Beginning Level Design, Part 1: Level Design Theory:
This article is the first of a two-part series covering theories behind level design, establishing some rules for level creation. The intention is to aid those new to the field who want to design levels for pleasure or pursue a career in level design.
Level design is the data entry and layout portion of the game development cycle. A level is, for all intents and purposes, the same as a mission, stage, map or other venue of player interaction. As a level designer, you are chiefly responsible for the gameplay. This article will give you insight into developing good levels for any type of game, whether they are military missions for your horde of tanks, aerial encounters for a flight simulator, a dungeon for a role-playing game, a board for a puzzle game, or a map for a world conquest god-simulator.
I will present some theories behind level design, starting with an exploration of what good level design means. Then it delves into the non-electronic roots of computer game design from chess to GI Joe action figures, and how we can learn from their success. Finally it takes a thorough look into the theories behind storytelling and how we can apply them to level design.
What Good Level Design Means for Players
Players are the consumers who paid good money for your game or dedicated a half-hour of on-line time to download your custom level. If you are working or have desire to work for a developer or publisher, the consumers are those giving you your dream job. As any modern business school will tell you, creating an affordable product that satisfies the consumers is what it takes to make it in business. As a level designer, you must become very aware of what satisfies the consumers if you want to be successful.
Escapism
A player buys a game to escape from his or her reality. Good levels and hence good games will immerse the player and suspend their disbelief. From the moment the title screen comes up, you have their full attention. From that point on, they should see and do nothing that reminds them that they are anywhere but in the world you have them in.
You must furnish a setting and actors that meet the players? expectations. That is, you need to design a map that not only looks like it could fit inside the world they are playing in, but contains elements that help to draw that reality in the players? heads. A player?s sense of escapism and suspension of disbelief can be ruined by a variety of common errors. These include bugs such as graphics glitches or crashes, but from a design standpoint, these also include inappropriate content. For example, a McDonald?s Golden Arches on the skyline of a medieval town is obviously out of context. Similarly, if a player is told by a character to hit control-T on his keyboard to teleport, then it would remind him that he?s typing at a computer and not in some fantasy realm. Generally, to maintain the players? sense of escapism all content should be appropriate to what would be seen, said or done in the game setting.
Challenge ? Testing the Players? Mettle
Players buy games to be challenged. If there is no challenge, they might as well be interacting with their word processor or spreadsheet software. Challenge should always come in the form of testing the players? skills at the core gameplay. A shooter should test their aim and reflexes. A wargame should test their tactics. A strategy game should test their strategic sense. Some games successfully combine forms of gameplay to offer a variety of challenges, such as Command & Conquer, which has both planning/building and tactical gameplay.
Command & Conquer
Challenge comes from difficulty. The trick to good level design is to present challenges that are difficult enough to merit the players? attention and make their heart or mind race, but not so difficult as to always leave them failing and disappointed. It?s a delicate balance based on what is perceived as the median player skill, and it is a variable constantly adjusted up until the game ships.
Entertainment
Like a good television show or book, the game must maintain a player?s interest. The introduction of conflict, the revelation of the setting or back-story, the acquisition of new assets, the display of new art, and the increase in difficulty must all be deliberately spaced to keep the player interested and looking forward to the next level.
One boring level can be the kiss of death to a game, especially if it?s one of the first few levels. Game reviewers and most players only give a game that much time before they praise or trash it. Good level designers have learned to be objective about their own creations and when asking themselves, "Is this fun?" The hard part for many designers is that what they find fun may not be what the target market finds fun. As a level designer you need to understand the core gameplay, which is part of the vision expressed by the producers and lead designers. You need to try to understand and become that target market.
Something that helps designers tremendously is to play competitors? games. Often producers and lead designers will name successful games that they are trying to emulate. Play and study those titles. Make sure your levels entertain, thrill and excite you as well or better than the competition?s levels.
Frustration can also kill a game. Players stop being entertained when they encounter technical problems like slowdowns or graphics glitches. The level designer can avoid a lot of these bugs if they pay attention to technical limitations and to the instructions of the artists on how to place the art. Designers can, of course, create their very own frustrating bugs, like broken AI scripts or door triggers that never trigger, or missions that don?t always end when they are supposed to. Even worse, designers can create what are commonly called "show stoppers". Show stoppers are unbeatable missions or unsolvable challenges or unavoidable traps that frustrate players. A good level designer can spot these problems and resolve them with careful and rigorous play testing before consumers get their hands on it.
Uniqueness
Player?s don?t like playing, or indeed, buying, the same game twice. Of course, like Star Trek fans and readers of the prodigious Gor science fiction series, some players will continuously buy into the same formulae or even the same game with just slight variations in plot, setting, characters and art. The same can be said for level designs ? people don?t like playing the same level twice. Not only does it ruin the entertainment value, it also fails to spark the imagination. It?s therefore incredibly important that levels introduce some variation in the plot, challenge, setting, and characters (i.e. the enemies).
The Roots Of Computer Game Design
Computer game design has its roots in earlier forms of entertainment that predate the joystick and personal computer. Board games, paper and dice games, toys, and the ancient art of storytelling all have methods that continue to capture the human imagination and joy. Level designers can learn by studying these methods and understanding what each form has contributed to the art of computer game design.
Board, Paper & Dice Games
Games predate civilization. Some of our oldest games still survive to this day, like mangala (or stones), dice, checkers, tic-tac-toe and chess. What gives them their lasting power? What can we gain from them as designers of complex computer games? Simplicity and elegance.
These games keep the gameplay and the rules simple. Almost anyone can grasp them and quickly perceive the strategies and skills necessary to achieve victory. Elegance comes from years of refining the rules and components to maximize and balance the gameplay, and provides lasting entertainment value.
Simplicity and elegance should be your goal in level design. So many designers (I being one of them), have fallen into the trap of creating complex games and levels that make it difficult for players to grasp the rules, objectives, strategies and indeed the fun. Designers often fail to play test their level enough to uncover any unbalancing factors and make improvements. So keep it simple, and submit your level to a lot of play testing so you can polish it.
There?s a lot more that can be learned from non-computer games, such as the value of symbolism, statistics, and role-playing, but this goes beyond the scope of level design and should be left for a future article on computer game design.
Toys ? Train Sets, GI Joe and Barbie
GI Joe
Toys have always fascinated children of all ages. Train sets are the ultimate interactive toy. You can be designer, builder, painter, passenger and engineer (or even God if you like creating natural disasters). GI Joe and Barbie both have interactive features such as movable limbs and changeable clothing and accessories and even vehicles and play sets. They cash in on kids? aspirations and dreams. One of my favorite quotes from a paper game industry veteran and former toy maker is, "Who knew that a doll with tits would sell so well?"
The more you can interact with toys and the closer they get to peoples? aspirations and dreams, the more they are appreciated. The same can be said about level design. Think of your level as a train set. Consider how can you make it interactive with all the bells and whistles and other special effects. Think about how you are portraying the player and what you are having them do. Let them feel like a general chasing down a retreating tank corps or a squad leader breaking ranks and charging a hill. Let them feel like a deer hunter chasing down quarry. (Think about the few million units that the latter type game has recently sold.)
There was more but didnt seem relevant
