Rhythm group size indicates speed of player

7- Future Work and Conclusion 1. Formal definition of a platformer level allows for various kinds of analysis 2. Automatic generation of levels

Some observations This is a nice paper to study and discuss in an undergraduate seminar. Short and accessible, with a topic interesting to most students. Familiar structure Intro  definitions… Related work Overview Discussion (multiple sections) Application Conclusion When was the abstract written in relation to the other sections? Not much mathematical analysis, actually unusual…

Some more observations How would you describe this paper to someone as you were walking down the hall? It’s ok to make your presentation interactive How many pages of setup and definitions to get to the “meat” of the paper? 5 ½ … it isn’t unusual to spend so much time setting the context It’s ok to have a hardcopy of the paper for the audience to browse With several papers, it is interesting to find the commonalities Not much discussion of what makes a “good” level or game

Some more observations Looking at publicly available work, not the proprietary design What makes it an enjoyable game? Didn’t really discuss What are the design principles, and could they be to specific if focusing on a particular game, but working from publicly acclaimed “good” games Cited Cliff Blezinski, the “Warcraft” guy, on work before he was a “figure” in the industry