GAME/LEVEL DESIGN RESEARCH

An in-depth analysis of game and level design techniques with examples and reflection from various games of differing genres.

Everyone plays games for different reasons due to personal preference; this can vary from story to gameplay mechanics. The highest scoring aspect of a game from a survey I conducted was a story, this may be due to the emotional hook that entices players and builds an interesting world around them. Characters and level design also have high preferences, characters could relate to the story and have an intriguing development throughout whilst level design can support this with visual story telling.

I decided to also investigate the favourite genres or games of the people who decided to complete the survey, the biggest section is by far RPG. Role-playing games have been around since the 1970’s with the drive of mainframe computers, inspired by tabletop games such as Dungeons & Dragons it tasks the player with controlling a character in an immersive world whilst recording and upgrading statistics. The premise of many role-playing games involves saving a level of society or even the world whilst travelling across the land interacting with non-playable characters. Items and an inventory system are key mechanics within an RPG alongside levelling up through experience points. Baldur’s Gate 3 recently released which was met with critical praise and viral coverage, a Dungeons & Dragons inspired role-playing game that gave expressive freedom to all players.

Moving on from RPG elements it can be seen that users prefer open-world environments, this may be due to the freedom and exploration available to them. It may be hard to implement in such a short period as making an open explorable world can be hard to make feel lived in and worth adventuring even for big budget projects. I was interested to see what people’s thoughts and opinions are on multiple playable characters. It seems most people prefer one playable character; this may be because they wish to go along the journey with the one character that may develop story and mechanics wise.

Introducing cinematics within games are a good way of injecting cinema like story beats that can serve gameplay. From the survey it seems people prefer cinematics between 1-3 minutes as to not interrupt or bore the player. It is important to ensure cinematics serve the gameplay and not turn into an interactive movie.

As I wish to focus on level design, I decided to look deeper into how to create not only fun but meaningful designs that have purpose. There is a five-step process explained by Mike Stout who worked on games such as Ratchet & Clank, Resistance and Skylanders. Step one is about understanding the constraints about the level, this includes the vision of the director such as length, timeframe, and platform. You also must investigate the objective of the level, what do you want the user to achieve, what story do you want to tell and how can you include set-pieces and/or cutscenes. Once you have a clear understanding of the restrictions, he explains that he moves onto brainstorming and basic structure of the design, breaking it up into at least seven sections or areas according to the ‘Rule of Seven’.

The seven areas or setups increase in difficulty and/or interest and the inject two rest periods for the player to ensure the intensity level stabilises, which is important for player retention and pacing of the level. This is an extension of the ‘Rule of Three’ with the intersecting rest periods creating a three-three-three structure to the level. Creating bubble diagrams based off the structure helps create a sense of flow and connection that can improve visualisation for further development of the map which leads into rough designs. Sketching each area and bubble into one consistent design that works together, connecting them together and repeatedly iterating leads into the final design of the level with annotations and a key to easily explain the story beats and features within.

It is important to not hold the players hands and give them incentive to explore but ensure the tempo you wish to set does not get disturbed. Using the games mechanics in unique and fun ways but not repeating ideas is an aspect to always have in mind if something is repetitive or boring players will lose interest.

Key aspects to always keep in mind when designing a level include the following.

Affordances – Something that appears to be possible for the player to achieve. Such as worn-down edges on an obstacle that indicate that it is climbable.
Leading Lines – Much like my background in photography leading lines are important to lead the players eyes to the objective or goal to sub-consciously frame the subject at hand. This can be for essential set pieces or a path the user can take.
Focal Points – What do you want the player to focus on, an objective? A building? Draw their eyes to it using leading lines.
Architecture/Environment – Using the surroundings to tell a story and form narratives for the player to further understand the world that surrounds them.
Lighting – Using lighting alongside these techniques can help framing, composition, path guiding, points of interest and character introduction feel more natural. The overall feel of a level can be affected to change the players mood and feelings going into a dark or bright room.
Denial & Reward – A level design concept where the player is rewarded with a view of an objective or landmark, so they get an understanding of their progress. This links to leading lines and environment design.
Starting Point – Facing the player in the correct direction and preferably towards their goal as a form of leading lines.
Boundaries – Boundaries keep the player within the level and on the right track, there are two types. Soft boundaries are areas to entice the player into that they cannot yet enter, this gives them a goal. Hard boundaries are areas you do not want the player to know about, sometimes used to surprise or change the level drastically.
Mechanic Introductions – If the user needs to learn about a new mechanic create an introductory level that eases the player into becoming comfortable with said mechanic. Pacing techniques are vital for such levels as to not overwhelm or bore the player.
Breadcrumbs – If previous techniques have failed to lead the player in the right direction using ‘breadcrumbs’ for them to follow can help get them back on the right path, this could be a different texture on the floor, gold coins or literal breadcrumbs.

Tom Knights recently presented at York St John University as a part of the Aesthetica Short Film Festival titled Ubisoft: Interactive Narrative Design. Working as a Lead Narrative Designer on the recently released Assassins Creed Nexus VR he gave an insight on his thoughts about narratives within games and his personal workflow. He first got to the meaning of games and what they should be. Everyone's initial reaction is that games should be fun or maybe even compelling, but his take was that games should be meaningful. Whether that is in a gameplay, narrative or design sense is up to the developers, if you create a meaningful game with passion it will resonate with the audience.

He also stated that writing and games in general need to involve an emotional hook and player agency, an emotional hook is attention-grabbing sequences that compel the player to listen in to what follows. Using surprising statistics or telling a story that taps into the players emotions can hook them in. The average person's attention span is eight seconds so ensuring gameplay and story is consistently changing is important to retain their interest. Player agency includes how players perceive their actions; it is split up into foreseeability, ability, desirability, and connection. Making a game with all these techniques should create a consistent and sustainable product for players to enjoy.

Foreseeability is how players see new options or decisions that can be made, they must see what options are ahead to take advantage of.
Ability addresses what players can do within the game with the skillset they are given.
Desirability is the players needs or wants to take actions within the game, this could stem from multiple motivations such as winning or gaining a reward.
Connection is the players decision making process to gain feedback, consequence, or reward. This is the most likely place to insert an emotional hook.

It is important to include dialogue in the form of conversations for story-driven games to guide the player forward and involve them into the narrative. The conversations can come in the form of quests, hints or introductions to new characters or locations, decisions can be implemented into these to insert a form of interaction. These are critical plot points that involve non-playable characters that should be proactive and engaging in their design. As well as scripted dialogue that is on the golden path for players to find there is also systemic dialogue know as ‘barks’ these are delivered by non-playable characters or triggers by the user’s characters such as getting injured, these inform the player of the situation at hand and adds a form of immersion alongside world building, lore or characterisation. Whilst creating a narrative for level design to guide the player to their mission Knights stated that it should include, what they are doing, why they are doing it and what they should expect, whilst simultaneously not giving too much away to maintain suspense and intrigue.

Decision making in games gives players options to change the course of the game or even create the feeling that they are doing so, meaningful decisions that have a significant impact on the game ahead. These are thoughtful decisions that require the players to think about what they are doing. This is contrasted by meaningless decisions that have little to no impact on the game but can be disguised to have major outcomes. These can be matched with blind decisions that are made without complete information and the user will not know the consequences or rewards, forced decisions are an extension of this. Causing the user to make an important decision under pressure or they will face consequences. There are also strategic and tactical decisions that are based off long or short-term consideration and planning that do not necessarily change the outcome of the game but more so what actions the player makes.

Detroit: Become Human is one of the best decision-based games released in recent years, developed by Quantic Dream who focus on this type of gameplay and narrative design used their knowhow to create a technical showcase of what games could be. There is an expansive tree of story branches that players can seek out during their playtime, what is different about this game is the fact users can see what the different options could have led to after the level has been completed, sometimes in strange, interesting or unique pathways. Quantic Dream are good creating drama and intrigue, forming a blend of cinema and narrative gameplay. This game is a perfect example of the different types of decision making referenced earlier, there is a freedom to choose not to choose. With multiple playable characters throughout the game, they somehow branched these narratives whilst bringing them all together near the end of the game, all with different backgrounds and character development cycles to maintain interest.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong mixes storytelling with multiple playable characters in carefully built environments that the user can explore and gain knowledge of the world around them. It also involves a deep decision-making system that has been one of my favourites in recent memory. One character called Galeb is sent to investigate a murder within a beautiful penthouse, this tells the player the person was rich and most likely has a major plot point relating to them. The designers even worked hard on creating the environment feel lived in, the player has the choice to read text messages, crack safes and find hidden dead bodies to inspect. Galeb has in-depth investigation techniques throughout the game, contrasting to that is Emem who plays a more ambassadorial role and uses negotiation techniques to her own advantage. Between these both I will take inspiration for my own characters as they have similar personalities and motives but, furthermore there is also a character called Leysha who has insight and premonitions which I may inject into my own characters as a form of link.

Another game I enjoyed and will take inspiration from is Control, a 3rd person action shooter that includes powers the character gains throughout the course of the game. It is a perfect amalgamation of progressing through storytelling and gameplay mechanics, upgrading consistently keeps the player engaged and wanting to gain the next power or gun to expand gameplay options and express their own playstyle surrounded by an environment that has been thoughtfully crafted for the best experience. Brutalist architecture forms ‘The Oldest House’ a paranormal headquarters where the Federal Bureau of Control preside. The art direction mixed with the environment and character designs involve the player in the world and carefully creates an uneasy feeling throughout the experience.

Stray was a recent phenomenon when it released due to the playable character being a cat, so it is easy to forget the environment and the work that went into it, the initial inspiration was the Walled City of Kowloon in Hong Kong. The directors were intrigued by the organic constructions and high-density details, this is a rare case where the environment came before the idea for the game and even the characters that would be involved. It takes place in an underground city with dark hazy alleys and imperfect buildings, unique props and texture design creates a feeling of realism with grungy futuristic look. Most of the textures were procedurally generated through Substance 3D Painter. More thought was involved in the environment than most games and it shows.

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