Developing a New Major

big questions – what is level design and how’s it related to gameplay, how can we make game environments real?, from end of chapter#1 – define level design and how it relates to gameplay, story and character development; #3 be able to define the different perspectives; I’d like them to do #9 – find some interesting/werid textures/location/objects and work them into a unique/original environment for a game – may use flickr

possible things to do in class

- discussion: how can we apply concept of level to boardgames? Would it improve boardgames if we did it more explicitly?

- in pairs – talk about levels in your games from the blog – how does player know they’ve leveled up/finished a level? what kind of reward do they get for finishing? What level do you think should be added to the game to improve it? what would go ito your game if you wnated to create a level that introduces a new character (you decide what character) – what would you have player do, what resources would ya need

level design = creating environments or missions or scenarios. Ususually use level editing tools – there are commonly used ones from Valve, Unreal, Crytex and Bioware – and 3d graphics software such as Maya and 3d studio MAX.

levels can serve different purposes – intro a character or an object, focus on a specific plot point (like making a discovery) or creating a mood thru the visuals or hte storyline. want to have goals, subgoals and lots of obstacles for players to overcome. level designer is responsible for how things work at the level – when and where enemies spawn, what weapons can be used, what power-ups appear.  gotta follow the general overall game rules (would have to mke a strong case if wanted to change any of them for your level – show how it would make for a more fun game)

probably going to design the level on paper – take a little time and answer some basic questions – what’s the player’s goal in the level – every level needs a goal or two and they have to be clearly understood by the payer? how long do you want it to take for hte player to go thru the level? what emotions do you want to get out of the players?, what additional art and usic andd animation are ya gonna need? What resources will player be able to access like new characters or new tools? Any side quests to help lead player thru the level?  Then create a rough layout, do your scripting. Then playtest. THEN worry about making it pretty and creating art assets. If not fun to play, no reason to waste time making art and models.

lots of decisions you could have the player make – wnat them to be meaningful choices, deciding which level to do next is a good choice, deciding how to move thru the level is good, deciding how to master hte level is a good choice

need to think about rewards as player moves thru the level – encourage them to keep playing, need some reward for finishing the level, “Rewards that are useful in obtaining victory carry greater weight. Rewards that have a romantic association, like magic weapons or gold, appear more valuable. Rewards that are tied into the storyline of the game have an added impact.”

need to think mini-arcs – think about how long people typically stay with your type of game at any one setting and make sure there’s some reward within that period, maybe make some levels that long (or a little shorter) so people can have the satisfaction of finishiing a level at one setting (not all levels, but some of htem as you go thru the game)

mmo games often try to go for a persistent world – but space doesn’t give ya any help with how to move thru it since it has to be there for everybody at every level

interface has to support action at all levels – so plan them out ahead of time, decide what actions you wnat players to be able to take as they move thru the game

Structures – goal, flow, duration, availability, relationship, progression

• goal – every level needs one or more objectives (and the player needs to understand what they are – sometimes with a cut scene briefing at the beginning or a status screen). Give players progress reports/status indicators so they know how close they are to accomplishing the goals
• flow – this is physical flow thru the environment (and not hte psych flow ) – have to figure out how you’re going to keep the user in the area physically till they finish without them wandering away or running past opponents  – especialy in an open game – can use one way gates/doors or set up barriers that get destroyed as they do the quests
• duration – how much time a player should spend on a level – maybe 15 minutes for kids, maybe 2 hours for hardcore gamers, maybe 45 minutes for console games. WIth longer level durations – put in some intermediate milestones to give plyers a sense of achievement and progress
• availability – gotta decide how many levels open to a player at any one time – do they have to go thru them linearly or can they pick and choose. Too many levels open at once can be confusing to players. Not enough and players who are stuck on something don’t have anywhere else to go in the game.
• progression – ow does player move thru the game – don’t make every level so difficult the player is always struggling to just survive – give them some easy ones so they can explore the environment, take a breather, Make sure there’s always something for hte player to do. Could have some levels with the same difficulty (kind of a flat progression), Could slowly become more difficult. Could have an easy training period and then much more difficult levels.  Might need different levels for different skilled players – or different monsters for higher skilled players. Good if there are several ways to complete the level – that supports different play styles

Time – authentic, limited, variable, player adjusted, altered

• authentic – sme games use the time where the player is – ask them to indicate local time, that time of day can be used to trigger events in the game. mentions Prisoner of War – the player has to be in the game for morning and evening roll call (have to be playing the game)
• limited – time could be used for atmosphere in the game – spooky twilight but doesn’t really pass as you play. sometimes tho the time of day and the player actions seem weird – like players who can see fine in the dark. sometimes time passes in the game (but at different rate than real life) and different things happen at different game times – like baldur’s gate where shops are closed at night (gametime night)
• variable – time passes but not at the same rate during hte game – the sims has really fast night time and longer day times. war games don’t have a night
• player-adjusted – can set hte time of certain activities – like quarters in football games. they think giving players time options is important especially in things that take a long time in real life like sports events and flight simulations
• altered – max payne has “bullet time” – go into slow motion except for some specific object like a bullet. in one of the prince of persia’s the prince can stop time

Space – perspective/camera, terrain, radiosity/effects, scale, boundaries, realism, style

perspective & camera – could be omnipresent (look down on the game world, able to move anywhere in the worldto take actions (often seen in god games); could be aerial (top down) like a birds eye view; isometric (a 30-45 degree angle that can make the player feel more involved in the game – civ iv uses isometric perspective, hard on the artists because htey need multiple views of the objects to deal with camera movement; could be flat/side view like in side scrollers where players move left and right, up and down. different levels of items on the screen can move at different speeds to give sense of depth (called parallax scrolling)

terrain & materials – what world is made up of affects the game’s look and feel – shadows look differently depending on what the surface is

radiosity & climate effects – radiosity = lighting – to help players navigate, can give effects like water on glass, might use light to help player navigate.

scale – size of the game world, size of hte objects int he world. sometimes you have to exaggerate the size of something (especially small objects) to help player see them. sometimes exteriors are distorted but not interiors  to help players get around quickly and to the places you want them to go

boundaries – try to convince player the game world has no boundaries – sometimes world wraps around on itelf or there will be impassable terrain to get them to turn back or might set the game in a finite spot like a football stadium

realism – is art photorealistic or not, even if not photorealistic are there details that suggest real worlds like traffic and trees in a city, actual buildings recreated. might exaggerate reality to get a heightened sense of excitement in player – might have steeeper drops in extreme sports games or extra close lightening in a storm

style – style of objects and art style has to work together – like it wouldn’t be good to have anime art style in an american colonial house setting – don’t want style to detract. be consistent with style across game. Games from japan seem to have more cutting edge looks (need some graphics). Lots of styles overused. Try thinking different. Oddworld goes surreal for instance.

An example pic fromVib Ribbon

mmos have persistent worlds – not levels per se because all the levels have to be open since people are moving thru the geography – can block some areas off to lower level users. Lots of opportunitites for player to fail in an mmo because they go places they’re nto ready for, face monsters they’re not ready for

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