Agenda • It’s All About Me • What is Level Design? Level Design • How are Levels Created? Making Levels for fun and profit and other associated dark arts. • Good Habits • Bad Habits • It’s all about the Games…

Dave Feltham Lead Level Designer BioWare Corp dfeltham@.com

Who the Hell Am I? What is Level Design?

Level design or game mapping is the creation of levels—locales, stages, or missions—for a video game (such as a console game or computer game). This is done using level design tools, special software usually developed just for the purpose of building levels. What is Level Design? • The Designers that Make the Worlds • The artistic side of Design that deals with the look, as opposed to the technical, where scripting is involved (however a level designer might do scripting as well) • Work with every department hand in hand • Level Design is about funneling and balancing all aspects of game development. – It’s about balancing the needs of many departments. • Design, for fun gameplay • Level Art, for visual integrity • Writing, for plot fulfillment • Technical Art and Code for streaming • So…. • The weight of a great gameplay experience is on the shoulders of a Level Designer (and Tech Designer) because they bring everything together.

How are Levels Created? How are Levels Created? World Building

Examples of the workflow used by various companies.

Designer Concept Artist

Final Level Artist/ Layout Artist How are Levels Created? Who Uses this Method? Level Design

•Level Designer • Depends on the project and the people. •Writer BRAINSTORM •Level Artist • Bethesda did on Oblivion = •Technical Artist •Technical Designer • BioWare did on Jade Empire and Baldur’s Gate •Concept Artist • Pseudo Interactive did on Cel Damage – Though we also used Foam Core models =

Level Designer Level Artist Final

White Box method of Level Design: Who Uses this Method? • Concentrates on volumes of geometry rather on artistic details • Pseudo Interactive did on the Full Auto franchise • Concentrates on the feel of an area (verisimilitude) • Ed Byrne used this on the SOCOM series

• Concentrates on gameplay (Combat and • We are using this right now. exploration)

• Work with every department hand in hand – Collaborate and Communicate What things should I worry about Come-on. Anything can be a in Level Design? Game Level!

DEADSPACE DEADSPACE

VerisimilitudeGameVistas Balance AAre IsSense therethe area of points Place fun? of interest that are visually stimulating?

• Realism isn’t fun! What are the things I have to be – We’re making games, not 3D representations aware of when building a level? of reality – Even Sims aren’t entirely real. They are just • Leading designed to LOOK or feel real • Directing – Take into consideration your Camera and the pacing. • Choices • Gating • Streaming Leading Leading…

• Placing objects or enemies, or designing your • The Hotel Lobby level so the player feels compelled to go a certain way

Thermal Goo

Directing Directing…

• Placing information that tells the player where to go. • Tunnel Shooter: you can only go one way

SUBTLESUBTLE ININ YOURYOUR FACEFACE

Need For Speed: Underground Full Auto Gating Gating • You can limit where a player goes by gating their progress which Ensures Pacing • Blocking geometry

Plot Coloured Keys Puzzles

Choices Choices….

• You can add depth to a Level simply by providing Choices

Choices were real choices that affected the outcome of Bioshock: Go Left or Right? parts of the game or how the game played. Oblivion: Go to which city? Kill what Creatures? Choose what Conversation? What Class? What’s That? What’s that over there? False Choice False Choice

• Doug Church, credited as ‘Himself’ on Thief: Dark Project, gave a talk with Warren Spector (creator of Deus Ex) at GDC in 2001. – Argued about Real Choice and False choice

Blah Blah Blah

Blah Blah Blah X Blah

False Choice Streaming

• Entirely different lecture • Is different depending on the scope, project, engine and coder • BUT! • There are ways to anticipate streaming without knowing what the format will be Streaming… Streaming…

Loading Tunnel • An area of little information that Switchback •A form of loading tunnel, but dumps the previous area’s data doesn’t have to be in a tunnel and loads the next area’s data •Allows you to load a new area •Seen in such games as The while the old area is being culled Darkness, Call of Duty •Forces the player’s line of sight away from the dumped information •Seen in such games as Bioshock, Jade Empire, Kingdom Hearts

Streaming… Streaming…

Funnelling •Coming to a point where Hard Gate •The ‘end of the level’ where a there is only one access point Or loading screen will appear •When you pass through that THE LOADING •Though not ideal, still done: funnel point into the other SCREEN Bioshock, Oblivion both do it. area, you end up having more Loading…. of an hourglass look, where •Pulls the player out of the game. each side has different data, •Darkness had an ingenious way: except at the funnel points Play a movie of the protagonist where it is shared data talking in a monologue to the player, while loading is happening. •Burnout had some of the worst loading screens/times ever! What is Bad Level Design? What is Bad Level Design?...

• When a player gets lost • When a player gets bored Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Hello? They let you go anywhere at any time!

HELP!

Elder Scrolls: Oblivion They ALSO let you go anywhere at any time! Plus: Giant fields of grass!

What is Bad Level Design?... What is Bad Level Design?... • When a player gets really bored… • When a player is pulled out of the reality you have established.

Yawwwwwwn Doesn’t look like MY kitchen.

Half Life 2 They let you drive a boat! Some games will adapt common room sizes, like a kitchen, to fit for For a very long time! their game, thus making mansion sized kitchens in subsidized And then do the same with a car! housing. What is Bad Level Design? What is Bad Level Design?

• When a player gets annoyed • Random Dungeons – Not necessarily bad: Diablo II •Which could be any of the had them previous points – Repetitive •But also could be a combination of a few things • In order to get from A to F in the that causes the player to world become increasingly • you had to go through Z then G irritated. BAD• C then A • then E to F

Seriously Annoying. Flow

• To keep a player from being annoyed, one must consider flow. – Is a player constantly faced with loading screens? – Is a player sent on Fed-Ex quests, sending him from point to point – Is a player lead through annoying gates to do a simple task? Tale of 2 Flows Tale of 2 Flows • Neither of these games do it perfectly, but it shows how the same style of gameplay can be done differently, with similar results •If you want to watch the fight and make bets, you have to go through a Jade Empire’s Arena loading screen as the bookie is outside of the arena. •So that’s Bet > Loadscreen > Watch > Loadscreen > Bet Oblivion’s Arena •If you want to fight, you have to Oblivion’s Arena enter the basement (loadscreen), talk to someone who will let you into the fights and pay you (conversation), and then go to the loading tunnel for the arena (loadscreen)

Tale of 2 Flows Tale of 2 Flows

•Go through several rooms before meeting Qui, the man who will let you into the arena •Participate in long conversations before.. •You view movie that establishes Jade Empire’s Arena the scene •You view a movie that establishes your enemies •Repeat the process whether you win or die. Why is this an LDs responsibility? What are you Trying to Say?

• As Level Designers, the people who bring • We are the glue that everything together, it is up to us to holds all the depts. advise, or create flow that makes sense. Together. – It is up to us to not annoy people. • We are the architects who Water canI didn flow’t say or it that. can crash. provide the Be water my friend. blueprints • We help ensure a Let the Player flow through the level, don’t player is satisfied let them crash!!

Dave Feltham Lead Level Designer BioWare Corp [email protected] PLAY THESE GAMES OR DIE Some Reading

Max Payne Level Design http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20020508/maatta_pfv.htm

Game Level Design By Edward Byrne