Notes for Level Design

GDC 2016: 360 Approach for Open world Level Design

Eamples: AC & Farcry

• Define approach zones
  • Add color to those zones for game design document.
• Distribute ingredients How to choos ingredients?
  • First choose a dimension:
    1. Difficulty
    2. Mission Phase
    3. Gameplay focus
       • Acrobatics
       • Stealth
       • Fight
    4. Emotional theme
    5. Narrative acts

  • List appropriate ingredients

  • Get in the engine and adapt

GDC 2009 Hideo Kojima - Making the impossible possible

Impossible wall

• Possible: Done before / Experienced
• Impossible: Never Done Before / Inxperienced
• “Making the impossible possible” demands preconceviced notion be discard

The impossible wall in game design

• The foundation: Hardware and technology
• The software techinology
• Game design

GDC 2019 Level Design Workshop: The Level Design of God of War

• Core pillars create focus - Conflicts and learnings: Puzzle can also help to train combat techniques Putting it all together

• Metrics based game (God of War) - Conflicts and learning: Shrubs may affect fail in edge detection
  • Metric: A desgin measurement that communicates gameplay
  • Metric emphasizing core pillars
  • Building codes document

• Achieving variety

• All levels sell a theme - Conflicts and learning: Budget may be restricted / gamepaly may be repeated

• All critical path levels unlock a new ability - Conflicts and learning:

• Create format - Definition for format: The inisituive rules by which levels flow into one and another - Alternate term: The game’s structure - All games have some kind of format - Players can perceive sessions

• Clear exploration breaks - “Shock Arrow”, “Key Point”, “Teach new ability” - Level to level flow

• Hubs are not open world - Conflicts and learning: Gameplay may be repeated - Definition: A centralized location from which spokes emit (Spread from center)

  • Hub Based Desgin
    • Anatomy of a hub: Central Core, Spokes, End Point
    • “Player always come back to the center”

GDC 2016 Level Design Workshop: The illusion of Choice

• Paradox of choice
• Familarity breeds liking

GDC 2013: Ten Principles for good level design

• Good Level design is fun to navigate
  • Visual Language: Direct player to the right path
  • Clarity & Flow: E.g. Mirror of the edge
  • Confusion is Good
• Good level design dos not rely on words
  • The broken circle
  • Three narrative typs:
    • Explicit
    • Implicit: Mise-en-scene / Environmental Level Design - Use environement to tell stories
    • Emergent: Player choice E.g. Hitman
  • Good level design tells plyer what to do but not how to do
    • Nebulous objectives

Zhihu Live from Clark Yang

FFF - Form Follows Function

• Form follows function
  • Definition: The form design must based on the functional needs
  • Put functional needs first helps the designer to know the goal clearly
  • Ideas and innovations wont be limited with the performance form
  • It also helps for desgning a better form of art

Internal Kernal Rational Design

• Definiation: The most basic, elementary design in a game; Connect player to the game
• Kernal: The core, the abstratest elements of a game
• Rational: Not emotional
• Principle of Internal Kernal Rational Design: Form follows function

Create gameplay

• The funcitonal needs of gameplay
• Define the rules of the gameplay (Function)
• Define the skills/actions players can do (Function)
• Define the input of players (Function)
• Define the internal parameter (Function)
• Design level desgin model (Form)
• Desgin the reaction players would recevie (Form)

Example: The movement module and input module of a game.

Divide a game into smallest and deepest module when anaylzing a game

### Player skill != Character ablilty

### Player Skill:

• Physical skills
  1. Timing
     • Player need to judge when and what input should to be taken during the gameplay
  2. Reflexion
     • Player need to make the correct input command when an un predicted event happened
  3. Measurement
     • Player need to be familiar enough with the input device, in order to control the input length and how much need to be input
  4. Accuracy
     • Player need to make accurate input
  5. Stamina
  6. …
• Mental skills
  1. Resource management
     • Player need to manage the limited resource in game
  2. Tactic (In short term)
     • Player need to make the right decision in a short/limited term based on the situation
  3. Strategy (For a long period)
     • Player need to make a plan for a long term goal based on limited information
  4. Logic anaglyze
     • Player need to gather the info and find the logic inside info, to make a good decision
  5. Association
  6. Obervation
  7. Focus
  8. …
• Social skills
  1. Coorperation
  2. Leadership
  3. Convence Ablity
  4. Communication
  5. Desisive
  6. …

Define the parameters based on gameplay mechanics

• Ignore the dispersed parameters
  • E.g. A object move with a change in movement -> movement with low / high speed (IGNORE THE “CHANGE”, JUST “SPEED”)
  • Reduce the number of parameters (2~6)
• Make the parameters abstract
  • Focus on gameplay mechneics’ CORE

• Let every single gameplay mechneic has it own parameter for controlling itself

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• Think without form but the core inside a form; Do not put mind into a specific senario when desgining a game

Method to list parameters for a exsiting game

• From the internal: Think about the relationship between player’s skills and input.

Parameters -> Gameplay Elements -> Level Design Modular

Gameplay Element and Level Design Module

• Definition of gameplay element: Put the parameters together
• Definition of level design modular: Levels contains gameplay elements, combining them and use them to change parameters [System]

Player Mental Skill Focused Mechanics

• Oppotunity and risk
  • Definition of Opportunity: Possiblity of positive result player received
  • Definition of Risk: Possibilty of nagetive result player received
  • Co-existing

Example: Resource Management

• Opportunity:
  • Achieve a better goal under limited resources
  • By resource management, player can have a 1 + 1 > 2 effect
  • By making a correct choice, lose something to receive something
• Risk:
  • Underestimate risk: Ingore the useful resources in the future
  • Upperestimate risk: Miss the important resources in current
  • Can not get the best result when manageing resources

Example: Anaylze Ability

• Opportunity:
  • Understand the logic inside a game to achieve a better effect
  • Predict the best movement which would affect future
  • Solve the puzzle in best way
• Risk:
  • One step wrong, every step may be wrong
  • Wrong choice may bring deathful damage
  • Use unnecessary, more resource to achieve better results

Example: Strategy (Long term)

• Opportunity:
  • Faster than compititor
  • Do th right choice in right time
• Risk:
  • Misunderstand the info
  • Waste of time and resource
  • Bad strategy will ruin all the effect

Example: Tactic (Short term)

• Opportunity
  • Catch the fleeting chance to make correct decision
  • Use the random result as a benifit
• Risk:
  • Miss the timing may bring damagable result

CHOICE is the key of Player’s MENTAL SKILL

Define parameter to control choice

• The poportion of the right choice (Level of difficulty)
• The total number of choices player can make
• The contrast between different choices (Clearity to determine whether it is a right choice)
• The time limited allows player to make choice