2. Level Building for Stealth Gameplay Randy Smith Randy@RoninGameDeveloper.com (see slide notes)

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

4. Roles  Level Builder  Designer  Project Director

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

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

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

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

9. 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)

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

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

12. Are the lights extinguishable?

13. 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

14. Slow, Thoughtful pacing

15. Faster pace, Think on your feet

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

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

18. 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

19. 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

20. The Low Threshold for Failure

21. 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

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

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

24. 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.

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

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

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

28. 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

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

30. What’s on the scales?

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

32. Design Tools

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

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

35. 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

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

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

38. Environmental Tools

39. Build A Combat Encounter

40. Add Enemies…

41. Then Add Power-Ups!

42. 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

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

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

45. Use Tools To Balance Encounter

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

48. 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?

49. 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

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

51. 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

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

53. Environmental Tool  Loud Surfaces

54. Environmental Tools are Sneaky

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

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

58. Dungeons and Abandoned Places

60. Environmental Tools  Soft Cover  Hard Cover  Blind Corners

61. S shaped curves in Unreal

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

64. Stealth Friendly vs. Stealth Unfriendly

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

66. 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

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

68. Micro Application of Stealth Friendly / Unfriendly

72. Predicting Player Path Players are drawn Players are repelled No charge

73. Predicting Player Path

74. Overlaying With Guard Data

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

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

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

78. Supporting Zero Player Failure

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

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

84. 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

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

86. Turning Blind Corners Into Scouting Locations

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

88. 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

89. Supporting Zero Player Failure

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

92. 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?

93. Territory

96. Territory plus Path

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

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

100. 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

101. Path Plus Enemy Placement

102. Path Plus Territory

105. Open-Endedness

106. Open-Endedness

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

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

113. Balancing Risk and Reward

114. 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

115. 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

116. 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

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

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

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

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

121. 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?

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

123. Dynamic Tool  Ring Around The Rosy

124. Been Caught  Combat  See elsewhere  Fleeing

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

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

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

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

129. 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

130. Q & A Slides and Questions: Randy@RoninGameDeveloper.com

131. 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