Play Spaces and Level Design

Experience, more than you would think, is a very important factor to consider when you are creating a game level. In the confines of the level, what do you want the player to experience? Good Designers will take from their own experiences, and try to re-emulate the outcomes into their level design. This can be very powerful when done successfully. Miyamoto even admits that the world of Hyrule in the "Legend of Zelda" franchise was heavily inspired by the beautiful scenery of the Kyoto region and the adventures he had exploring abandon temples in vast expanses of nature.Level designers should consider how to most effectively deliver this experience, and to do so gracefully so that the player forgets to register the fact they are playing a game. There are many ways to do this, so lets see how much we can cram in.Incremental LearningDespite the fact that I use Zelda as example for great game design, there is one very annoying aspect that it has taken quite a long time for them to "get right" and that is the way in which they introduce new mechanics. In recent games they have adopted an approach of giving you a new item and trapping you in a small area where you can only escape by using the new item, earlier games of the series however had that incessant fairy that wouldn't shut up and hardly gave you a chance to figure things out on your own. This is not the worst design flaw but games do not need to do this. There are many ways to introduce a new mechanic without constant annoying feedback, but rather making it more natural to the game play. Once you are sure the player has got the hang of it, throw a curve ball and force them to push the capabilities of this mechanic, and really learn its limits.Teaching your playersYou can also teach your players the rules of the environment, many of the core players will already know how most of these rules apply, however you should never leave new comers clueless. For example many veterans of Tactical RPGs will be more familiar with how they may traverse the environment, but that is no excuse to leave out an explanation of the basic movement procedures. other important aspects to have evident right at the beginning of your level are making sure the enemies have recognizable behaviors. This is not the same as predictable (we don't want our game to be boring) but there is nothing more annoying than seeing something jump on screen out of nowhere that kills you instantly (with the exception of maybe demon souls which did a great job of basing a whole game off of enemies way stronger than you jumping out and killing you instantly).Finally you want your reward systems to be obvious. not knowing what to collect or what to preserve etc. can get very frustrating very fast, so be sure to provide a lot of good feedback regarding the purpose of your consumables. Of course there are always exceptions to each of these rules... Imagine if a game had you collect a mystery item but never told you what they were for, just that it was important to you, I know I would search up and down the map just to see what type of mystery they held.My favorite example of how to teach the players without being annoying was brought to my attention in the Sequelitis videos by EgoraptorBy showing the way the platform drops first,  the player knows they will have to jump when the platform goes over a hole. (Brilliant)Some important rulesNever stray away from the core mechanic of your game. A lot of games have been attempting to be something of an all inclusive genre and while some have seen great success it usually ends quite badly and it feels as if there is something missing.That being said, be sure that core mechanic and any other addons are drilled into your players head before ramping up the challenge. Nobody wants to have to put down the controller and  go on the internet just to find out how to pass your level.A good way to ensure this is to set up specific goals for the overall game, and each specific level, and be sure that they all fit in the same progression. In the level you may want to just introduce the player to the fact that they need to collect coins... lots and lots of coins. Maybe then you want them to learn a certain weapon, once you have taught the player most of what they need to know, you can start creating goals like "forcing the player to creatively combine all their items to beat the level". You also want an overall goal for your game, this is something that you should never stray from unless you are ready to seriously consider redesigning your core mechanics. J-stars Victory vs. had a very clear concise goal and because of this, they could deliver exactly what they had promised "creating a fighting game where you can play as all your favorite shonen jump characters".Design ModulesEnsuring that all the different components fit together can be achieved by creating design hierarchys. Be sure that the external and internal goals can be linked back to the Success definition of your game, and then you should keep these in mind when considering what type of scenarios you want to create for each level, how will the player overcome these scenarios?It is also very possible that technology limits your capabilities, and this would be one of those times you have to go over your hierarchy and figure out how you can change it while staying true to your overall design, (maybe you will have to change your design) this is why it is always good to have someone who understands technology, and is able to see where these problems may arise. This is called a contingency plan and I actually had to use one this year due to the fact that Havok collisions are much harder to compute when you are playing an animation at the same time. This caused my GDW team to change our core mechanic to shooting rather than melee weapons. Luckily it still fit into our aesthetics and most of our design considerations also stayed in tact.Types Of LevelsNow that we know some important concepts to help with good level design, lets take a look at how we can put them into practice.Linear level designs are a good way to make a well paced consistent game. you can focus more on the mechanics than the aesthetics, without really having to sacrifice them. It is just easier. You can focus your game play on one aspect, however your player may feel constrained and perhaps a little detached or forced into certain game play events.Semi-Linear levels allow for a little bit more freedom, just enough for the player to feel the guise of being in control. The downside is oftentimes that these levels can be uninspired and could change the dynamics of the game a little to quickly for the player to adapt.Non-Linear levelsgive the player full control of what they can and can't do which is a very rewarding feeling. Sometimes though, these levels can be too huge and not all design flaws may be discovered during the testing phase.When considering what type of level you are creating you should refer to your overall design goal for the game. What fits best for your particular game dynamics? you may be surprised at how well your mechanic can work for a completely different level type than you originally intendedLevel Design MethodsApproaching your design can be tricky, so it is usually best to start with a plan.Are you going to base it off a dramatic arc to fit with a story, or maybe you have a full world created that you want to fill in the blanks (you would want to create an annotated map)?For games whose progression are heavily influenced by player choices you may want to consider Event Diagrams.I think the important takeaway from all these game design rules is that as a designer you should feel obligated to break them and prove them to be wrong as much as you can. One of my favorite talks from MIGS this year was inspired by the simple idea"What if we didn't fuck it up?"Unfortunately I was not able to find the more provocatively worded slide but this was what precededThis is a very powerful idea. It is good that we have come far enough that we can define enjoyable experiences in this manner. But if we as designers don't try to take chances, we are limiting ourselves to a box of tools that have been tried.Just to be clear I don't think that any of these methods are necessarily bad, and many of them only seek to enhance your understanding of what you as a designer actually want to put in your game. I am just saying that you should never be afraid to try something new even if it didn't work out the first time, because there are just too many potentials out there for us to try and bottle it up into one correct answer.