1. Level Design

2. What Is Level Design?
Level design: constructing the experience for the player using components from the game designer

3. What Is Level Design? Space in which the game takes place
Level designers create:
Space in which the game takes place
Initial conditions of the level
Set of challenges within the level

4. What Is Level Design? Termination conditions of the level
Level designers create:
Termination conditions of the level
Interplay between gameplay and story
Aesthetics and mood of the level

5. Learning Curves
Practice (Time)
Skill
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3

6. Learning Curves
Stage 1 – Players learn lots, but progress slow. Often can give up. Designer needs to ensure enough progress that continues
Stage 2 – Players know lots, increase in skill at rapid rate. Engrossed. Easy to keep player hooked.
Stage 3 – Mastered challenges. Skill levels off. Designer needs to ensure challenges continue.

7. Key Design Principles Universal level design principles
Make the early levels of a game tutorial levels
Vary the spacing of the level
When the player surmounts a challenge that consumes his resources, provide more resources

8. Key Design Principles Be clear about risks, rewards, and consequences
Clearly inform the player of his short-term goals
Reward in a large way, punish in a small way
Spend more resources (polygons, memory, CPU time) on the foreground than on the background

9. Key Design Principles (Cont.)
Genre-specific level design principles
Action game—vary the space
Strategy game—reward planning
Role-playing game—offer opportunities for character growth and player self-expression
Sports game—verisimilitude is vital
Vehicle simulation—reward skillful maneuvering
Verisimilitude means having the appearance of truth. Sports games must be realistic.

10. Key Design Principles (Cont.)
Genre-specific level design principles (cont.)
Construction and management simulation—offer an interesting variety of initial conditions and goals
Adventure game—construct challenges that harmonize with their locations and the story
Artificial life game—create many interaction opportunities for the creatures in their environment
Puzzle game—give the player time to think

11. Difficulty Curves Difficulty Practice (Time) Stage 1 Stage 2 Easy
Medium
Hard

12. Guidelines Decide how many levels (virtual or real)
Divide into equal groups of EASY, MEDIUM, HARD (in order)
Design each level and decide which group
All players complete EASY
Design these for those who have never played before
Most can complete MEDIUM
Casual game-players here
Good players complete HARD

13. Have levels played, arranged in order, easiest to hardest
Guidelines
If not enough in each group, redesign to make harder or easier so about an equal number of each
Have levels played, arranged in order, easiest to hardest
Test on different players
Adjust based on tests

14. Level Flow Model: Linear
Start
End
Start on one end, end on the other
Challenge in making a truly interesting experience
Often try with graphics, abilities, etc.
Ex: Half-life, ads great story

15. Layouts Linear layouts Require player to move in a fixed sequence
Player can move only to next or previous area
Used traditionally in side-scrolling action games and rail-shooters

16. Level Flow Model: Open layouts Allow unconstrained movement
Correspond to the outdoors
Used in war games and role-playing games
Start
Objective
Objective
Objective
Objective
End
Player does certain number of tasks
Outcome depends upon the tasks.
Systemic level design
Designer creates system, player interacts as sees fit
Sometimes called “sandbox” level. (Ex: GTA)

17. Layouts (Cont.) Parallel layouts Modern variant of linear layouts
Variety of paths can go through the level
Can reflect a fold back story structure

18. Layouts (Cont.) Ring layouts Path returns to its starting point
Oval tracks or twisting road-racing tracks are rings
Used for racing games

19. Level Flow Model: Bottlenecking
Start
Bottle-
Neck A
Bottle-
Neck B
End
Various points, path splits, allowing choice
Gives feeling of control
Ex: Choose stairs or elevator
At some point, paths converge
Designer can manage content explosion
Ex: must kill bad guys on roof

20. Level Flow Model: Branching
Start
Branch
Branch
Branch
End A
End B
End C
Choices lead to different endings
User has a lot of control
Design has burden of making many interesting paths
Lots of resources

21. Layouts (Cont.) Network layouts
Spaces connect to other spaces in different ways
Give the player freedom to take any path
Stories must be able to tolerate player experiencing events in any sequence

22. Layouts (Cont.) Hub-and-spoke layouts
Central hub is usually a safe zone
Provides some choice of where to go
Lock off some areas to control sequence a little

23. Level Flow Model: Hub and Spokes
Level A
Level B
Start
Level C
Level D
Hub is level (or part of a level), other levels branch off
Means of grouping levels
Gives player feeling of control, but can help control level explosion
Can let player unlock a few spokes at a time
Player can see that they will progress that way, but cannot now

24. Layouts (Cont.) Combinations of layouts
Combines aspects of several layout types
Role-playing games and adventure games often use combination layouts

25. Level Components - 1 Action
Designer needs to know how much is expected and what type of action
What enemy AI functions and maps can lead to interesting conflicts?
How can the level be set up to encourage players to develop their own strategy for victory?

26. Level Components - 2 Exploration
Designers often don’t understand that players like to explore game fields
Give players surprises to find
Make sure a player’s struggle to get through a level is rewarded
Decide whether or not to punish players for wandering through a level

27. Level Components - 3 Puzzle Strategy
Adding puzzles to first person shooters is not always a good idea
Make puzzle style fit game (e.g. have player shoot through crystal to solve puzzle)
Don’t throw in “arbitrary” puzzles

28. Level Components - 4 Story Telling
Knowing story goals for each level is important
Make story goals loose enough for level designer to build best level possible
Make sure interactive fiction goals don’t stray too far from proposed master plot

29. Level Components - 5 Aesthetics
Balance complexity of art work with game play
If artwork is beyond game engine capabilities use shortcut as compromise (e.g. use lighting or color to indicate steepness of slope or hidden doorways)

30. Level Location outline where the level will take place, for example:
2.1 Geographic Location
2.2 Time of Day
2.3 Current Weather
2.4 Architecture or Terrain Style
2.5 Visual Reference

31. Level Objectives
The vital information about that the player needs to do to win the mission or finish the level successfully.
4.1 Main/Primary Objectives
4.2 Secondary Objectives
4.3 Bonus Objectives
4.4 Hidden Objectives

32. Expanding on the Principles
Level designer assembles components to create the atmosphere
Lighting
Color palette
Weather and atmospheric effects
Special visual effects
Music
Ambient audio
Special audio effects

33. Expanding on the Principles (Cont.)
Tutorial levels teach the player how to play
Somewhat scripted experience that explains the game’s user interface, challenges, and actions
Introduce features in an orderly sequence
Switch off features not yet introduced
If the game is complex, use more than one tutorial level
Highlight screen elements when you introduce them
Let player go back and try things again conveniently
Voiceover narration or text can explain the game

34. The Level Design Process (Cont.)
Prototyping
Construct temporary models of the landscape and objects
Models serve as blueprints for the art team
Level review
Review the prototype
Feedback from the design, art, programming, audio, and testing teams

35. 5 Card Dash The designer's challenge
Devise a sequence of levels that makes the player feel successful
AND challenged
WITHOUT losing them to boredom or frustration
Remember Flow?
A casual game
Poker crossed with Tetris
Video (5CD_Intro.avi)

36. 5 Card Dash Levels (1 of 2) Level 1: introduce the concept Level 2:
Easy minimum hand
Easy required hands
Add some prompts along the way -- but not all at once
Level 2:
More prompts with new features
Still easy

37. 5 Card Dash Levels (2 of 2) Level 3 Level 8 Level 9 Add wildcards
Prompt bonus cards
Teach a straight
Level 8
Prepare for level 9
Level 9
Same as 8, but:
facedown cards
sequential goal

38. Topics Game for children Game Engines Programming language for game
Defining rules
Game Design Patterns
© 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 12 General Principles of Level Design