Patterns of Contrast
Presenting the Level Parameter Segmentation Model - A tool for assuring variation in game level design
Kristian Helle Jespersen Master thesis IT-University, Copenhagen 3. November 2008 Supervisor: Alessandro Canossa
1 Abstract ...... 2 2 Introduction ...... 4 2.1 Keywords ...... 5 2.2 Research Question ...... 5 2.3 Definitions ...... 6 2.4 Hypothesis ...... 6 2.5 Delimitation ...... 11 2.6 Topicality ...... 12 2.7 Thesis structure ...... 13 3 Method ...... 14 3.1 Identifying the parameters ...... 14 3.2 What constitutes change? ...... 22 3.3 LPS-model as a tool for analysis ...... 22 4 Discussion ...... 23 4.1 CRBP revisited ...... 24 4.2 Occurrence analysis results ...... 30 4.3 Model topicality ...... 40 4.4 Investigating the LPS-model categories ...... 43 4.5 Summary ...... 52 5 Model for analysis – HL2E2 ...... 53 5.1 Setting ...... 54 5.2 Visuals ...... 55 5.3 Gameplay intensity ...... 56 6 The Bigger picture ...... 57 6.1 The framework ...... 58 7 Conclusion ...... 59 8 Ludo- and bibliography ...... 60 9 Appendix ...... 66 9.1 Appendix A - Frequency word script ...... 66 9.2 Appendix B - Frequency data ...... 68 9.3 Appendix C - Keywords...... 71 9.4 Appendix D - Arrange keywords script ...... 72 9.5 Appendix E – Category frequencies ...... 80 9.6 Appendix F – HL2E2 analysis ...... 82
1 1 Abstract
“Art is the imposing of a pattern on experience and our aesthetic enjoyment is recognition of the pattern” (1)
“The arts would lie open for ever to caprice and casualty, if those who are to judge of their excellencies had no settled principles by which they are to regulate their decisions; and the merit or defect of performances were to be determined by unguided fancy; and indeed we may venture to assert, that whatever speculative knowledge is necessary to the artist is equally and indispensably necessary to the connoisseur.” (2)
“All artifacts are created within some design methodology. Whether building a physical prototype, architecting a software interface, constructing an argument or implementing a series of controlled experiments - design methodologies guide the creative thought process and help ensure quality work.” (3)
“There’s no argument that the goal of games is to have fun, so it’s not surprising that many write about the topic. But fun and emotions are outcomes of psychological processes, and not the processes themselves. If we want to build better and better games, we need to look deeper and understand the dynamics that actually determine the emotional outcomes.” (4)
The quotes in the above are all related to this thesis’ attempt to construct a level parameter segmentation model (LPS-model), for linear AAA-game level design, based on universal design principles. The goal is to identify universal principles which can be organized within a structuralistic framework to aid designers in creating a more interesting play experience. A semantic analysis of a number of reviews reveals the parameters which game critics emphasize the most, and these parameters become the groundwork for the LPS-model, combined with a look into tips & tricks from industry professional and game scholars.
Additionally I will present a theory on neuroaesthetics which identifies Contrast, Rhythm, Balance and Proportion as the most important aspects of human aesthetic appreciation, which will further justify the overarching claim of this thesis; that variation, in its own right, is an extremely important aspect of any experience, thus being the prime focus of the LPS-model.
2 With variety as the ‘meta-principle’ the identification of areas of discussion, which are subject of critic emphasis, allows the LPS-model to categorize the elements of play experience which could benefit from having orchestrated variation i.e. assuring that the player is never exposed to the same stimuli for a longer period of time, by changing setting, lighting, gameplay etc.
The LPS-model is a physical model, which is meant to be hung on the wall and provide a visual overview of how the various parts of the game play together. Since game development is iterative by nature, the constant changes can often blur the outlook on the game. Being that the LPS-model is easily modifiable, it allows designers to get instant feedback on the effects of the change. In conjunction with being a tool for designers to verify that the design vision is adhered to, the model also provides a tool for communicating changes throughout the entire team without each team member having to constantly attend meetings or frequently re-read the design manual.
The LPS-model, as a tool for communication, is not thoroughly addressed in this thesis, since validation would imply using the model in a large scale production. Instead the focus is on its use in design, and an analysis of a critic acclaimed game is performed to verify if it adheres to the principles set forth by this thesis.
3 2 Introduction
Having been presented with narratology as a mean of analyzing games in my early years of study, but acknowledging its obvious shortcomings due to the temporal aspects as well as the cognitive implications of participation versus observation, I have pondered how a structuralistic approach to game and level design could be described. While Steffan Björk and Jussi Holopainen has done great work on structuralistic game design in Patterns in Game Design (5), level design literature seems more oriented on technical aspects as well as a selection of more general ‘tips & tricks’. Models and methods as seen in other artistic/narrative media e.g. the actant model, the narrative arc, the golden ratio etc., seems to be absent when looking at the field of level design. This inspired an investigation into the possibility of a design model, inspired by an interdisciplinary collection of design principles, as the ones aforementioned.
Figure 3: Golden ratio Figure 2: The actant model Figure 1: Narrative arc
“Instead of treating the new phenomena (Game-aesthetics) carefully, and as objects of a study for which no methodology yet exists, they are analyzed willy-nilly, with tools that happen to be at hand, such as film theory or narratology, from Aristotle onwards. The cautious search for a methodology, which we should have reason to expect of reflective practitioners in any new field, is suspiciously absent from most current aesthetic analyses of games.” (6)
Even though Aarseth, in his publication Playing Research: Methodological approaches to game analysis, not explicitly refer to the lack of any aesthetics-centered design methodology for level design, as this thesis must be categorized as being, his publication encompasses it. It may seem an odd choice to insert the above citation into a thesis which, at first glance, bases a model for aesthetic level design on precisely these “willy-nilly” tools. The reason being, that the focus is not on founding the Level Parameter Segmentation Model (LPS-model) on a modification of existing tools, but on the universal truths that these tools were initially based on. Therefore what may seem as a modification of tools is merely an acceptance of the premise on which these tools were founded, and using them to construct a specialized model for game level design.
4 This thesis attempts to create such a tool allowing the designer to, if not define the fixed value of good design parameters, then expose the parameters of which good level design consists, which is exactly what the models mentioned in the above does for other artistic media, and allow the designer to gain an outlook on the overall effect of his/her decisions.
Besides from the initial search for structuralistic level design tools, the thesis subject stems from a design discussion with a few colleagues of mine when working on a AAA 3 rd person action adventure game at ZeitGuyz Game Developers, which I initially had agreed to write this thesis in collaboration with. Unfortunately the final negotiations with publishers did not result in a publishing deal and thus the company had to close. The discussion revolved around the lack of narrative structure in the plot of the game, and that the plot at that time did not correspond to generally acknowledged narrative theory, and if that was an even meaningful goal at all. The discussion spawned an idea of looking at the narrative arc theory, as spawned by Aristotle(7), as a starting point for formalizing game flow and intensity variation throughout the different levels, based on the premise that tension and variation were desirable principles to strive for in the experience of any art form. This idea became the foundation for the investigation this thesis performs.
2.1 Keywords
Gameflow, level design parameters, spatial dramaturgy, aesthetics, design principles
2.2 Research Question
How can universal design principles for game/level design be identified? And how would a model which incorporates these principles be constructed, with the goal of aiding the design process of linear AAA 1st /3 rd person action games?
5 2.3 Definitions
In this section I will define words, which may be subject to misunderstanding, and is essential to this thesis.
• Segment : A part of a level which is sufficiently different from the previous segment, to classify it as being independent. • Instance : A filled out paper-version of the LPS-model describing a single segment.
2.4 Hypothesis
The reasoning which is paramount in leading to the validity of the LPS-model, is that contrast/variation in its own right is a valid goal in any design process. It is a goal of this thesis to confirm the hypothesis partly through the work on neuroaesthetics of Peter D. Stebbing in his publication A Universal Grammar for Visual Composition (8) and partly through an interdisciplinary look at narratology, architecture and color theory.
2.4.1 The three uses
The LPS-model is first and foremost a tool for designers to assure coherence in the implementation of the design vision, but the model contains other uses as well. I propose three distinct uses of the LPS-model;
1. As a mean of ensuring quality on levels and provide an easily modifiable model for the designer.
2. It should be able to provide information to each team member of in which direction each level is currently going. This should help everybody have a clearer understanding of which assets are needed to fulfill the vision.
3. As a tool for the producer to get hard data for cost/benefit analysis on time spend within each individual setting and with each individual mechanic. This should aid in decisions on which aspects of the game to cut/diminish or expand on.
6 2.4.2 Physicality of the model
Before these three uses are explained in further detail, a brief description of the parameters and physical nature of the LPS-model is deemed necessary in order to present the reader with an understanding which is essential in the remainder of this section. The model shares physical similarities with storyboards and is supposed to be hung on the wall for all team members to see. The comparison to storyboards is limited, to a large extent, to its physical design, since whereas storyboards shows the framing for each shot as well as any necessary notes, the LPS-model focus on
Figure 4: Storyboard from gameplay intensity and the variation in the aesthetic parameters. Star Wars
Figure 5: Five model-instances from Half life2: Episode2
2.4.3 Designing using the model
When designing a level using the LPS-model, it should be subdivided into a number of segments whenever sufficient change occurs to separate the current segment from the previous (what constitutes ‘sufficient change’ is described in section 0). Each of these segments are described in its own ‘instance’ of the model i.e. a separate page, which contains the value of each parameter in the given segment e.g. gameplay, intensity, color, sound and spatiality. Having these instances hung next to each other yields the overarching outlook on the consequences of each design decision, with regard to the level as a whole. With this
7 description of the LPS-model in place it’s time to delve a bit deeper into the three potential uses as described in the beginning of this section.
2.4.4 Cognitive bias
The first use of the model, as well as the predominant part of this thesis, deals with the LPS-model as a tool for the level designer. Given that the designer has a vision of gameflow as well as a documented art direction, it holds the potential of mapping these abstract ideas into a visual model. The important aspect here is that the player experience of a level-segment is also affected by the preceding, and in part the subsequent, segments due to human perception of change i.e. the value of any stimulus is not necessarily perceived as actually having the given value, but more likely a value influenced by juxtaposed stimuli i.e. that stimulus is perceived as more than the sum of its parts. This principle is well described in the field of visual perception with the laws of simultaneous and successive contrast. These laws, identified by the 19th- century physicist Michel-Eugène Chevreul(2), are a subset of the cognitive biases which humans possesses, i.e. patterns of deviations in judgment e.g. if exposing ones hands to respectively hot and cold water, the perceived temperature will vary when both are exposed to lukewarm water. Simultaneous and successive contrast can be described by the collective name ‘contrast effect’ which can be defined as:
“A contrast effect is the enhancement or diminishment, relative to normal, of perception, cognition and related performance as a result of immediately previous or simultaneous exposure to a stimulus of lesser or greater value in the same dimension. (Here, normal perception or performance is that which would be obtained in the absence of the comparison stimulus - i.e., one based on all previous experience.)”(9) Figure 6: Example of contrast effect
Figure 6 shows both simultaneous contrast (left) and successive contrast (right). The perception of the color of the center square is affected by the color of the surrounding square, and by looking at the red and green circle for some time, it will change the perception of color when directing the eye to the yellow circles.
8 2.4.5 How to use cognitive bias
Exemplified by the contrast effect, it’s a hypothesis of this thesis that similar cognitive bias exist in the experience of level design aesthetics. This hypothesis is supported by theory from other schools of art, which will be dealt with in further detail in section 4.4. To simplify; the value of the LPS-model lies not only in presenting the parameters of each individual segment, but also to expose its differences with regard to the preceding and subsequent segments i.e. the flow/form. David Bordwell and Kirsten Thompson, well known film theorists and founders of cognitive film theory, propose just this:
“In order to analyze a film’s pattern of development, it is usually a good idea to make a segmentation. Segmentation is simply a written outline of the film that breaks it into major and minor parts, with the parts marked by consecutive numbers or letters. If a narrative film has ten scenes, then we can label each scene with a number running from one to ten. It may be useful to divide some parts further. Segmenting a film enables us not only to notice similarities and differences among parts but also to plot the overall progression of the form.” (10)
Since AAA game development is a field with a highly iterative production model, the amount of changes can easily blur the clarity of the design vision. Each change has the potential of breaking the overarching high-concept of form i.e. gameflow and art direction, since aesthetics and tension are linked to the orchestration of successive stimuli. The idea behind the LPS-model is, that any changes are immediately applied to the relevant instances i.e. the filled out paper-version of the model hanging on the wall. This should give an instant suggestion on whether or not the change has form-breaking ramifications, which would demand further changes to be applied. See more on the model as a mean of design in section 4.4.
2.4.6 Communicating using the model
The second use of the model is more a diverted effect than an actual conscious consideration when the LPS-model was created, but the validity seemed to be in order when it was applied in my work at ZeitGuyz game developers. Again referring to the iterative nature of game development, the ramifications of change does not only apply to the high-concept, but also on the work of the game ‘craftsmen’ i.e. the audio, animation, programming and art department. Any change to level design obviously directly effects these departments since new assets must be created to comply with the revised design. This means a great deal
9 of cross-department communication is required to make sure everybody is working towards a common goal, which subsequently means a great deal of time is wasted and that potential misunderstandings may arise. The hypothesis here is, that some of the time spend on communication down through the organization, or time spend reading revised design-manuals could be minimized by having an easily modifiable and very accessible outlook on each level which, as proposed, the LPS-model can provide. See more on the model as a mean of communication in section 4.4.
2.4.7 Mining data with the model
The third and final proposed use of the model is its potential of providing data for the producer. Gathering data directly from the segments described with the LPS-model allows management to gain quantifiable data on usage of game mechanics and other assets. Being able to directly compare guesstimated, or in some cases measured, usage of a given mechanic/asset with the time-estimates given by department-leads on required production time, allows the producer to identify any irregularities. Measured game-data is often referred to as metric in the game industry, and applied heavily in blockbuster games such as Halo 3, Mass Effect , and Gears of War .
An example could be the final level in Half Life 2 where the player is suddenly provided with an upgrade to the gravity gun which makes it possible to pick up enemy soldiers and throw them across the room, an ability which was previously restricted to inanimate objects. This gameplay mechanic is only used in very small part of the game and would instantly show up as having a very poor gameplay- time to production-time ratio. In the given example this would obviously not cause the producer to be Figure 7: Image from Half life 2 concerned since this is a conscious design decision and not a misguided use of man hours, but in other cases it might reveal unwanted discrepancies. All resources created by the development team should naturally not share the same gameplay-time to production-time ratio, but the model does allow management to investigate certain game-resources which
10 holds the potential of being overkill when considering the series of strict deadlines AAA developers operate under. See more on the model as a mean of data gathering in section 6.
2.5 Delimitation
Due to the interdisciplinary nature of this thesis as well as its wide perspective it’s necessary to have an equally inclusive set of delimitations. First and foremost it’s important to narrow the scope of which games the model has any validity; although it’s quite possible that the model has its uses in multiple genres, this thesis is limited to 1 st /3 rd person action/adventure single player games that are linear in nature. The LPS- model is based on the importance of transition and rhythm which, logically, is hard to control within an open-ended level where information on player progression is inaccessible (unless certain dynamic functionalities are implemented which alters the gameplay experience at run-time based on a change in game states). This makes linear games, in which form and rhythm adheres to the principle of strings-of- pearls when observing level progression, the most fitting to investigate. Examples of these could be the series: Half Life , Tomb Raider and Call of Duty .
These are prime examples of games that provide a quite varied experience throughout the entire game though modeled within a rigid structure. They provide a varied experience, even with a minimum of different mechanics, due to a well designed gameflow rhythm which eliminates the sensation of repetitive gameplay, even during eventual backtracking. It is the parameters, providing this varied experience, which is the goal of this thesis to identify. It should be noted though, that identifying the parameters is in no means the same as identifying the value of the parameters, thereby creating a fixed recipe for aesthetic success. Although the values of these parameters are set to adhere to certain design-principles in section
11 4.4, it is merely to exemplify how a filled-out version of the LPS-model corresponds to critique acclaimed level design. The parameters of the model constitutes a design pattern which can provide an unlimited number of results, in the same manner that DNA building blocks, although extremely limited in numbers, are able to provide infinite results.
With regard to the validation of the model, it should be noted that analysis and theory will provide the foundation, while an approach of validating through implementing the model on the design of actual levels is outside the scope of the thesis. Validation through design doesn’t seem feasible given the amount of user-testing this would imply. This directly relates to the fact that only one of the three potential uses, listed in section 2.4 e.g. as a mean of design, will sought to be investigated to its full extent. The other two uses; as means of communication and data gathering, necessitate the presence of a reasonably large production team. When thinking of cross-department communication, it is obvious that any conclusion of the effectiveness of the model is flawed by default, given the premise that theory is used as the foundation for validation. That being said, the presentation of the final two uses will hopefully instill you, the reader, with the inference that the inherent logics are sound, although not substantiated exhaustively.
2.6 Topicality
With production cost soaring in AAA game development (Rockstar producer Leslie Benzies estimates the cost of GTAIV at a record-breaking $100M (11)) it’s more crucial than ever to assure that communication within the team runs smoothly, to avoid resource waste. The LPS-model claims to hold the potential of easing the communication regarding the effect of the inevitable changes caused by iterative development, but since this claim is, as described in the previous section, not proven within the scope of this thesis, the interest regarding topicality should reasonably be focused on another subject; it is the end-goal to present a model based on universal design principles which allows the level/game designer to orchestrate the game experience and perform QA (Quality Assurance) on the aesthetic vision of the project. The model aims at supplementing the subjective conception of a given design by providing a structuralistic approach which provides quantifiable data.
12 2.7 Thesis structure
Having in the previous sections described my motivation, research question and academic relevance - it’s time to present the structure of the following sections.
Firstly the method, through which the research question will be sought answered, is explained. It deals with how I propose to identify universal design principles through a semantic analysis of a number of game reviews.
The discussion section deals with the data which the semantic analysis uncovered, as well as a more general look into interdisciplinary design principles This section also looks at the topicality of the thesis by relating it to the works of game scholars and industry professionals alike. Finally I present the actual parameters of the model.
Having defined the parameters of the LPS-model, Half-life2:Episode2 (12) is analyzed and its values inserted into the model and compared to the hypothesized principles of design.
In addition to using the LPS-model as a tool for design, I subsequently propose its use in a larger framework with which quantifiable data can be retrieved and used for a producer to get an overview on how much each gameplay mechanic and unique setting is used, and thereby enabling informed decisions on production.
Finally I conclude on the thesis as a whole, and on how the research question has been answered.
13 3 Method
For the model to avoid being perceived as a collection of idiosyncratic ‘common sense’ propositions and to add academic weight to its hypotheses, it is necessary to perform some initial steps. Firstly we need a manner of identifying the parameters which holds the potential of aiding the designer in the pursuit of universal aesthetics principles and the sought-after gameplay experience. Secondly we need a way of defining when the discrepancy between the previous and the current gameplay segment is large enough to be considered as ‘change’ i.e. when does it serve a purpose to describe a segment of a level with an individual model-instance. Thirdly it is necessary to describe how I propose to analyze games, using the chosen parameters, in order to relate the findings of the method to the structure of critic acclaimed games. Lastly this section presents the manner of which it is possible to extract data from the analyzed game in order to validate the thesis hypotheses.
3.1 Identifying the parameters
The search for universal design principles to empower the validity of the model yields the need to, at least initially, transcend the concept of aesthetics as a cultural phenomenon, and instead provide a more scientific foundation for this discussion. The burgeoning discipline of neuroaesthetics provides such a foundation to build the identification of model-parameters on. Neuroaesthetics uses the techniques of neuroscience to investigate and understand aesthetics - the pioneer and coiner of neuroaesthetics, Zemir Zeki states:
“It seems a natural starting point, when discussing aesthetics, to look at the brain, through which all art is created, executed and appreciated.”
"...the artist is in a sense, a neuroscientist, exploring the potentials and capacities of the brain, though with different tools. How such creations can arouse aesthetic experiences can only be fully understood in neural terms. Such an understanding is now well within our reach." (13)
14 3.1.1 CRBP in visual composition
Peter D. Stebbing, zoologist, biological illustrator and design lecturer at several UK and German universities has in several publications sought to identify the principles which links human aesthetics to neuroscience and organic organization. He preliminarily isolates four types of relationships as being the most important aspects in visual composition; Contrast, Rhythm, Balance and Proportion (CRBP). (14) His method of validating CRBP as being the prime elements in the aesthetics of visual composition consists of measuring occurrences of certain words in the content pages of 50 books covering graphic design, painting, sculpture, architecture etc. Measuring the frequency of which each word occurred, allows Stebbing to confirm his hypothesis, since the CRBP (+synonyms) is in fact the most commonly used words. To link these findings with neurology, Stebbing identifies CRBP as being equally fundamental in the organizational structure of plants and animals – organic organization. The structure of organic beings is obviously important for humans in order to identify food sources and potential dangers, this leads inevitably to the hypothesis that the perceptual system is targeted at identified these structures. Succeeding in identifying these structures yields an emotional ‘reward’ which Stebbing relates to aesthetics. He presents the notion of linking organic organization to aesthetics in the following manner:
“Now why should we put the basic organizational characteristics of living organisms into the inanimate 'aesthetic' artifacts that we create? The answer, I hypothesize, is that our perceptual system is the bridge between organic form and our aesthetic forms because our perceptual capabilities have evolved to recognize the diversity of organic forms by responding to CRBP.” (8)
The identification and validation of CRBP is important to this thesis, since this hints at universal design principles which heighten the aesthetic experience, and is dealt with in further detail in section 4.1 where he also hints at the importance of CRBP in other media, but for the scope of this section, it is his method of utilizing word frequency as a mean of confirming a hypothesis that is sought applied.
15 3.1.2 Identifying parameters through occurrence analysis
Trying to validate the parameters of the LPS-model through theory is a legit procedure, but the argumentation will benefit from having a more tangible method as well. Borrowing heavily from the method proposed in Stebbings A grammar of visual composition and its biological origin (8) the approach is to analyze reviews from the six largest online written-review sites, and record the occurrences of words dealing with the experience of a given game. This analysis holds information on terms which are important to critics when reviewing games, which to a degree should be important for any developer. It has also recently been presented at GDC 2008 by Dan Arey and Chris Swain in their keynote speech: Master Metrics: the Science behind the Art of Game Design (15), that a 5 point metascore increase equals approximately a 50% revenue increase, thus parameters important to critics should be considered, in order to develop an economically sound game. The choice of which written review sites to include is based on traffic-rankings extruded from Alexa.com (16), a site dedicated to delivering data on site-traffic.
The sites chosen are:
Site name Traffic r anking (Ranking in comparison to all other websites)
Gamespot.com 120
Ign.com 132
Gamespy.com 985
Gamesradar.com 1.362
1UP.com 1.669
Gamezone.com 2.591
16 3.1.3 Choosing the games
Which games to investigate is chosen by looking at the 10 best and worst ranked at Metacritic.com, a site dedicated to gathering review scores from multiple sites. In order to be included though, the games must adhere to certain common denominators, thus the games chosen are not necessarily the lowest scoring games, but the lowest scoring game within the given limitations. The common denominators are
• They must be reviewed by a minimum of 10 sites • They must be reviewed by at least half the chosen review sites • They must be released after January 1 st 2006 • They must be published for the PC, Xbox360 or PLAYSTATION3 platform • They must be categorized at Metacritic.com as action, 1 st person shooter or 3 rd person shooter
The limitation regarding minimum number of review sites is based on the notion that only fairly large titles should be included as data. This eliminates really low-budget titles where one could assume that the development team is fairly inexperienced. Additionally the fact that a relatively large amount of review sites have dealt with the particular game makes the average score more accurate.
The reason for limiting the search by publishing date and target platform is to assure the games have roughly the same technical opportunities and are released during the next-gen lifetime; Xbox360 was available at all of the three major markets (North America, Europe and Japan) in December 10th 2005.
Besides this formal way of limiting the data, it should be noted that some games, although complying with the given rules, are disregarded if these seem to divert from the scope of games given in the delimitation in section 2.5. An example could be Grand Theft Auto IV which satisfy the common denominators but is to free-form to be included in this thesis. This is not saying that freeform games could not benefit from the LPS-model, but in order to make a more coherent point, the delimitations of this thesis are quite strict. In essence the common denominators are actual parameters in a Metacritic.com search, which yield a series of possible games to investigate, but some of these may be discarded based on a subjective conclusion that they do not abide with the delimitations just mentioned.
17 3.1.4 The games chosen
Using the method described in the above, the following games becomes the subjects of analysis (note that the x indicates whether the review of the given game is to be found at that particular site):
Game Score GameSpot IGN Gamespy Gamesradar 1UP Gamezone Bioshock 96 X X X X X X The Orange Box 96 X X X X X X Gears of War 94 X X X X X X Halo 3 94 X X X X X X Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots 94 X X X X X X Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 94 X X X X X X Crysis 91 X X X X X X Mass Effect 91 X X X X X X Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 90 X X X X X X Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 89 X X X X X X Table 1: Best rated games at Metacritic
Game Score GameSpot IGN Gamespy Gamesradar 1UP Gamezone The History Channel: Battle for the pacific 35 X X X X Hour of Victory 37 X X X X X Turning Point: Fall of Liberty 42 X X X X 25 to Life 39 X X X PsychoToxic 40 X X X Hellboy: The Science of Evil 44 X X X X X Made Man 40 X X X Alien Blast: The Encounter 41 X X X Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer 45 X X X X X X Haze 55 X X X X X Table 2: Worst rated games at Metacritic
18 3.1.5 Data mining procedure
The procedure for getting data for the occurrence analysis is as follows:
Firstly all content from each review is copied into a separate word document, to allow for review specific analysis later in the process. Initially the starting point of the method is to look at the combined catalog of reviews though. The reviews of all high-scoring and low-scoring games are combined in separate documents, and subsequently combined into one overarching document containing all data.
The document containing all reviews is run through a word script (See Appendix A - Frequency word script) which counts unique words, counts their frequency and lists them with regard to that frequency (See Appendix B - Frequency data). This metric data allows for identification of the most commonly used terms in the full review catalog. It should be noted that the aforementioned word script is constructed to leave out actual names of the games analyzed. This is done to disallow certain words which are not thought of as ‘review universals’ to contaminate the results as i.e. the word ‘gears’ and ‘war’ could create data discrepancy when analyzing gears of war.
This frequency data is reviewed by hand and nouns/adjectives, with occurrence >= 20, are isolated as keywords (See Appendix C - Keywords) being that these are the only word-types containing inherent value regarding game review foci whereas i.e. pronouns, numerals and verbs does not. Subsequently all keywords will be inserted into non pre-defined categories. The method is to take one word at a time and then assign them with a new category-label unless a category which can contain the given word already exists. Category labels may change throughout the process though, depending on the nature of the keywords.
The keywords will then be used as parameters in a second word script (See Appendix D - Arrange keywords script) which allows for combining keywords in categories and displaying their individual frequency, as well as the frequency of the whole category (See Appendix E – Category frequencies).
19 To summarize the method steps:
1. Copy each review into separate documents 2. Combine all high-scoring and low-scoring reviews into separate documents 3. Combine all reviews into a full review catalog 4. Run word frequency script on full catalog to list all words in relation to frequency, leaving out game specific word or sentences i.e. Haze, Gears of War etc. 5. Isolate nouns and adjectives with frequency > 20 6. label isolated words with categories 7. Run occurrence analysis script on combined catalog 8. Run occurrence analysis script, using the isolated words, on high-scoring and low-scoring review catalogs to identify linguistic variation when discussing high-scoring and low-scoring games
These are the steps which I propose could answer the initial question on whether or not variation in its own right is important, and additionally provide the LPS-model with input on important parameters. See more on this in section 4.2.
The isolation process in step 5 is sought to be as objective as possible but is should be noted, that some nouns and adjectives with frequency > 20 are omitted from the keywords based on the following criteria:
• Words considered to be contaminated since they are used to described specific game developers/publishers, In-game locations/objects/characters or game platform i.e. Xbox, Portal, Bungie, plasmids. • Subjective adjectives which deals solely with player experience i.e. beautiful, brilliant, cool.
3.1.6 The method logics
During the initial research, attempts to record word frequencies within level-design specific books have been made, but it became early on clear that such literature is limited in describing actual design principles, and are often more involved in discussing technical issues and iterative development techniques. In Stebbings research a substantially larger catalog of literature was available, largely due to the fact that
20 formal design principles are only just beginning to appear within the field of game/level design, but obviously also due to the vastly longer history of theory of visual composition.
This spawned the idea to approach occurrence-analysis from the review point of view. Being able to isolate parameters often praised in high-scoring games as well as criticized in low-scoring games would allow for an identification of important aspects in game/level design from a critics point of view.
3.1.7 Specific parameters
Obviously the occurrence-analysis might be limited with respect to specific design principles, since an occurrence within a given review most likely takes the form of “The segmentation of gameplay is well orchestrated” or “The constant change of scenery gives a very varied experience”. These fabricated quotes hint nothing at useful hands-on design principles which could be immediately implemented by a designer, but none the less they could indicate the presence of a ‘meta-principle’ which might be worth deconstructing to form actual hands-on design principles. The goal of the occurrence-analysis method is to validate the hypothesis that variation in its own right, i.e. the ‘meta principle’, is something to strive for as mentioned in section 2.4.
The actual parameters which make up the LPS-model are found through a more ‘common sense’ approach; by investigating the theory behind other artistic disciplines, such as narratology, architecture, dramaturgy and color theory, certain universal principles which is applicable in level design will be identified. Additionally a number of game post-mortems as well as the tips, tricks and rules of established game/level designers will be scrutinized to uncover the aspects relevant for the LPS-model.
21 3.2 What constitutes change?
As described in section 2.4.2 the LPS-model is, when applied in a design process, comprised of a sequence of instances i.e. filled out paper versions of the model, describing each segment of a level. In order to discuss segmentation, one need to clarify what encompasses a segment, this results in the following definition of the differences necessary to identify a given part of a game, as being a stand-alone segment.
What is change? It’s the difference that makes a difference!
• A noticeable change in gameplay or gameplay intensity • A change of scenery • A change of spatiality • A change in color dominance
Alessandro Canossa, in an attempt to “define unified procedures and guidelines for designing levels ”, identifies these segments (he uses the term sub-section) in the following way in his paper Designing Levels for Enhanced Player Experience:
“A sub-section is defined as a contiguous, uninterrupted, isotropic space that shares aesthetic, ludic and phenomenological features.” (17)
Canossa’s definition adheres well to the one previously presented. For the purpose of the LPS-model though, it seems reasonable to create a checklist-style definition to depict the vision of the thesis, since this approach leaves less room for interpretation when trying to segment a given level.
3.3 LPS-model as a tool for analysis
Besides the method described in 3, the validity of the model will be investigated by means of an in-depth game analysis of Half Life2: Episode2. The success criterion is to point at similarities between a critic acclaimed game as HL2E2 and the principles of the LPS-model. The procedure for this analysis is to deconstruct HL2E2 and insert its values into the LPS-model. Using a screen-capture program, a screenshot will be taken every 3 seconds to later be used in identifying visual variation. These screenshots will be compared to the model-instances filled out whenever adequate change occurs, as defined in the previous section.
22 4 Discussion
This section contains a discussion on the parameters of the LFS-model, as well as a more general discussion on the validity of it. It starts off with a more in-depth description of the CRBP parameters which were presented by Stebbing (14) and mentioned in section 3.1. These are parameters which Stebbing argue constitutes a universal principle for aesthetic appreciation, and it will be investigated with regards to level design in this section. Additionally his method and method data are evaluated.
The method applied by Stebbing has been, as mentioned in the previous section, modified to allow an analysis of game reviews, trying to identify important critic focal points. The data of this method, here referred to as occurrence analysis results, are then examined to allow for a statement on the validity of the claim that variation is a quality to strive for in its own right, as well as shine light on important categories within reviews.
Additionally I will address the topicality of developing models and patterns with regards to game/level design. This part of the report will draw in references to A Pattern Language (18), Game Design Patterns (5), the 400 project (19) and a number of Gamasutra feature articles.
The remainder of this section addresses the actual parameters of the LPS-model and discusses them by investigating interdisciplinary design principles of narrative tension/suspense, spatial design, aural design and color theory. Lastly the remaining parameters which deal with aspects mostly relevant to the actual production are addressed.
23 4.1 CRBP revisited
Stebbing propose that by identifying the biological basis behind human visual perception allows for achieving knowledge applicable in the orchestration of visual composition. Although his primary focus is on visual composition in ‘static arts’ such as paintings, thus not directly related the art of game/level design where fixed composition is not a valid possibility since player interaction affects what is displayed, Stebbing also finds proof of the existence of these universal principles, CRBP, in a number of other media, such as dance, music and architecture. These findings substantiate the acknowledgement of CRBP being applicable in level design as well. We’ll return to CRBP in other media in the latter part of this section.
4.1.1 The origin of CRBP
After being asked on the reason behind the importance of visual rhythm and balance while giving lectures on graphic design, Stebbing begins to investigate the significance of these as well as trying to perhaps identify other equally important components. He finds through his initial research four types of relationships which are important components of visual composition; contrast, rhythm, balance and proportion. These elements are sufficiently referred to in literature to allow for Stebbing to make these the preliminary components of his research. He defines the elements as:
Contrast : I take Bateson's definition of a contrast as a difference which makes a difference and which can be identified by any of our senses.
Rhythm or pattern : is a repetition of a contrast which may also occur in one or a combination of the four basic symmetry operations.
Balance and symmetry : Two or more visual elements or forces are set against (oppose) each other so that they equalize or neutralize their tensions often resulting in a symmetry of form.
Proportion : is a ratio composed of two or more contrasting quantities used repeatedly in either the same and/or different measures in a design.(8)
These components become the backbone of his method to identify universal aesthetics principles.
24 4.1.2 Glossary analysis
The method to investigate the presence of these design universals is to:
1. Choose a base of literature regarding visual composition (50 books) 2. Extract all words used on the contents page of these books 3. Group synonyms and Identify the frequency of these 4. Choose the most frequently occurring words and analyze the occurrence of these in each book of the literature base
The results that surfaced from step number 3 are in agreement with his initial hypothesis that CRBP would be the most common terms used.(8)
CONTRAST: 61 PROPORTION: 36 gradation: 27 golden mean / section: 10 variation: 27 + other synonyms: 2
+ other synonyms: 97 Σ 48
Σ 212
UNITY: 24
RHYTHM: 33 harmony: 11 repetition: 35 + other synonyms: 2 pattern: 34 Σ 37
+ other synonyms: 29
Σ 131 Movement: 48
motion: 9
BALANCE: 35 + other synonyms: 0 equilibrium: 8 Σ 57 symmetry: 10
+ other synonyms: 4 Expression: 30
Σ 57 + other synonyms: 11
Σ 41
25 Stebbing also finds that a large frequency of the words Movement and Expression occurs but chooses not to include them as they have nothing to offer in terms of organizing visual compositions. On average 2.4 of the 5 components (CRBP + Unity) occurs in any of the content pages, allowing him to conclude that although inconsistently referred to, CRBP should be perceived as the most important components of visual composition.
4.1.3 CRBP in organic organization
The identification of the four core components is interesting in its own right, but the link to organic organization adds further weight to the research. This allows the findings to transcend the categorization of being cultural phenomena and instead being labeled as universal principles – shifting focus from environment in the heritage and environment discussion i.e. whether a quality is based on a biological or cultural foundation. That being said, obviously culture also affects ones aesthetic appreciation, but identifying the subsection of aesthetics which is a universal human heritage, provides a framework on which art can build.
What Stebbing proposes is, that the human perceptual system is attuned to respond particularly to the characteristics of CRBP simply due to evolutionary necessities e.g. we know that the human perceptual system actually enhances contrast to allow for faster recognition of form. These perceptual qualities allows for fast identification of nourishment and potential dangers even outside ones natural habitat, enabling early humans (4-5 million years ago) to survive the change from rain forest to savannah when splitting ancestral line from chimpanzee.
“Clearly, it would have been biologically inefficient for them to have evolved feature detectors for every organism they eat; therefore, our ancestors’ brains must have evolved an economical (i.e. grammatical) system for recognizing any kind of organism.” (8)
(The following line of text is organized in a way that the first and last letter holds their position, but all other letters are given a random position)
In the smae way taht tihs stenecne is ustodenrod aultghoh not bnieg slpeeld ctoreclry , human perception is adept at understanding the construct of a given stimulus, not having to rely on identifying the actual
26 stimulus, in the same manner that unknown fruits were instantly recognized as having the characteristics of fruits when humans changed habitat millions of years ago. The aesthetic appreciation is a way of rewarding recognition of organisms, or as Stebbing puts it:
“Our art reflects nature. Nature formed our sense of visual perception which in its turn informs our aesthetic expressions.”(8)
The image below illustrates how CRBP aids in recognizing organic form.
Figure 8: Organic organization
27 4.1.4 CRBP in other media
Through Stebbings research it is recognized that CRBP is important in a number of other media as well, as shown with the following examples.(8)
“On the appreciation of dance Smith-Autard writes: ‘A few may be pleased by the overall shape of the dance, and see the beginning, middle and end in proportionate relationship , and each section as a well balanced entity yet carefully blended into a unified whole. Others may feel a sense of pleasure on recognition of the repetitions and contrasts and follow the design of the dance within these frames of reference.’”
“While on music Westrup writes: ‘Forms are the ways in which at different periods music is cast into intelligible shapes. The fundamental principles remain constant: balance , proportion , repetition , contrast , variation , and so on. It is the detailed application of these principles that changes. Styles are the ways in which individuality or it may be the general feeling of the period, finds expression.’”
“Minai aims to ‘Outline the relevant design process... Harmonic order, as the law of opposites , is reached by increasing uniformity and regularity through reduction of entropy of certain functions (e.g. rhythm ), and at the same time increase in randomness and diversity through increase of entropy of opposite functions (e.g. climax) while numerous constraints are conditioning. Finally, 'originality' and 'probability' techniques are introduced as tools for optimizing certain random functions, such as axioms ( rhythm , climax, balance , proportion , harmony and functional expression) and thus produce 'harmonic order'.’”
Where the initial proposal is that CRBP is crucial in visual composition, it becomes clear, that other media shares that characteristic. Given that diverse media as dance, music and architecture are described with these terms, indicates that it is not only the visual perceptual system which responds to CRBP, but also other means of perceiving stimulus are influenced as well. It seems reasonable to infer that it is not only the perception of these components but the experience of them as well. It seems valid to conclude that contrast/variety, by example, are equally important when experiencing a work day at the assembly line, as well as when appreciating the organization of fine art. That is, variation in experience is as important as variation in perception.
28 4.1.5 Fear of formalism
When discussing creativity, it may be thought as limiting to consider aesthetics as a set of universal rules. Is it restrictive to have a ruleset to abide to in a creative process? Even though the notion of universal rules inhibiting art is fairly logical, one needs only to look at the history of arts and biology to disprove it. In arts, new knowledge does not eclipse the old but rather builds on it, although techniques might. It could also be noticed that extremely complicated ends can come from rather limited and strict means i.e. western music which is limited to 12 semitones and again limited by certain patterns e.g. the major and minor scale. Or in human physiology we see the three color receptors (red, green, blue) which are necessary to perceive the full trichromatic color span. It is seen everywhere that limited means may produce unlimited results.
4.1.6 Relations to the LPS-model
This research into CRBP might, at first glance, seem to provide little in terms of actual parameters for the LPS-model, but it does allow for a conclusion on the ‘meta-principle’ of the LPS-model, that variation is a valid goal in its own right. Additionally it adds food for thought about how the designers of a given game can incorporate repetition, balance and proportion into the design vision. Examples of this could be ensure a certain rhythm of encounters i.e. a lengthy run-and-gun section should always be followed by a vehicle section and end with a boss fight, or a motif as in half-life2; when you encounter dead characters with head-crabs attached, you are sure to bump into zombies shortly. Balance could be thought of as making sure that the gameplay intensity presents the player with both immensely intense encounters as well as slow-paced sequences allowing the player to catch his breath. Lastly proportions could relate to the decision to sequentially increase the difficulty of a game while progressing, in a way that the obstacles presented are proportionate to the player progression. It should be noted that these are only examples since the LPS-model does not attempt at delivering fixed design decisions, but only to provide a tool which can help designers implement their design vision as well as keeping the overview on the consistency with which it is applied.
In addition to providing all of the above, the research of Stebbing provided a method which could be applied, although in a slightly changed form, to the research necessary to validate the LPS-model.
29 4.2 Occurrence analysis results
The main goal of the occurrence analysis method was to identify important game parameters by investigating a series of high-scoring and low-scoring reviews. This method of analyzing metacritic.com reviews to identify important review-criteria was also applied by Dan Arey and Chris Swain at a GDC-talk in 2008. (15) They have discovered that a 5 point score increase at metacritic.com meant an approximate 50% revenue increase, which obviously is a point no responsible developer can ignore. They then created two top-8 lists which could identify important common denominators in reviews of high-scoring and low-scoring games which could be directly related to critic acclaim:
“Comparing the top game of the year per platform, versus the dud games:
1. large in scope 2. variety of player choice and activity 3. highly replayable 4. top quality visuals and sound 5. responsive and easy controls 6. engaging story and characters 7. quality interactive world and AI 8. responsive camera
Things that suppress metascore
1. undifferentiated gameplay 2. shoddy production values and controls 3. player unsure what to do or what just happened 4. mechanics disconnected from premise 5. noninteractive environment, too linear 6. does not flow, too hard too soon 7. save points too spread out 8. long repetitive load screens”
These results seem to be consistent with the findings of the occurrence analysis method applied in this thesis, which will be expanded on in section 4.2.3. It should be noted that the success criteria in the above had no influence on my method procedure since the GDC-talk by Swain and Arey was discovered subsequent to the occurrence analysis being complete. Therefore any similarities in the results are due to the method validity and not inferred by previous knowledge on the results of Swain and Arey.
30 4.2.1 Keyword categories
As described in section 3.1.5, the way the categories for the LPS-model is found, is through a step-by-step procedure where each word, which adheres to the premise of being a noun or adjective with 20+ occurrences, were given a new label if no label existed that could include it. This means that no categories were made prior to the allocation procedure, but surfaced when needed. It should be noted that some labels went through minor adjustments to fit new words i.e. a label changed from “Enemies” “Enemies / Friendlies” when the words ‘squad’ and ‘friends’ appeared - where it previously had only contained opposition it was chosen to allow it to encompass all NPCs.
Table 3 on the next page, shows the final categories, the three most frequently used word in it, and the frequency of which all contained keywords, in a particular category, occurred in the 104 reviews analyzed. The categories are as follows in descending order:
• Gameplay • Setting • Mechanics / Tools • Story • Enemies / Friendlies • Time • Visuals • Variation • Aural • Experience • Stability / bugs
These categories make up the parameter-categories of the LPS-model, although with minor modifications. Initially the categories; ‘variation’, ‘experience’ and ‘stability/bugs’ are removed. ‘Variation’ is removed since variation is not a tangible parameter, but rather the experience of change within any of the other parameters. Even though it is removed as a specific parameter, it is still the most important aspect of the LPS-model as a ‘meta-principle’ which guides the orchestration of each level-segment. ‘Experience’ is removed since it is an effect of the design process, and not a cause. And lastly ‘Stability/Bugs’ is removed since this are not parameters of design, although it maintain some importance in reviews.
31 Category: Gameplay Keyword: Frequency: Multiplayer 260 Gameplay 235 Action 206 Combined keyword frequency: Σ 26 62 Category: Mechanics / Tools Weapons 180 Cover 155 AI 102 Combined keyword frequency: Σ 1854 Category: Setting Level 174 Little (relates to size) 158 Levels 136 Combined keyword frequency: Σ 2068 Category: Story Story 199 Character 156 Characters 104 Combined keyword frequency: Σ 1093 Category: Enemies / Friendlies Enemies 258 Enemy 183 Soldiers 76 Combined keyword frequency: Σ 965 Category: Visuals Graphics 124 Effects 97 Visuals 69 Combined keyword frequency: Σ 737 Category: Time Time 299 Long 112 Hours 100 Combined keyword frequency: Σ 761 Category: Aural Sound 166 Music 67 Soundtrack 31 Combined keyword frequency: Σ 288 Category: Variation Different 141 Variety 57 Unique 44 Combined keyword frequency: Σ 406 Category: Experience Experience 145 Moment 45 Love 35 Combined keyword frequency: Σ 225 Category: Stability / Bugs Issues 42 Problems 39 Broken 27 Combined keyword frequency: Σ 157 Table 3: Combined word frequencies
32 The categories will be discussed in subsequent sections, but for now let’s deal with the occurrence analysis data regarding ‘Variety’. It is the only category dealt with in detail, since it is the foundation of the LPS- model, and all other categories only serves as inspiration for deciding on parameters for the model.
4.2.2 Occurrence analysis: Variety
The initial analysis of the combined review-catalog reveals 9 nouns and adjectives with >20 occurrences which relate to variation: Different, Variety, Unique, Original, Similar, Mix, Repetitive, Generic and Bland. ‘Different’ and ‘similar’ are removed as keywords since they have no explicit inherent value, and can be used in numerous ways which does not relate directly to a discussion on variation. Additionally ‘unique’ and ‘original’ are combined since these words are interchangeable. This leaves the following 6 keywords as the parameters for the continued analysis: Variety, unique/original, mix, repetitive, generic and bland. The results of the occurrence analysis on each individual review, with these keywords as parameters, are shown in Table 5 & Table 6 (high-scoring reviews) on page 35-36 and Table 7 & Table 8 (low-scoring reviews) on page 37-38.
By looking at the data extracted from the tables, it is now possible to conclude on variety being an important aspect of critique accolade. The following data can be seen in table format in Table 4
High-scoring games Low Scoring games Ratio Combined with review word ratio Frequency of variation 48,33 % 22,67 % 0,47 Frequency of unique/original 51,67 % 41,33 % 0,80 Frequency of mix 25,00 % 16,17 % 0,65 Occurrence of the 3 keywords 1,25 0,79 0,88 1,78 - - - Frequency of repetitive 10,00 % 27,67 % 2,77 Frequency of generic 11,67 % 29,83 % 2,56 Frequency of Bland 1,67 % 30,50 % 18,30 Occurrence of the 3 keywords 0,23 0,91 5,42 10,91 Table 4: Variety keyword analysis
On average ≈1.6 of the 6 keywords occur in each review which hints at its importance. But what is even more important is, that by grouping negatively (repetitive, generic, bland) and positively charged (variety, unique/original, mix) words and looking at the data through this filter, some interesting numbers surface. Within the scope of the high-scoring game reviews, the occurrence is now ≈1.25 out of 3, with both ‘variety’ and ‘unique/original’ occurring at ≈50% of the reviews (48.3% & 51.6% respectively) and ‘mix’ occurring at a frequency of 25%. Additionally it becomes clear that the negatively charged words has a far
33 lesser frequency; ‘repetitive’ scores 10%, ‘generic’ scores ≈11.6% and ‘bland’ scores ≈1.6% with a combined occurrence of ≈0.2 keywords out of 3.
With regard to the low-scoring games, the occurrence of the positively charged words does diminish, although not massively; ‘variety’ scores 22.6%, ‘unique/original’ scores 41.3% and ’mix’ scores 16%, with a combined occurrence of ≈0.8 keywords out of 3. It should be noted though, that reviews of high-scoring games contains approximate twice as many words as reviews of low-scoring games does, which could indicate that the frequency would be higher if the reviews had the same extent. But what is even more interesting is that negatively charged keywords skyrocket comparing to the high-scoring reviews. Here the difference is much more apparent; the 3 negatively charged words has an occurrence which is ≈5.4 times larger than when looking at high-scoring games. When taking under consideration that high-scoring game reviews contains twice the amount of words, the difference is now ≈10.9 times larger. Of cause this multiplication with word-ratio is quite speculative, but its worth keeping in mind.
Besides the evident difference in numbers, it seems that reviews of low-scoring games often has a tendency to contain a more creative and ‘cheeky’ linguistic usage, which influence a word occurrence analysis as the one performed in this thesis, as seen in the examples found within the review catalog:
“The Good: The game plays when you stick it in the disc tray.” (20)
“The design philosophy seems to have been: If climbing two sets of stairs with an enemy on each landing is fun, 10 sets of stairs must be a hundred times better!” (21)
These examples illustrate that reviews contains more references a specific subject i.e. variety, than is immediately apparent when doing a word-occurrence analysis. Additionally it is not possible to derive that, in example, occurrences of positively charged words always relates to something positive. Often the semantics of the positively charged words in low-scoring reviews are also reversed into their own antonyms i.e. “there’s very little variety or objectives that haven’t been covered by other WWII shooters.” (22). In this quote the occurrence of the word ‘variety’ does not state anything on the presence of variety in the game, but rather the exact opposite.
Not incorporating semantics into the review analysis does not detract anything from the findings of the above. Incorporating this aspect would only add further weight to the results.
34 Game Gamespot IGN Gamespy Gamesradar 1UP Gamezone Frequency in % Bioshock - Variety 1 5 1 1 66,66666667 - Unique / Original 1 1 2 4 2 83,33333333 - Mix 1 16,66666667 - Repetitive 1 16,66666667 - Generic 0 - Bland 0 The Orange Box - Variety 1 1 1 50 - Unique / Original 4 6 2 1 66,66666667 - Mix 1 16,66666667 - Repetitive 0 - Generic 1 16,66666667 - Bland 0 Gears of War - Variety 2 2 1 50 - Unique / Original 1 1 33,33333333 - Mix 3 16,66666667 - Repetitive 1 1 33,33333333 - Generic 1 1 33,33333333 - Bland 0 Halo 3 - Variety 1 1 1 50 - Unique / Original 2 3 2 2 66,66666667 - Mix 2 2 33,33333333 - Repetitive 1 16,66666667 - Generic 0 - Bland 0 Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots - Variety 1 1 2 1 1 83,33333333 - Unique / Original 1 1 2 2 66,66666667 - Mix 2 1 33,33333333 - Repetitive 0 - Generic 0 - Bland 0 Table 5: Occurrence analysis of high-scoring games part I
35 Game Gamespot IGN Gamespy Gamesradar 1UP Gamezone Frequency in % Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Variety 4 2 33,33333333 - Unique / Original 1 1 2 50 - Mix 1 1 33,33333333 - Repetitive 1 2 33,33333333 - Generic 1 1 33,33333333 - Bland 0 Crysis - Variety 1 16,66666667 - Unique / Original 1 1 33,33333333 - Mix 2 1 33,33333333 - Repetitive 0 - Generic 0 - Bland 0 Mass Effect - Variety 4 2 2 50 - Unique / Original 5 1 1 1 66,66666667 - Mix 1 1 33,33333333 - Repetitive 0 - Generic 0 - Bland 0 Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter - Variety 1 2 1 1 66,66666667 - Unique / Original 3 1 33,33333333 - Mix 0 - Repetitive 0 - Generic 1 16,66666667 - Bland 1 16,66666667 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas - Variety 1 16,66666667 - Unique / Original 1 16,66666667 - Mix 1 1 33,33333333 - Repetitive 0 - Generic 1 16,66666667 - Bland 0 Table 6: Occurrence analysis of high-scoring games part II
36 Game Gamespot IGN Gamespy Gamesradar 1UP Gamezone Frequency in % The History Channel: Battle for the pacific - Variety N/a N/a 0 - Unique / Original N/a N/a 0 - Mix 1 N/a N/a 25 - Repetitive N/a N/a 0 - Generic N/a N/a 1 25 - Bland N/a 1 N/a 25 Hour of Victory - Variety N/a 1 20 - Unique / Original 1 1 1 N/a 2 3 100 - Mix N/a 0 - Repetitive N/a 0 - Generic 1 N/a 1 40 - Bland 1 N/a 20 Turning Point: Fall of Liberty - Variety 1 N/a 20 - Unique / Original 1 1 1 N/a 60 - Mix N/a 0 - Repetitive 2 N/a 20 - Generic N/a 0 - Bland 1 N/a 20 25 to Life - Variety 1 1 N/a N/a N/a 66,66666667 - Unique / Original 1 N/a N/a N/a 33,33333333 - Mix 1 N/a N/a N/a 33,33333333 - Repetitive N/a N/a N/a 0 - Generic 2 1 N/a N/a N/a 66,66666667 - Bland 1 N/a N/a N/a 33,33333333 PsychoToxic - Variety N/a N/a N/a 0 - Unique / Original 1 N/a N/a N/a 33,33333333 - Mix 1 N/a N/a N/a 33,33333333 - Repetitive 1 N/a N/a N/a 33,33333333 - Generic N/a N/a N/a 0 - Bland 1 N/a N/a N/a 33,33333333 Table 7: Occurrence analysis of low-scoring games part I
37 Game Gamespot IGN Gamespy Gamesradar 1UP Gamezone Frequency in % Hellboy: The Science of Evil - Variety 1 N/a 20 - Unique / Original 2 N/a 20 - Mix 1 N/a 20 - Repetitive 2 1 N/a 40 - Generic N/a 0 - Bland 1 3 N/a 40 Made Man - Variety N/a N/a N/a 0 - Unique / Original 1 N/a N/a N/a 33,33333333 - Mix 1 N/a N/a N/a 33,33333333 - Repetitive 1 N/a N/a N/a 33,33333333 - Generic 1 N/a N/a N/a 1 66,66666667 - Bland N/a N/a N/a 0 Alien Blast: The Encounter - Variety 2 N/a N/a N/a 2 66,66666667 - Unique / Original N/a N/a N/a 2 33,33333333 - Mix N/a N/a N/a 0 - Repetitive 1 1 N/a N/a N/a 66,66666667 - Generic 1 N/a N/a N/a 33,33333333 - Bland N/a N/a N/a 0 Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer - Variety 1 16,66666667 - Unique / Original 1 1 1 50 - Mix 2 16,66666667 - Repetitive 3 2 1 50 - Generic 1 1 1 50 - Bland 1 1 1 1 1 83,33333333 Haze - Variety 1 16,66666667 - Unique / Original 1 1 2 50 - Mix 0 - Repetitive 2 3 33,33333333 - Generic 5 16,66666667 - Bland 2 2 1 50 Table 8: Occurrence analysis of low-scoring games part II
38 4.2.3 Supporting the findings
The occurrence analysis had two specific goals: firstly to identify categories often referred to in reviews, and use these as inspiration for parameter of the LPS-model, and secondly to collect sufficient data to conclude on the thesis hypothesis, that variety in its own right is something to strive for when designing level-flow. Both of these goals have been achieved, but there exists additional material to further validate the ‘meta-principle’ of variety inherent in the model.
The identification of CRBP, as being universal design principles, has been elaborated on, and by subsequently identifying CRBP in several media, not only in visual composition, it is inferred that it is a valid principle in level design as well.
In section 4.2, the research presented by Dan Arey and Chris Swain at a GDC-talk in 2008, was briefly introduced, but it seems relevant to relate their method and findings to my own ditto. Their prime objective is to identify a correspondence between metascore ratings and revenues, and subsequently to identify the parameters which affect the metascore. Their method procedure for getting empirical data is not specified, but the data itself is. Initially they identify the correspondence between ratings and revenue as being that a 5 point metascore increase results in a ≈50% revenue increase. This investigation is outside the scope of this thesis, but adds to the relevance of the LPS-model.
Similar to the method of this thesis, Arey and Swain looks at a cross-section of game reviews, and attempts to conclude on which issues matters the most when review critics give out their scores. They identify “variety of player choice and activity” as the second most important aspect in high-scoring games, and “undifferentiated gameplay” as the most important reason of low-scoring games. These conclusions adhere quite nicely to the premise of the LPS-model and the data presented in the previous section. Although Arey and Swain only deals with variety in gameplay, it seems logical to infer, also with basis in the CRBP research, that other aspect of level design could greatly benefit from embracing the concept of variation. For example, the much discussed art direction of Diablo III, has visual contrast as a prime objective:
“Indeed, the broad color palette allowed for the Diablo III team to create a range of moods, continued Donelson, where players could be subjected to the juxtaposition of bright, sunny exteriors and dark, gritty dungeons. These contrasts played heavily into capturing the hallmark horror of the Diablo franchise. "Diablo is a horror game at its core, and we had to keep this as a strong emphasis," he said.”(23)
39 And in a Gamasutra postmortem of Spyro the Dragon , the team talks about how to differentiate the experience:
“With so many characters and locations, adhering to our production design was essential. Yet at the same time we needed to give each world as distinct a look as possible without straying from our basic design rules. One of our solutions was to design extreme variation into the game's environments. Spyro begins his adventure in a castle garden and proceeds through a desert, snowy mountain peaks, a swamp, dreamscape, and finishes in a mechanical world. Furthermore, the flying rounds are made of glowing crystals.”(24)
Having dealt in detail with the ‘meta-principle’ of variety, it’s time to look into the work previously done to create a structuralistic design methodology.
4.3 Model topicality
In the last decade an academic effort has been made to create structuralistic tools to aid game designers, and create a more formal vocabulary when discussing games. The majority of these are building on the concept of design patterns presented by Christopher Alexander in his book A Pattern Language on architectural principles(18). These patterns are collection of design choices and a description of their influence on other patterns, forming a hierarchical structure which aids in game design decisions.
This mindset is adopted by Staffan Björk and Jussi Holopainen in Patterns in Game Design , a book which identifies game design conventions as interplaying patterns i.e. the well known pattern of ‘Boss monsters’ has direct relations to patterns such as ‘Achilles’ hell’, ‘Narrative structure’, ‘Higher-level closures as gameplay progresses’ etc. Since a connection between ‘Boss monsters’ and ‘Achilles’ heel’ has been established, it is possible to look at what further implications this have. By looking at the ‘Achilles’ heel’ pattern, one would then see its relations to patterns such as ‘Strategic knowledge’, ‘Experimenting’, ‘Puzzle solving’ and ‘clues’ etc. In this way the collection of patterns create a hierarchy of design conventions which should be considered in the final design.
Even though many designers and scholars agree that such tools are both useful and rare, they are even rarer when discussing game aesthetics and experience design, which is what the LPS-model addresses.
Even though scarce, in the contemporary design tools available, the majority discusses game design and attempts nothing in terms of production. A deviation from this norm is the 400 project (19), a project led by
40 Noah Falstein, perhaps most known from his work on the Indiana Jones series in the nineties. The goal of the 400-project is to get industry professionals to submit design rules to aid in creating better games – currently 112 of a guestimated total of 400 rules is listed. Although not being as directly applicable as the patterns presented by Björk and Holopainen, (seems more like tips & tricks than an actual methodology), the collection of input from industry professional on all aspects of game production, and not only game design, are interesting inspiration for fledgling developers. Additionally, several of the rules relate quite nicely to the vision of the LPS-model. 15 of the 112 rules (See Table 9 on next page) relate to the LPS- model either directly as in rule nr. 39: “Make Challenges Vary in More than Degree” , or as a rule that can be enforced through the LPS-model as in nr. 89: “Emphasize Dramatic Reveals” .
The difference between the above mentioned models and the LPS-model is clear; where the patterns and rules are meant to provide designers with means of formulating design visions, the LPS-model presents a tool with which the implementation of that vision can be applied and evaluated. Aside from the ‘meta- principle’ of variation, the LPS-model does not attempt to affect design visions and art direction, but allows the designers to get an immediate feedback on the effects.
41 ID Imperative Statement Explanation in 250 words or less Domain Contributors 2 Maximize Expressive Get the most out of your (always limited) material -- either find ways to exploit Simplicity Hal Barwood Potential an element of your game, or cut it out 6 Provide Clear Short - Always make it clear to the player what their short-term objectives are. This can Basic Noah Falstein, Term Goals be done explicitly by telling them directly, or implicitly by leading them towards others those goals through environmental cues. This avoids the frustration of uncertainty and gives players confidence that they are making forward progress. 16 Distribute Game When there are objects or experiences the player can encounter in a game, Basic Teut Assets Asymmetrically place them asymmetrically, both spatially in the sense of clumping some Weidemann, together and spreading others thinly, and temporally in the sense of having Noah Falstein some be common, some uncommon, and some rare over time. Of course, particularly useful or powerful items are good candidates to be the rarest. 30 Provide a Consistent It is vital from the beginning of design to make sure that there is one consistent Production, Noah Falstein Single Vision for the single vision of the user's experience as he or she plays the game. It is most Meta Game often a problem with shared design responsibility, but even a single designer can make the mistake of being inconsistent in vision. The vision can change during development, but everyone must know and be informed of the change immediately. 39 Vary Rate of Difficulty A specific rule addressing "Fight Player Fatigue". Over the course of time a game Meta, Noah Falstein Increase within the should increase in difficulty in rough proportion to the player's increasing Variety Flow Channel expertise - but that rate should vary like a sine wave (or think of it as vibrato) to provide peaks and valleys of increasing difficulty. 57 Make Challenges Vary Another "Player Fatigue" rule, add variety in cha llenges other than simple Variety Dan Arey in More than Degree straight-line increase. Don't pick a single variable like number of enemies and simply keep increasing it. Letting several different variables interact is a good method (see Create Emergent Complexity). 58 Don't Make Your If you are tasked with defeating a head Ogre, don't make all the opposition Variety Brian Upton Objective Your along the way solely smaller ogres. Primary Threat 61 Players Should See The "No Backward Puzz les" rule. The satisfaction of achieving a goal is Psych Warren Their Goal Before magnified when the goal has been clear (and/or literally visible) for some time. Spector, Ron They Achieve It Solving a puzzle or surmounting an obstacle without even knowing you were Gilbert doing it, or without knowing why, robs the player of satisfaction. 64 Make the Hunter Provide opportunities to switch roles and have the player alternate between Meta, Psych Noah Falstein Become the Hunted being predator and prey, even sometimes simultaneously. (Related to the idea in dramatic writing of "reversal of fortune") 70 Provide Visual As Disney does in theme parks, provide distant but visible enticing objects - a Level Design Eri Izawa Weenies to Draw weenie - to lead player on through the environment. Movie term derives from Player use of hot dogs to wrangle animals on a set 74 Sound Can Lead a Often used in film, one can hear a new environment or character before they Psych Rich Vogel Transition actually appear on screen. (Standard movie rule too) 86 Differentiate Between (Not sure I know what this means - NF) Meta Raph Koster Game Design and Experience Design 89 Emphasize Dramatic Build emotional impact with dramatic discovery of new areas, characters, story Psych Brian Upton Reveals and plot points 93 Use Interest Curve to Graphing the player's interest over the course of gameplay can help spot Meta Jesse Schell Identify Dead Spots problem areas. 94 Write Player Narrative In the early design phases, one way to find problems ahead of time is to write a Meta Marc Cerny to Identify Problems narrative from the player's point of view, describing the gameplay and the experience of playing. Table 9: Rules of the 400 project which relates to the LPS-model
42 4.4 Investigating the LPS-model categories
This section defines the model-categories, and gives examples of design principles surrounding them, but these are simply examples, and should not be perceived as a megalomanic attempt to define a universal design vision in all 1.st/3.rd person action games. The examples are simply a way of illustrating how a design vision and art direction can be implemented through the LPS-model. Some of the sections below are based on a previously written non-published report in which I deal with a similar topic.
4.4.1 Setting
Level-segment name Name of level-segment Location In which setting does the level-segment occur? Inside/outside Is it inside or outside? Size What is the size of the current location (small/medium/large)? Player Reward Is a ‘water cooler moment’ present Table 10: Setting category of the LPS-model
This category deals with the setting of the level-segment, and breaks it down into parameters; segment location, whether it’s inside or outside, and how large the dimensions of the current area are. The final parameter in the Setting subset deals with the potential presence of ‘water cooler moments’ (the parts of a game discussed with you colleague at the water cooler) after a long intense fight i.e. is the player rewarded with an epic piece of architecture or cut-scene.
The following will give examples of how architectural guidelines can be applied in level design to create a coherent design which is more than the sum of its parts, where the architecture itself plays a role in enhancing the play experience. This may sound cryptic, but is actually quite obvious; the idea is to create an environment which; seems native for the inhabitants, yields visual rewards to the player for overcoming an obstacle, and support the intended player emotion.
The setting of each level is the most obvious variable to adjust to ensure architectural variation. It is part of what Mike Lopez, Creative Manager at THQ , call the environment progression (Figure 3) in his Gamasutra paper Game Design Fundamentals .(25)
43 Alongside large scale setting variation, which is the most obvious for the player and perhaps most important for the story progression, the level designer can also work with variations in a smaller, but equally important, manner. Changes between indoor and outdoor as well as a change in the size of the area can create much needed diversity in the individual levels. Inspiration can be found in a lot of real-world architecture e.g. when walking around in the narrow tortuous streets in Vatican City only to turn a corner and seeing the huge St Peter’s square in front of St Peter’s church. This kind
Figure 9: St Peter's square in Vatican City of deliberate contrast in shape and size is a well known phenomenon within architecture. I won’t dive too deeply into the subject but mention the probable benefits games can achieve by utilizing the same methods.
An example of a game taking advantage of the long history of architectural theories is World of Warcraft which according to Matthias Ljungströms paper The use of architectural patterns in MMORPGs (26) draws heavily on patterns proposed in the classical architectural work A pattern Language. (18) Ljungström talks about how the distribution of towns in World of Warcraft, as well as city facilities adheres closely to the patterns proposed by Alexander.
The LPS-model only includes variables concerning the varying size in a level, as well information on whether the scenes play out in an indoor or outdoor environment. It could indeed be interesting to dive deeper into architectural theories about urban planning and beholder response, but it is outside the scope of this paper, but it seems that architectural theories have a lot to offer in the planning of game segmentation, just by considering the examples in the above.
44 4.4.2 Gameplay
Length The average time it takes to complete the given level-segment Gameplay Which form of gameplay is necessary to complete the level-segment Intensity An integer from 1-10 describing the perceived experience intensity Table 11: Gameplay category of the LPS-model
This is one of the most important categories and has been described throughout the entire paper. It is important not to bombard the player with high intensity gameplay without inserting break for him to catch his breath, as well as building up suspense for the next potentially intense encounter.
The notion of having a formal way of orchestrating the perceived intensity is common within narrative media such as films. A tool much used in traditional narrative media is the Berettermodel, also called the Hollywood model, which can be used to structure the narrative tension of a given story. The ideas that preceded the model came from Aristotle who laid out some ground rules of what characterized a story. The Berettermodel in its current form seems to stem from Scandinavia, but no author is credited for its creation, at least I have not been able to find such information. The Berettermodel have narrative tension on the y-axis and time on the x-axis, and consists of the eight steps presented in the following.
1) Prelude
2) Presentation
3) First turning point
4) Elaboration
5) Point of no return
6) Second turning point Figure 10 : The Beretter/Hollywood model
7) Conflict resolution
8) The coda
The model have through the years proven its validity, but what hold true for traditional narratives need not necessarily hold true within the scope of interactive media. This paper loosely adopts the notion of the
45 curve, not from a story point of view, but on the premise that variations in perceived intensity add quality to games as well as more traditional narrative media. This paper suggests, for level design purposes, exchanging the narrative tension on the y-axis with gameplay intensity, to keep track of intensity variations throughout each level, and in the game as a whole.
It should once again be noted, that it is the concept of variation, and not the story structure which is important in this paper. Perhaps a more accurate graph would be that of a sine-wave although with an increasing y-value. The shape of the curve is
Figure 11 : Proposed intensity graph substantiated by rule number 39 in the 400-project as described in section 4.3:
“Over the course of time a game should increase in difficulty in rough proportion to the player's increasing expertise - but that rate should vary like a sine wave (or think of it as vibrato) to provide peaks and valleys of increasing difficulty.”
The shape of the curve is of course not a universal truth, but should be shaped to support the vision of the game design document.
To further justice the claim that variation in gameplay is an integral part of good level design, this paper will in the following section draw on various statements from game/level designers in the industry.
Ed Byrne, game designer and level designer on game productions such as Splinter Cell and Harry Potter dedicates a section of his book Game Level Design on gameplay rhythm. He initially focuses on that the rhythms of events, and the intensity of these, are used within basically all forms of entertainment to set up expectations and deliver surprises for the audience. He states that without gameplay rhythm, which is characterized by the variation in gameplay intensity, there would be no suspense which is the prime actor for an immersive experience. A horror movie where the main character is being chased non-stop from beginning to end would have a hard time creating an interesting experience, thus breaking the suspension of disbelief.
“To create tension – if only in the player’s imagination – there has to be diversity of experience, pauses for effect, sudden and unexpected occurrences, and long, disturbing sections dripping with suspense.” (27)
46 Cliffy Bleszinski, lead game designer at Epic , also talks about the importance of variation:
“Constant scare dull the senses. The scariest horror movies are the ones that lull the viewers into a false sense of security and then spring something scary upon them, and a great level is no different.” (28)
A great example of how to orchestrate and vary the intensity in traditional narrative media is in the movie Apocalypse Now (29) where the Captain and one of his crewmen are walking through the forest to gather mangoes. The ambient sound level is quite high, but is gradually lowered for a longer period of time. The audience is then, subconsciously, sharpening their hearing sense in order to hear the ambient sounds, at which point a tiger attacks and the volume is turned up high again. This creates a higher emotional response due to the contrast in sound levels, which is exactly the same effect the architectural contrast at St Peter’s Square, as previously mentioned, attempts to achieve. This way of orchestrating events can also be seen in Half-Life2: Episode Two where Gordon Freeman, the protagonist of the game, makes in way through a level while crouching to avoid heavy fire, thereby limiting his view frustum. When he finally gets to a window where he can climb through, he gets to his feet only to see an enemy point his weapon at the player from point blank range. This is a sequence where the player is under constant fire, but is completely safe while crouching. The trick is then to guide the player to an apparent safe-zone only to expose him for an unforeseen event.
Similar to the premise of this paper, Byrne & Bleszinski does not mention the actual story in games, but merely the means of how the story is told. On top of these notions he argues for the importance of deciding on level rhythm at an early stage of the development, since changes are hard to implement at a later stage. Although this is true to a large degree, the nature of iterative game development often requires that ideas must be reworked throughout the game development process. This is once again where the justification of the LPS-model comes into play, since it, as mentioned in section 2.4.6, is meant to be a very dynamic tool which aid in communicating design changes.
47 4.4.3 Aural
Ambient soundscape Frequency domain of ambient soundscape Music Frequency domain of music Table 12: Aural category of the LPS-model
This category is not integral for the work of the level designer, but can hopefully aid the sound-team in organizing which frequency domain to operate in, so that the soundtrack doesn’t drown potentially important ambient sounds. This section of the paper would perhaps benefit from the input of sound designers, since I have no previous knowledge about design considerations in this field.
4.4.4 Story
Story Setup What knowledge is necessary for the player to continue Sequence walkthrough A step by step walkthrough of the level-segment from the players point of view Table 13: Story category of the LPS-model
Even though the focus of this paper have been on narrative discourse, the model would not be complete without information about the story progression and which important points need to be made within the sequence. The sequence walkthrough can also aid the development team to get a joint understanding of the narrative progression of the game.
4.4.5 Enemies
Enemies List the enemies which is included in level-segment Table 14: Enemies category of the LPS-model
As with the previous section, this category is not accompanied by any universal design principles, but it is obviously important when discussing variety within computer games.
48 4.4.6 Visuals
Weather Describe weather Time of day Which time of day Color scheme
Image Screenshot or concept drawing of level segment Table 15: Visuals category of the LPS-model
The lighting and color parameters are cheap means of creating variation and contrasts in the level, without having to add additional content; textures can be swapped, and light sources altered. A well created color scheme has the potential of letting the level designer know which colors would be wise to take advantage of, and also on how to create the transition into the next scene. Another important aspect of having structured the use of color is that informed decisions can be made on whether or not certain enemies stand out or blend in.
The following section will give a brief introduction to a brief history and the most basic elements of color theory and subsequently how this theory has been used in level design by looking at an example of a Half- Life2 scene.
From early 18 th century to late 19 th century the foundation of color theory was based on the notion that the three primary colors were red, yellow, and blue (RYB). Painters and dyers had been using these three basis colors for years, and it was believed that all colors could be created from that set; it later was proven that magenta was impossible to create. That limitation amongst other factor gave rise to the notion that using red, green, and blue (RGB) as primary colors was better suited to describe color perception. This was later substantiated by physiological findings; it was discovered that the way humans perceived colors is based on three unique kinds of receptors in the eye, and by measuring receptor response to color exposure, it could be documented that exposure to pure RGB colors could isolate receptor responses.
The RGB color wheel is defined firstly by the primary colors which are equally spaced around the wheel. The mixtures between the primary colors yield the secondary colors, which then again, mixed with primaries create the tertiary colors. On top of this, colors placed directly opposite each other on the color wheel are called complementary colors.
49 The most basic rules of color combinations are that; colors directly adjacent to each other (analogous), colors 1/3 the way around the wheel (triadic) and colors directly opposite each other (complementary) works well together. Besides these basic rules a number a color schemes exists but this paper will only deal with the analogous, triadic and complementary color schemes.
Figure 12: Triadic and complementary colors (28)
Figure 13 is a screenshot taken from Half-Life2, and will serve as an example on how to use color theory in the construction of a visually appealing level. The following quote is from an analysis and tutorial on how Valve uses color theory and how the game NPC’s are placed in surrounding which accentuate them, thereby making it easier for the player to notice them, while not seeming out of place in the environment. Figure 13 : Half -life2 Screenshot
“The cream, dusty red, and burgundy set up a solid color range with nice accents and the burgundy as a slight contrast. The burgundy and cream gets carried into the floor tiles and rust in the railings creating strong visually appealing floors and railing that fit in...The Combine and the concrete however form a very blue palette between their uniforms and the pale blue grey found in the floors and some ceilings. This also continues into the barrels. So there are two palettes, usually that is a poor approach but checking the color wheel for where the palettes are placed. Oranges and red sit opposite and 1/3 of the way round from the blue, because of this fact they appear to accent and contrast thus sitting together nicely in the same image” (30)
50 Another important point to notice is the blue light in the background which is a triadic color of the main color, which creates a fluent transition into the next scene where the blue color is the main.
This was an example of how proven color theory can be applied to level design, but as previously mentioned, this is merely an example of which parameters the LPS-model can relate to. A game could have a completely different art direction, but the LPS-model as a tool to provide an overview is still valid.
4.4.7 Unique assets
Unique code List the unique code needed Unique animation List the unique animation needed Unique art assets List the unique art assets needed Unique audio List the unique audio assets needed Table 16: Unique Assets category of the LPS-model
This category doesn’t deal with any actual design considerations, but is included as a tool for the development team to identify the assets needed in producing the level-segment.
51 4.5 Summary
The categories of the LPS-model span over both design parameters, as well as aspects which are important for the rest of the production team. As mentioned, the examples in the above only illustrates how design principles from other media can apply to level design, but cannot be thought of as a checklist for all games. With regard to the categories dealing with production, the validity cannot be proven within the scope of this thesis, but through own experience and logical inference, I feel confident in arguing that they indeed will prove to be valuable guidelines in any production.
Marc Laidlaw, writer, level designer and game designer at Valve Software states in an interview with Gamasutra:(31)
“The story bible is just a way of communicating a vision of the game to the rest of the team. For us, sometimes the bible is effective, sometimes it is not very useful at all. Early in the design process it is very useful, and in the end, when you want to pin down exactly what you’ve done (for the benefit of posterity, sequels and third party developers), it’s useful again. But for a long middle section, you have to rely on something more lie telepathy to keep the team in sync. Did I say ‘telepathy’? I meant ‘lots of meetings’.”
Laidlaw talks about ‘telepathy’ and lot of meetings as the only mean of keeping a team in sync with the design vision. The LPS-model presents an easily modifiable framework to communicate these visions.
52 5 Model for analysis – HL2E2
Using the method previously described in 3.3, this section will break up a personal play-session of two hours of Half-Life2: Episode2 into a number of segments, and investigate if the design adheres to the principles of the LPS-model. The data presented in the following is based on the model-instances seen in Appendix F – HL2E2 analysis (See 9.6).
Segment Setting Gameplay min. Intensity Chapter 1: To the White Forest - Part II Countryside Story 5 1 Chapter 1: To the White Forest - Part II Mines Gravity-gun 2 4 Chapter 1: To the White Forest - Part III Countryside Story 4 1 Chapter 1: To the White Forest - Part IV Mines Puzzle 1 2 Chapter 1: To the White Forest - Part V Countryside Story 6 1 Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part I Mines Puzzle 2 3 Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part II Underground Explore 1 1 Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part III Mines Fight 1 5 Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part IV Underground Fight 6 6 Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part V Mines Hold ground 12 7 Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part VI Mines Hold ground 3 8 Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part VII Mines Fight 6 6 Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part VIII Underground Fight 6 7 Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part IX Mines Puzzle 4 2 Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part X Underground Escape 10 9 Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part XI Mines Story 7 2 Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part I Countryside Story 3 2 Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part II Countryside Boss 5 8 Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part III Countryside Puzzle 2 2 Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part IV Factory Story 2 1 Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part V Factory Explore 2 3 Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part VI Factory Fight 4 6 Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part VII Factory Fight 6 7 Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part VIII Factory Fight 3 4 Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part IX Factory Confined-fight 6 8 Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part X Countryside Puzzle 4 2 Table 17: Level segment parameter values
53 5.1 Setting
Looking at the data in Table 17, it becomes clear that the setting changes continuously throughout the game, but what is especially interesting is, the fact that the setting changes within each chapter as well. If we look at how the four unique settings used in the first three chapters of HL2E2 are applied, we are able to derive certain principles of the level design vision.
The first chapter constantly alternates between the ‘mine’ and ‘countryside’ setting. The second chapter continues to use the mine-setting but is now alternating between ‘mine’ and ‘underground’. The third chapter uses ‘factory’ and ‘countryside’, but alternates not in the same manner as the previous sections, although this chapter changes between an outdoor and indoor factory setting continuously. This means that the designer achieves a high degree of variation with limited means i.e. unique settings, which are obviously extremely expensive assets to create. The continually changing, almost sine-wave’ish, use of settings makes it possible to use the same assets again and again, since their presence is interrupted by a completely different set of assets. Inserting the playtime of each setting into a graph, results in the following:
Use of unique areas 40,00 30,00 20,00 10,00 0,00
It seems that each setting has relatively the same amount of playtime, which is an economically sound way of utilizing ones assets. It should be noted, that the data in the above is based on my own play experiences, and should be verified by a larger amount of play-throughs. But since it’s outside the scope of this thesis to validate the LPS-model as a tool for production, as mentioned in section 2.4.1, but only to present the logical inference that it may be just that, the data collected is found to be sufficient.
54 5.2 Visuals
As presented as an example in section 4.4.6, HL2E2 uses color theory to great effect. It uses color in the transitions between level-segments by providing a lighting which is the triadic color of the predominant color, each time a change of setting occur. Each level has red, green or blue as the predominant color, and when the player is about to enter a new setting, the entrance is lit by one of the other colors. This eliminates ‘hard’ transitions and helps the player find his way. The continuous change in the color spectrum is best illustrated by presenting a number of the sequential screenshots taken with three seconds apart while playing. The images below span over a 2½ minutes period of playtime. The full catalog of screenshots can be found on the CD-rom. By having color spectrum information imbedded in the LPS-model, it allows the designer to take informed decisions on subsequent level-segments.
55 5.3 Gameplay intensity
Three chapters in Half-Life2: Episode Two have been analyzed, and the findings inserted into the LPS-model to test the structure of a commercially successful game against the assumptions presented in this paper. Playing through the three chapters took approximately two hours and by subdividing these two hours into segments, using the method described in section 3.2, the analysis ends up with 26 distinct sequences. These sequences can be found in Appendix F – HL2E2 analysis (Section 9.6). Most of the parameters in the LPS-model could be objectively observed but gameplay intensity is obviously extremely subjective, thus the following graph is solely based on personal experience. As mentioned in section 5.1, the analysis would benefit from having a larger empirical base, but it is possible to conclude that gameplay intensity is contrasted greatly throughout a playthrough of HL2E2, and it is the goal of the LPS-model to ensure just this.
Figure 14: Intensity variation in HL2E2
56 6 The Bigger picture
This section will discuss the organizational benefits of letting the model being a part of a larger framework which allows the producer to mine data from asset and mechanic usage in the game and using it as a part of the basis for decisions.
It would be beneficiary for any development team to incorporate the data from the LPS-model instances into a database, which allows instant feedback on how the play experience is orchestrated. Besides being a tool to incorporate design visions, the LPS-model instances, when applied to a database, provides the producer valuable data on the use of assets. Given the current cost of AAA production, it is necessary to get the most out of the created assets, or as Hal Barwood writes in rule number 2 in the 400 project:
"Maximize Expressive Potential: Get the most out of your (always limited) material -- either find ways to exploit an element of your game, or cut it out” (19)
Bioware was also very analytical in the design process when making Mass Effect . The way they record ‘time spend reports’ and apply them to iterative design is explained in a GDC 2008 lecture by Arey and Swain:
“Time spent report: logs what players do, time per activity, cinematics, combat, convos (conversations), etc. Shows time on average for players and helps developers judge if the balance is right for that level. If you look at different Mass Effect levels, they have different mixes. Players like a variety. First version of Noveria showed a lot of convos, not a lot of combat, so players said it was slow. So they changed the mix, added more combat, removed some convos to get the right mix. Citadel is much much more convos heavy — 99 mins of convos and 22 of combat, because Citadel was important to the story.”(15)
Although the LPS-model is primarily a tool for designers to orchestrate the play experience, a bi-product is that the data is easily applied to a larger framework, where issues as described by the two quotes in the above are addressed. Having a clear cut design vision needs to be checked against its actual implementation, which is what the LPS-model can provide.
57
7 Conclusion
The greatest pitfall of this thesis is the attempt to validate a model, meant for production, through theoretical means. The collapse of the initial procedure of doing it in collaboration with ZeitGuyz Game Developers , which unfortunately had to close due to funding issues, meant that a different method of validation needed to be found. That meant that the focus shifted from proving the validity of the model as a production tool, to a more thorough investigation of design principles.
The CRBP provides a legitimate base for investigating the presence of universal principles of aesthetic appreciation, and when combined with remarks from game scholars and industry professionals, the basis for a hands-on model based on variety is justified.
The occurrence analysis of 100+ game reviews yields interesting results, and is quite similar to the findings of Dan Arey and Chris Swain in their research of correlations between certain qualities in games and their review-score, as well as the direct correlation between review-score and revenue. They found variation to be a prime quality in high scoring games, and lack thereof to be a detractive element in low-scoring games. This adheres well to the hypothesis of this thesis, and gives validity to the attempt of creating a tool which organizes variety. Additionally the occurrence analysis as well as the research by Arey and Swain identified corresponding categories of important game qualities, which were used as parameters of the LPS-model. The method could have benefited from not only including word occurrences, but also the semantics of sentences as well. This seemed not to corrupt the findings to a great extent though, since the conclusion of both the occurrence analysis and the research by Arey and Swain yielded similar results.
It is my firm belief that, although unsubstantiated, the LPS-model has the potential of being a valuable tool in iterative development and ease the communication in large teams. The reasoning behind variety as an invaluable quality in games, and that the LPS-model can help orchestrate this, is sound, but the final test of whether or not it is applicable in large scale production remains to be seen.
59 8 Ludo- and bibliography
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65 9 Appendix
9.1 Appendix A - Frequency word script
Sub WordFrequency() Const maxwords = 15000 'Maximum unique words allowed Dim SingleWord As String 'Raw word pulled from doc Dim Words(maxwords) As String 'Array to hold unique words Dim Freq(maxwords) As Integer 'Frequency counter for unique words Dim WordNum As Integer 'Number of unique words Dim ByFreq As Boolean 'Flag for sorting order Dim ttlwds As Long 'Total words in the document Dim Excludes As String 'Words to be excluded Dim Found As Boolean 'Temporary flag Dim j, k, l, Temp As Integer 'Temporary variables Dim ans As String 'How user wants to sort results Dim tword As String
Excludes = "” 'Find out how to sort ByFreq = True ans = InputBox("Sort by WORD or by FREQ?", "Sort order", "FREQ") If ans = "" Then End If UCase(ans) = "WORD" Then ByFreq = False End If
Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory System.Cursor = wdCursorWait WordNum = 0 ttlwds = ActiveDocument.Words.Count
For Each aword In ActiveDocument.Words SingleWord = Trim(LCase(aword)) If SingleWord < "a" Or SingleWord > "z" Then SingleWord = "" End If If InStr(Excludes, "[" & SingleWord & "]") Then SingleWord = "" End If
If Len(SingleWord) > 0 Then Found = False For j = 1 To WordNum If Words(j) = SingleWord Then Freq(j) = Freq(j) + 1 Found = True Exit For End If Next j If Not Found Then WordNum = WordNum + 1 Words(WordNum) = SingleWord Freq(WordNum) = 1 End If If WordNum > maxwords - 1 Then
66 j = MsgBox("Too many words.", vbOKOnly) Exit For End If End If ttlwds = ttlwds - 1 StatusBar = "Remaining: " & ttlwds & ", Unique: " & WordNum Next aword
' Now sort it into word order For j = 1 To WordNum - 1 k = j For l = j + 1 To WordNum If (Not ByFreq And Words(l) < Words(k)) _ Or (ByFreq And Freq(l) > Freq(k)) Then k = l Next l If k <> j Then tword = Words(j) Words(j) = Words(k) Words(k) = tword Temp = Freq(j) Freq(j) = Freq(k) Freq(k) = Temp End If StatusBar = "Sorting: " & WordNum - j Next j
tmpName = ActiveDocument.AttachedTemplate.FullName Documents.Add Template:=tmpName, NewTemplate:=False Selection.ParagraphFormat.TabStops.ClearAll With Selection For j = 1 To WordNum .TypeText Text:=Trim(Str(Freq(j))) _ & vbTab & Words(j) & vbCrLf Next j End With System.Cursor = wdCursorNormal j = MsgBox("There were " & Trim(Str(WordNum)) & _ " different words ", vbOKOnly, "Finished") End Sub
67 9.2 Appendix B - Frequency data
9301 the, 4355 to, 4228 and, 4053 a, 3896 of, 2777 you, 2332 in, 2158 is, 1922 that, 1315 it, 1303 game, 1301 with, 1263 as, 1154 for, 1128 are, 1031 on, 1016 your, 996 but, 862 can, 842 this, 771 be, 718 or, 711 from, 662 an, 599 at, 595 up, 594 all, 587 out, 580 one, 567 have, 545 it's, 523 more, 517 will, 502 so, 501 if, 486 like, 459 some, 452 not, 445 when, 434 there, 428 by, 417 i, 404 you'll, 387 which, 387 just, 364 has, 352 into, 351 get, 350 even, 350 they, 338 through, 337 them, 331 also, 300 while, 299 its, 299 time, 298 only, 297 their, 290 way, 289 other, 285 play, 275 we, 270 much, 270 than, 269 was, 268 most, 266 no, 265 first, 261 well, 260 multiplayer, 258 you're, 258 enemies, 255 about, 251 good, 248 what, 246 any, 240 down, 235 gameplay, 234 two, 232 do, 231 player, 230 these, 228 around, 228 games, 227 take, 227 few, 221 make, 217 over, 206 action, 206 new, 204 every, 203 use, 203 where, 202 too, 199 story, 199 players, 198 how, 197 really, 194 single, 192 though, 183 there's, 183 enemy, 181 because, 181 then, 180 his, 180 weapons, 178 each, 177 team, 176 been, 175 very, 175 same, 174 level, 172 see, 170 would, 168 find, 166 sound, 165 who, 160 online, 158 little, 156 playing, 156 character, 155 cover, 154 system, 153 campaign, 152 after, 152 still, 150 fun, 150 don't, 148 off, 148 back, 147 shooter, 147 many, 147 best, 145 experience, 142 look, 141 different, 141 here, 140 right, 138 such, 137 combat, 136 levels, 135 three, 135 world, 135 that's, 130 makes, 129 before, 129 another, 128 may, 128 things, 127 great, 126 go, 125 enough, 124 graphics, 122 never, 121 both, 121 now, 121 he, 121 mode, 121 isn't, 120 doesn't, 119 need, 118 feel, 117 end, 117 own, 117 those, 115 going, 115 set, 113 pretty, 113 want, 112 bad, 112 game's, 112 long, 111 run, 110 series, 110 better, 110 does, 110 once, 108 being, 108 war, 108 fire, 108 could, 107 times, 107 bit, 105 lot, 105 person, 104 characters, 104 next, 102 ever, 102 our, 102 were, 102 ai, 101 you've, 101 yourself, 101 my, 101 episode, 100 thing, 100 hours, 99 come, 98 something, 98 know, 98 away, 98 side, 97 however, 97 effects, 96 city, 95 should, 94 xbox, 94 since, 93 without, 93 gun, 93 far, 93 had, 93 looks, 92 voice, 92 real, 92 snake, 91 always, 91 map, 91 point, 91 everything, 91 able, 91 fight, 90 weapon, 90 battle, 90 again, 90 co, 89 open, 89 big, 88 they're, 88 takes, 88 work, 87 quite, 86 between, 85 difficulty, 84 high, 84 me, 84 op, 83 us, 83 maps, 83 behind, 82 last, 82 modes, 82 points, 82 say, 82 full, 81 often, 81 actually, 81 aren't, 81 power, 81 mission, 80 during, 79 won't, 79 design, 79 moments, 78 hard, 78 looking, 78 fact, 77 place, 77 can't, 76 old, 76 easy, 76 move, 76 people, 76 soldiers, 75 control, 75 feels, 74 comes, 73 simply, 73 start, 73 across, 73 screen, 72 shoot, 71 against, 71 either, 71 kill, 71 course, 71 keep, 70 entire, 70 played, 70 amazing, 70 him, 70 almost, 70 used, 70 above, 69 yet, 69 anything, 69 give, 69 based, 69 visuals, 69 using, 69 years, 68 sure, 68 fantastic, 68 close, 68 interesting, 68 excellent, 67 music, 67 movie, 67 missions, 67 put, 67 less, 67 part, 66 made, 66 within, 65 pc, 65 making, 65 might, 65 head, 65 done, 65 alien, 64 four, 64 options, 64 hit, 64 nothing, 64 click, 64 number, 64 plot, 64 environments, 63 getting, 63 button, 62 solid, 62 rather, 62 seen, 62 least, 61 must, 61 shot, 61 got, 61 sense, 60 shooting, 60 itself, 60 along, 59 fighting, 59 powers, 59 help, 58 probably, 58 standard, 58 turn, 58 gets, 58 nectar, 57 quickly, 57 perfect, 57 life, 57 man, 57 setting, 57 pick, 57 past, 57 variety, 57 live, 56 special, 56 guns, 55 guys, 55 second, 55 taking, 55 soldier, 55 sounds, 54 it’s, 54 short, 54 review, 54 until, 54 why, 54 amount, 54 ability, 53 try, 53 style, 53 title, 53 running, 53 five, 53 called, 52 health, 52 top, 52 kind, 52 given, 52 shooters, 52 portal, 51 plenty, 51 deathmatch, 51 attack, 51 sometimes, 51 ground, 50 throughout, 50 expect, 50 dialogue, 50 change, 50 others, 50 else, 50 hand, 50 we've, 49 damage, 48 acting, 48 create, 48 sniper, 48 means, 48 powerful, 48 left, 48 various, 48 finally, 48 seems, 48 available, 48 seconds, 48 check, 48 instead, 48 ways, 47 under, 47 presentation, 47 gaming, 47 seem, 47 exciting, 47 features, 47 think, 47 camera, 47 doing, 47 small, 47 sequences, 47 rapture, 46 choose, 46 death, 46 together, 46 huge, 46 free, 46 several, 46 cool, 46 worth, 46 year, 46 pop, 46 battles, 45 found, 45 grenades, 45 die, 45 problem, 45 already, 45 moment, 45 impressive, 45 gear, 44 having, 44 gamers, 44 did, 44 machine, 44 trying, 44 completely, 44 addition, 44 mechanics, 44 unique, 44 what's, 44 especially, 44 example, 44 scenes, 44 final, 43 usually, 43 stand, 43 controls, 43 middle, 43 intense, 43 six, 43 attacks, 43 half, 43 her, 43 room, 43 squad, 42 environment, 42 complete, 42 issues, 42 he's, 42 large, 42 fast, 42 support, 42 cut, 42 vehicles, 42 previous, 41 force, 41 overall, 41 human, 41 main, 41 storyline, 41 save, 41 whole, 41 bullets, 41 whether, 41 areas, 41 let, 41 clear, 41 fans, 41 items, 41 screens, 41 dead, 41 face, 41 metal, 40 including, 40 truly, 40 said, 40 assault, 40 version, 40 gives, 40 mantel, 40 thanks, 40 epic, 40 forge, 39 possible, 39 stop, 39 tactical, 39 third, 39 abilities, 39 certain, 39 elements, 39 problems, 39 firing, 39 class, 39 allows, 39 light, 39 stealth, 38 yes, 38 challenge, 38 role, 38 range, 38 lack, 38 aliens, 38 image, 38 boss, 38 invisible, 38 nice, 38 heavy, 38 visual, 37 simple, 37 package, 37 couple, 37 works, 37 anyone, 37 details, 37 wall, 37 extremely, 37 moving, 37 easily, 37 reason, 37 ratings, 37 original, 37 you’ll, 37 ending, 37 created, 36 add, 36 particularly, 36 area, 36 job, 36 effect, 36 maybe, 36 perhaps, 36 everyone, 36 ii, 36 friends, 36 teammates, 36 satisfying, 35 types, 35 feature, 35 killing, 35 become, 35 grenade, 35 definitely, 35 goes, 35 match, 35 rifle, 35 love, 35 finish, 34 concept, 34 exactly, 34 line, 34 likely, 34 didn't, 34 locust, 33 video, 33 plays, 33 you’re, 33 designed, 33 direction, 33 nearly, 33 stuff, 33 genre, 33 vehicle, 33 water, 33 air, 33 bioware, 32 titles, 32 don’t, 32 settings, 32 sort, 32 combine, 32 objects, 32 melee, 32 beat, 32 you'd, 32 fine, 32 alone, 32 someone, 32 important, 32 lets, 32 helps, 32 chief, 32 sequence, 32 detail, 32 later, 32 engine, 32 vision, 32 s, 31 objectives, 31 idea, 31 decent, 31 models, 31 impossible, 31 textures, 31 incredibly, 31 tell, 31 offer, 31 soundtrack, 31 specific, 31 rate, 31 similar, 31 score, 31 suit, 30 guy, 30 awesome, 30 longer, 30 rest, 30 coming, 30 notice, 30 command, 30 low, 30 target, 30 spend, 30 spot, 30 explosions, 30 boring, 30 hear, 30 despite, 30 technical, 30 energy, 30 difficult, 30 although, 30 hour, 30 master, 30 gravity, 29 blood, 29 basic, 29 near, 29 call, 29 type, 29 quality, 29 space, 29 armor, 29 blast, 29 constantly, 29 themselves, 29 frame, 29 begin, 29 normal, 29 tank, 29 filled, 29 core, 29 matches, 29 chapter, 29 beautiful, 29 perks, 29 fortress, 28 walls, 28 wait, 28 further, 28 frustrating, 28 foes, 28 offers, 28 standing, 28 beyond, 28 matter, 28 position, 28 forces, 28 unfortunately, 28 x, 28 order, 28 universe, 28 shotgun, 28 split, 28 console, 28 approach, 28 gorgeous, 28 mind, 27 soon, 27 bugs, 27 attention, 27 box, 27 objective, 27 care, 27 future, 27 appeal, 27 broken, 27 mexico, 27 stuck, 27 drop, 27 chance, 27
68 battlefield, 27 fights, 27 weak, 27 piece, 27 feeling, 27 becomes, 27 franchise, 27 incredible, 27 they'll, 27 hardcore, 27 events, 27 kojima, 27 valve, 26 scoring, 26 act, 26 return, 26 wrong, 26 lots, 26 talk, 26 entertaining, 26 developer, 26 guide, 26 inside, 26 fairly, 26 mix, 26 quick, 26 show, 26 narrative, 26 encounter, 26 multiple, 26 advantage, 26 press, 26 star, 26 rebels, 26 happens, 26 i've, 26 result, 26 capture, 26 tanks, 25 generic, 25 occasionally, 25 certainly, 25 mean, 25 friend, 25 ammo, 25 replay, 25 imagine, 25 comments, 25 form, 25 repetitive, 25 depending, 25 isn’t, 25 deep, 25 planet, 25 view, 25 medium, 25 skills, 25 jump, 25 bullet, 25 forward, 25 hell, 25 strong, 25 follow, 25 base, 25 pieces, 25 speed, 25 effective, 25 let's, 25 reload, 25 brings, 24 instance, 24 stage, 24 shots, 24 stay, 24 cutscenes, 24 blow, 24 buy, 24 menu, 24 turret, 24 allow, 24 detailed, 24 bring, 24 parts, 24 body, 24 intelligence, 24 bunch, 24 ride, 24 progress, 24 via, 24 audio, 24 cinematic, 24 infinity, 23 mostly, 23 mechanic, 23 realistic, 23 absolutely, 23 killed, 23 entirely, 23 otherwise, 23 true, 23 due, 23 upon, 23 appear, 23 tactics, 23 minutes, 23 helicopter, 23 comic, 23 military, 23 strength, 23 throw, 23 major, 23 poor, 23 content, 23 members, 23 red, 23 group, 23 rocket, 23 particular, 23 provides, 23 classic, 23 eye, 23 name, 23 easier, 23 perfectly, 23 plasmids, 23 gears, 23 bungie, 23 alyx, 22 case, 22 playstation, 22 wide, 22 early, 22 ends, 22 unlock, 22 ones, 22 adds, 22 depth, 22 planets, 22 reach, 22 building, 22 aspect, 22 thought, 22 load, 22 tough, 22 punch, 22 wouldn't, 22 switch, 22 black, 22 generally, 22 lighting, 22 fps, 22 places, 22 walk, 22 am, 22 cause, 22 giving, 22 waiting, 22 general, 22 immediately, 22 massive, 22 stick, 22 delivers, 22 rpg, 22 chainsaw, 22 gordon, 21 linear, 21 limited, 21 frequently, 21 that’s, 21 fall, 21 machines, 21 enjoy, 21 lasting, 21 hammer, 21 aim, 21 supposed, 21 plus, 21 impact, 21 read, 21 gain, 21 feet, 21 hold, 21 bar, 21 hero, 21 developers, 21 deliver, 21 device, 21 enjoyable, 21 nature, 21 uses, 21 there’s, 21 situation, 21 told, 21 fan, 21 aspects, 21 legendary, 21 achievement, 21 personal, 21 familiar, 21 released, 21 explore, 21 question, 21 classes, 21 stunning, 21 leave, 21 snake's, 20 perspective, 20 totally, 20 deal, 20 break, 20 rating, 20 description, 20 annoying, 20 serious, 20 corner, 20 texture, 20 brilliant, 20 keeping, 20 white, 20 starts, 20 attempt, 20 access, 20 hate, 20 holding, 20 forget, 20 gunfire, 20 movies, 20 i'm, 20 appears, 20 watch, 20 clearly, 20 taken, 20 troops, 20 we're, 20 known, 20 somewhat, 20 smoke, 20 miss, 20 art, 20 provide, 20 heart, 20 fully, 20 plasmid, 19 unless, 19 highly, 19 avoid, 19 eventually, 19 survive, 19 difference, 19 closing, 19 ign, 19 physics, 19 lost, 19 modern, 19 mention, 19 versions, 19 option, 19 provided, 19 manages, 19 challenging, 19 day, 19 location, 19 came, 19 streets, 19 purchase, 19 perform, 19 adventure, 19 technology, 19 worst, 19 woman, 19 aiming, 19 balance, 19 greatest, 19 men, 19 happen, 19 kills, 19 moves, 19 issue, 19 step, 19 film, 19 surface, 19 offline, 19 promise, 19 include, 19 artificial, 19 minute, 19 toward, 19 cry, 19 freedom, 19 tale, 19 jungle, 19 ubisoft, 19 relatively, 19 flag, 19 surprise, 19 hide, 19 night, 19 bland, 19 earn, 19 drebin, 18 choices, 18 whatever, 18 apart, 18 link, 18 hope, 18 ship, 18 extra, 18 game’s, 18 ten, 18 friendly, 18 dozens, 18 pull, 18 videogame, 18 strange, 18 turning, 18 super, 18 computer, 18 skill, 18 generation, 18 ps3, 18 haven't, 18 army, 18 sides, 18 driving, 18 thrown, 18 cast, 18 history, 18 focus, 18 sweet, 18 aside, 18 took, 18 key, 18 days, 18 films, 18 search, 18 animation, 18 included, 18 wwii, 18 struggle, 18 north, 18 seeing, 18 thinking, 18 buildings, 18 situations, 18 explosive, 18 splicers, 18 terrific, 18 systems, 18 insane, 18 ward, 18 nanosuit, 18 korean, 17 pace, 17 theme, 17 slow, 17 favorite, 17 ugly, 17 essentially, 17 sight, 17 evil, 17 flying, 17 terms, 17 obvious, 17 actual, 17 sci, 17 drive, 17 harder, 17 ago, 17 test, 17 rounds, 17 useful, 17 thankfully, 17 hardly, 17 cosmic, 17 directly, 17 fly, 17 figure, 17 achievements, 17 scene, 17 sets, 17 kick, 17 majority, 17 wasn't, 17 happy, 17 regardless, 17 choice, 17 thrilling, 17 storytelling, 17 sit, 17 notch, 17 land, 17 teams, 17 leaves, 17 self, 17 development, 17 reasons, 17 minor, 17 onto, 17 begins, 17 talking, 17 rarely, 17 customization, 17 rich, 17 superb, 17 crytek, 17 quests, 16 somehow, 16 actors, 16 puts, 16 weaponry, 16 animations, 16 fi, 16 wants, 16 rifles, 16 opening, 16 success, 16 select, 16 controlling, 16 draw, 16 considering, 16 eight, 16 puzzle, 16 compelling, 16 book, 16 pressing, 16 locations, 16 door, 16 learn, 16 tech, 16 brief, 16 pros, 16 cons, 16 list, 16 direct, 16 usual, 16 turned, 16 handful, 16 additional, 16 none, 16 saw, 16 process, 16 blue, 16 floor, 16 bottom, 16 party, 16 lead, 16 mark, 16 runs, 16 smart, 16 manner, 16 below, 16 decision, 16 outside, 16 scale, 16 pack, 16 goal, 16 placed, 16 path, 16 hands, 16 chapters, 16 finishing, 16 working, 16 sea, 16 value, 16 biggest, 16 spectacular, 16 balanced, 16 launch, 16 decisions, 16 leader, 16 adam, 16 words, 16 wonderful, 16 date, 16 equipment, 16 significant, 16 needs, 16 marcus, 16 cog, 16 launcher, 15 movement, 15 happening, 15 escape, 15 requires, 15 creatures, 15 occasional, 15 numbers, 15 windows, 15 credits, 15 added, 15 wanted, 15 surprisingly, 15 scattered, 15 nicely, 15 speaking, 15 dark, 15 hits, 15 custom, 15 total, 15 mess, 15 keeps, 15 upgrade, 15 doors, 15 graphical, 15 note, 15 visually, 15 handy, 15 finished, 15 except, 15 carry, 15 dying, 15 positions, 15 she, 15 rock, 15 meter, 15 leaving, 15 subtle, 15 alive, 15 fiction, 15 built, 15 bits, 15 turrets, 15 sections, 15 smooth, 15 competitive, 15 trigger, 15 presented, 15 front, 15 advanced, 15 quest, 15 sneaking, 15 technically, 15 straight, 15 months, 15 distance, 15 results, 15 equipped, 15 barely, 15 grab, 15 challenges, 15 enter, 15 dynamic, 15 hiding, 15 arbiter, 14 hitting, 14 giant, 14 sent, 14 seemingly, 14 doesn’t, 14 ups, 14 oh, 14 turns, 14 deadly, 14 sky, 14 slightly, 14 strike, 14 solo, 14 among, 14 mr, 14 unlike, 14 d, 14 hidden, 14 himself, 14 slowly, 14 dream, 14 loading, 14 foe, 14 laser, 14 remember, 14 magic, 14 collect, 14 rebel, 14 strategy, 14 actions, 14 green, 14 named, 14 ready, 14 continue, 14 following, 14 climb, 14 diverse, 14 versus, 14 looked, 14 resolution, 14 tons, 14 creating, 14 faster, 14 handled, 14 changed, 14 fortunately, 14 ahead, 14 require, 14 thus, 14 train, 14 framerate, 14 stages, 14 tied, 14 catch, 14 price, 14 memorable, 14 forced, 14 offering, 14 daddy, 14 item, 14 helicopters, 14 spawn, 14 fenix, 13 targets, 13 changes, 13 earth, 13 school, 13 anywhere, 13 ton, 13 impressed, 13 wars, 13 endless, 13 non, 13 re, 13 shock, 13 conversations, 13 potential, 13 lose, 13 individual, 13 torch, 13 towards, 13 higher, 13 constant, 13 expected, 13 flat, 13 pad, 13 awful, 13 tiny, 13 mouse, 13 late, 13 heavily, 13 formula, 13 packed, 13 nearby, 13 gone, 13 alongside, 13 drops, 13 damn, 13 upgrades, 13 it'll, 13 carpenter, 13 protect, 13 nor, 13 rush, 13 bodies, 13 scripted, 13 handle, 13 beautifully, 13 track, 13 expectations, 13 premise, 13 eyes, 13 method, 13 effectively, 13 worthy, 13 setup, 13 allies, 13 basically, 13 threat, 13 says, 13 ghost, 13 orders, 13 firefights, 13 mysterious, 13 cases, 13 underwater, 13 wrench, 13 genetic, 13 beauty, 13 science, 13 field, 13 psyche, 13 conclusion, 13 rescue, 13 saved, 13 watching, 13 pause, 13 terrorists, 13 falling, 13 seven, 13 shepard, 13 galaxy, 12 worse, 12 realism, 12 defend, 12 accuracy, 12 paced, 12 hoping, 12 default, 12 fare, 12 fair, 12 engaging, 12 tougher, 12 necessary, 12 firearms, 12 join, 12 surprised, 12 heads, 12 hot, 12 creation, 12 gen, 12 skip, 12 faces, 12 increase, 12 interest, 12 realize, 12 controlled, 12 motion, 12 opponents, 12 spent, 12 appreciate, 12 bots, 12 stands, 12 smoothly,
69 12 drug, 12 distinct, 12 ignore, 12 leap, 12 firefight, 12 execution, 12 robust, 12 locked, 12 dropped, 12 roll, 12 glitches, 12 missing, 12 whose, 12 finding, 12 section, 12 sorts, 12 puzzles, 12 meet, 12 sheer, 12 arsenal, 12 picking, 12 car, 12 properly, 12 blasting, 12 beginning, 12 happened, 12 ryan, 12 necessarily, 12 trick, 12 radar, 12 brute, 12 knows, 12 latest, 12 checkpoint, 12 scope, 12 joey, 12 shotguns, 12 ghosts, 12 ocean, 12 welcome, 12 indeed, 12 sisters, 12 atmosphere, 12 loud, 12 immersive, 12 experiences, 12 bumper, 12 east, 12 respawn, 12 snipers, 12 ended, 12 noticeable, 12 color, 12 started, 12 mitchell, 12 mako, 12 valve's, 12 freeman, 11 fix, 11 won’t, 11 blend, 11 monsters, 11 believable, 11 helpful, 11 home, 11 casual, 11 steal, 11 fresh, 11 graphically, 11 frantic, 11 pistols, 11 neat, 11 monotonous, 11 frequent, 11 proper, 11 poorly, 11 release, 11 auto, 11 maneuvers, 11 shame, 11 raise, 11 unlocked, 11 typical, 11 licensed, 11 ultimate, 11 primary, 11 girl, 11 improved, 11 win, 11 questions, 11 consoles, 11 wanting, 11 unit, 11 rise, 11 completed, 11 focused, 11 tired, 11 performance, 11 neither, 11 intriguing, 11 greater, 11 lines, 11 torn, 11 useless, 11 selection, 11 gamer, 11 breathtaking, 11 downright, 11 disappointing, 11 providing, 11 squadmates, 11 race, 11 arcade, 11 odd, 11 controller, 11 rendered, 11 presence, 11 considered, 11 gimmick, 11 disappointed, 11 territory, 11 word, 11 tight, 11 opportunity, 11 trees, 11 shadows, 11 accurate, 11 bomb, 11 doubt, 11 inspired, 11 crazy, 11 includes, 11 conflict, 11 element, 11 today, 11 ultimately, 11 sword, 11 armed, 11 attacking, 11 u, 11 corners, 11 enhanced, 11 needed, 11 currently, 11 information, 11 length, 11 folks, 11 scenario, 11 lag, 11 allowing, 11 answer, 11 house, 11 pacing, 11 everywhere, 11 andrew, 11 lengthy, 11 twice, 11 tries, 11 security, 11 ammunition, 11 voices, 11 tonics, 11 decide, 11 biotic, 11 devices, 11 com, 11 studio, 11 steam, 11 trouble, 11 marines, 11 rpgs, 11 pay, 11 editor, 11 sera, 11 mexican, 11 skulls, 11 digital, 11 octocamo, 10 background, 10 sitting, 10 credit, 10 purpose, 10 nuclear, 10 doom, 10 cooperative, 10 freeze, 10 chatter, 10 speak, 10 missed, 10 falls, 10 environmental, 10 terrible, 10 affect, 10 send, 10 heroic, 10 helping, 10 ps2, 10 underground, 10 sadly, 10 regular, 10 creative, 10 charge, 10 breaking, 10 throwing, 10 breaks, 10 developed, 10 radical, 10 shane, 10 overdose, 10 silly, 10 supports, 10 lower, 10 forth, 10 hook, 10 competition, 10 respawns, 10 merely, 10 average, 10 initial, 10 stupid, 10 partner, 10 meant, 10 american, 10 safe, 10 facing, 10 aircraft, 10 graphic, 10 implemented, 10 weight, 10 journey, 10 spots, 10 prison, 10 positive, 10 discover, 10 understand, 10 etc, 10 immersion, 10 capable, 10 telling, 10 presents, 10 window, 10 bonus, 10 earlier, 10 tool, 10 hopefully, 10 consider, 10 compared, 10 involved, 10 snipe, 10 cross, 10 eliminate, 10 reward, 10 tv, 10 ron, 10 perlman, 10 realized, 10 worry, 10 flaws, 10 swords, 10 delivered, 10 mood, 10 instantly, 10 managed, 10 destroy, 10 separate, 10 money, 10 starting, 10 theory, 10 chase, 10 beaten, 10 intensity, 10 creepy, 10 equal, 10 covered, 10 numerous, 10 wonder, 10 learning, 10 attempting, 10 country, 10 seriously, 10 ross, 10 blowing, 10 went, 10 we'll, 10 loose, 10 combination, 10 whenever, 10 adding, 10 dawn, 10 television, 10 common, 10 ask, 10 vital, 10 download, 10 active, 10 hacking, 10 daddies, 10 edge, 10 recommend, 10 wind, 10 touches, 10 outstanding, 10 experiment, 10 news, 10 surprises, 10 mounted, 10 frag, 10 bloody, 10 heard, 10 uav, 10 phenomenal, 10 explode, 10 commands, 10 counter, 10 customize, 10 service, 10 fit, 10 sad, 10 commander, 10 scheme, 10 exploration, 10 crash
70 9.3 Appendix C - Keywords
Gameplay: [multiplayer][gameplay][action][team][online][campaign][shooter][combat][mode][war][battle][difficulty][modes][options][button ][shooters][deathmatch][battles][version][stealth][challenge][ratings][concept][genre][skills][speed][tactics][rpg][linear][limited][cl asses]
Experience: [experience][moment][love]
Time: [time][hours][years][short][year][hour]
Setting: [level][levels][city][world][map][open][big][maps][environments][setting][sequences][scenes][machine][room][environment][areas ][metal][elements][wall][water][air][objects][space][fortress][walls][universe][box][battlefield][planet][base][planets][building][ma chines][corner][blood]
Enemies/friendlies: [enemies][enemy][soldiers][alien][soldier][sniper][squad][human][aliens][boss][friends][teammates][friend][military]
Mechanics / tools: [weapons][cover][ai][gun][weapon][life][guns][power][powers][ability][health][damage][features][camera][grenades][mechanics][c ontrols][vehicles][bullets][abilities][grenade][rifle][vehicle][engine][gravity][armor][tank][shotgun][ammo][bullet][turret][mechanic ][rocket][chainsaw][hammer][gunfire][physics]
Visuals: [graphics][effects][visuals][style][light][image][visual][details][effect][detail][models][textures][explosions][lighting][texture][smoke ][art]
Aural: [sound][music][soundtrack][audio]
Stability/bugs: [issues][problems][bugs][broken][fps]
Variation: [variety][unique][original][mix][generic][repetitive][bland]
Story: [story][character][characters][voice][mission][moments][missions][plot][dialogue][storyline][objectives][chapter][act][narrative][cu tscenes][cinematic]
Removed: [game][player][games][players][system][game’s][series][person][design][screen][movie][review][title][presentation][gamers][fans][ screens][role][line][video][stuff][titles][vision][idea][franchise][kojima][valve][developer][hell][pieces][parts][body][intelligence][de velopers][movies][new][special][designed][released][full][old][powerful][invisible][heavy][simple][limited][serious][classic][complet e][strong][hard][easy][impossible][difficult][hardcore][easier][fun][Good][pretty][great][fantastic][interesting][excellent][better][ni ce][brilliant][stunning][satisfying][exciting][awesome][boring][beautiful][gorgeous][enjoyable][cool][impressive][incredible][realisti c][familiar][incredibly][bad][frustrating][annoying][wrong][massive]
Too specific: [xbox][pc][portal][rapture][forge][locust][bioware][console][mexico][bungie][alyx][playstation][gordon][snake’s][plasmid]
71 9.4 Appendix D - Arrange keywords script NB: This section way differ slightly in terms of keywords from the actual script applied due to loss of data on a defect hard drive.
Sub Arrange() Const maxwords = 200 'Maximum unique words allowed Dim SingleWord As String 'Raw word pulled from doc Dim CurrentArray As Integer
Dim Freq(maxwords) As Integer Dim WordsVisuals(maxwords) As String 'Array to hold unique words Dim FreqVisuals(maxwords) As Integer 'Frequency counter for unique words Dim WordsAural(maxwords) As String Dim FreqAural(maxwords) As Integer Dim WordsSetting(maxwords) As String Dim FreqSetting(maxwords) As Integer Dim WordsStory(maxwords) As String Dim FreqStory(maxwords) As Integer Dim WordsBugs(maxwords) As String Dim FreqBugs(maxwords) As Integer Dim WordsVariation(maxwords) As String Dim FreqVariation(maxwords) As Integer Dim WordsGameplay(maxwords) As String Dim FreqGameplay(maxwords) As Integer
Dim WordNum As Integer 'Number of unique words Dim NumVisual As Integer Dim NumAural As Integer Dim NumSetting As Integer Dim NumStory As Integer Dim NumBugs As Integer Dim NumVariation As Integer Dim NumGameplay As Integer
Dim WordFound As Boolean
Dim ByFreq As Boolean 'Flag for sorting order Dim ttlwds As Long 'Total words in the document Dim Excludes As String 'Words to be excluded Dim Found As Boolean 'Temporary flag Dim j, k, l, Temp As Integer 'Temporary variables Dim ans As String 'How user wants to sort results Dim tword As String
Visuals = "[effects][graphics][light][lighting][visual][visuals][visually][textures][texture][graphical][color][colors][materials][rendering][aest hetics][aesthetic]" Aural = "[sound][music][soundtrack][audio][aural]" Setting = "[setting][environments][environment][theme][locations][premise][scenario][locales][scenarios][architecture]" Story = "[story][characters][character][dialogue][storyline][plot][history][universe][narrative][storytelling][actors][animation][animations][ protagonist][story's][voiceovers]" Bugs = "[bugs][broken][unresponsive][framerate][glitches][tweak][glitchy][instability]" Variation = "[contrasting][variation][vary][varied][varying][variance][variations][segment][segmentation][segmented][difference][different][dif ferently][differences][differentiate][differentiates][alterations][alternate][distinct][distinctive][unique][diversity][derivative][deriva te][derived][repetitive][repetition][repeat][repeated][repetitious][generic][monotonous][variety][change][bland][diverse][changes] [contrast][changing][predictable][monotony]"
72 Gameplay = "[gameplay][ai][difficulty][difficulties][fun][maps][map][level][levels][mechanics][controls][mechanic][balance][balancing][physics][ pace][pacing][paced][balanced][movement][replayability][unbalanced][unresponsive][sluggish]"
ByFreq = True
Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory System.Cursor = wdCursorWait WordNum = 0 NumVisuals = 0 NumAural = 0 NumSetting = 0 NumStory = 0 NumBugs = 0 NumVariation = 0 NumGameplay = 0 CurrentArray = 0
ttlwds = ActiveDocument.Words.Count
' Control the repeat For Each aword In ActiveDocument.Words SingleWord = Trim(LCase(aword)) WordFound = False
If SingleWord < "a" Or SingleWord > "z" Then SingleWord = "" End If
If InStr(Visuals, "[" & SingleWord & "]") Then SingleWord = SingleWord CurrentArray = 1 WordFound = True End If
If InStr(Aural, "[" & SingleWord & "]") Then SingleWord = SingleWord CurrentArray = 2 WordFound = True End If
If InStr(Setting, "[" & SingleWord & "]") Then SingleWord = SingleWord CurrentArray = 3 WordFound = True End If
If InStr(Story, "[" & SingleWord & "]") Then SingleWord = SingleWord CurrentArray = 4 WordFound = True End If
If InStr(Bugs, "[" & SingleWord & "]") Then SingleWord = SingleWord CurrentArray = 5 WordFound = True End If
If InStr(Variation, "[" & SingleWord & "]") Then SingleWord = SingleWord
73 CurrentArray = 6 WordFound = True End If
If InStr(Gameplay, "[" & SingleWord & "]") Then SingleWord = SingleWord CurrentArray = 7 WordFound = True End If
If WordFound = False Then SingleWord = "" End If
If Len(SingleWord) > 0 Then Found = False 'Visuals For j = 1 To NumVisuals If WordsVisuals(j) = SingleWord Then FreqVisuals(j) = FreqVisuals(j) + 1 Found = True End If Next j
If Not Found Then 'Aural For j = 1 To NumAural If WordsAural(j) = SingleWord Then FreqAural(j) = FreqAural(j) + 1 Found = True End If Next j End If
If Not Found Then 'Setting For j = 1 To NumSetting If WordsSetting(j) = SingleWord Then FreqSetting(j) = FreqSetting(j) + 1 Found = True End If Next j End If
If Not Found Then 'Story For j = 1 To NumStory If WordsStory(j) = SingleWord Then FreqStory(j) = FreqStory(j) + 1 Found = True End If Next j End If
If Not Found Then 'Bugs For j = 1 To NumBugs If WordsBugs(j) = SingleWord Then FreqBugs(j) = FreqBugs(j) + 1 Found = True End If
74 Next j End If
If Not Found Then 'Variation For j = 1 To NumVariation If WordsVariation(j) = SingleWord Then FreqVariation(j) = FreqVariation(j) + 1 Found = True End If Next j End If
If Not Found Then 'Gameplay For j = 1 To NumGameplay If WordsGameplay(j) = SingleWord Then FreqGameplay(j) = FreqGameplay(j) + 1 Found = True End If Next j End If
If Not Found Then
If CurrentArray = 1 Then NumVisuals = NumVisuals + 1 WordsVisuals(NumVisuals) = SingleWord FreqVisuals(NumVisuals) = 1 End If
If CurrentArray = 2 Then NumAural = NumAural + 1 WordsAural(NumAural) = SingleWord FreqAural(NumAural) = 1 End If
If CurrentArray = 3 Then NumSetting = NumSetting + 1 WordsSetting(NumSetting) = SingleWord FreqSetting(NumSetting) = 1 End If
If CurrentArray = 4 Then NumStory = NumStory + 1 WordsStory(NumStory) = SingleWord FreqStory(NumStory) = 1 End If
If CurrentArray = 5 Then NumBugs = NumBugs + 1 WordsBugs(NumBugs) = SingleWord FreqBugs(NumBugs) = 1 End If
If CurrentArray = 6 Then NumVariation = NumVariation + 1 WordsVariation(NumVariation) = SingleWord FreqVariation(NumVariation) = 1 End If
75 If CurrentArray = 7 Then NumGameplay = NumGameplay + 1 WordsGameplay(NumGameplay) = SingleWord FreqGameplay(NumGameplay) = 1 End If
WordNum = WordNum + 1 'Freq(WordNum) = 1 End If
If WordNum > maxwords - 1 Then j = MsgBox("Too many words.", vbOKOnly) Exit For End If End If ttlwds = ttlwds - 1 'StatusBar = "Remaining: " & ttlwds & ", Unique: " & WordNum Next aword
' Now sort it into word order For j = 1 To NumVisuals - 1 k = j For l = j + 1 To NumVisuals If (Not ByFreq And WordsVisuals(l) < WordsVisuals(k)) _ Or (ByFreq And FreqVisuals(l) > FreqVisuals(k)) Then k = l Next l If k <> j Then tword = WordsVisuals(j) WordsVisuals(j) = WordsVisuals(k) WordsVisuals(k) = tword Temp = FreqVisuals(j) FreqVisuals(j) = FreqVisuals(k) FreqVisuals(k) = Temp End If ' StatusBar = "Sorting: " & WordNum - j Next j
For j = 1 To NumAural - 1 k = j For l = j + 1 To NumAural If (Not ByFreq And WordsAural(l) < WordsAural(k)) _ Or (ByFreq And FreqAural(l) > FreqAural(k)) Then k = l Next l If k <> j Then tword = WordsAural(j) WordsAural(j) = WordsAural(k) WordsAural(k) = tword Temp = FreqAural(j) FreqAural(j) = FreqAural(k) FreqAural(k) = Temp End If ' StatusBar = "Sorting: " & WordNum - j Next j
For j = 1 To NumSetting - 1 k = j For l = j + 1 To NumSetting If (Not ByFreq And WordsSetting(l) < WordsSetting(k)) _ Or (ByFreq And FreqSetting(l) > FreqSetting(k)) Then k = l Next l If k <> j Then
76 tword = WordsSetting(j) WordsSetting(j) = WordsSetting(k) WordsSetting(k) = tword Temp = FreqSetting(j) FreqSetting(j) = FreqSetting(k) FreqSetting(k) = Temp End If Next j
For j = 1 To NumStory - 1 k = j For l = j + 1 To NumStory If (Not ByFreq And WordsStory(l) < WordsStory(k)) _ Or (ByFreq And FreqStory(l) > FreqStory(k)) Then k = l Next l If k <> j Then tword = WordsStory(j) WordsStory(j) = WordsStory(k) WordsStory(k) = tword Temp = FreqStory(j) FreqStory(j) = FreqStory(k) FreqStory(k) = Temp End If Next j
For j = 1 To NumBugs - 1 k = j For l = j + 1 To NumBugs If (Not ByFreq And WordsBugs(l) < WordsBugs(k)) _ Or (ByFreq And FreqBugs(l) > FreqBugs(k)) Then k = l Next l If k <> j Then tword = WordsBugs(j) WordsBugs(j) = WordsBugs(k) WordsBugs(k) = tword Temp = FreqBugs(j) FreqBugs(j) = FreqBugs(k) FreqBugs(k) = Temp End If Next j
For j = 1 To NumVariation - 1 k = j For l = j + 1 To NumVariation If (Not ByFreq And WordsVariation(l) < WordsVariation(k)) _ Or (ByFreq And FreqVariation(l) > FreqVariation(k)) Then k = l Next l If k <> j Then tword = WordsVariation(j) WordsVariation(j) = WordsVariation(k) WordsVariation(k) = tword Temp = FreqVariation(j) FreqVariation(j) = FreqVariation(k) FreqVariation(k) = Temp End If Next j
For j = 1 To NumGameplay - 1 k = j For l = j + 1 To NumGameplay If (Not ByFreq And WordsGameplay(l) < WordsGameplay(k)) _
77 Or (ByFreq And FreqGameplay(l) > FreqGameplay(k)) Then k = l Next l If k <> j Then tword = WordsGameplay(j) WordsGameplay(j) = WordsGameplay(k) WordsGameplay(k) = tword Temp = FreqGameplay(j) FreqGameplay(j) = FreqGameplay(k) FreqGameplay(k) = Temp End If Next j
' Now write out the results tmpName = ActiveDocument.AttachedTemplate.FullName Documents.Add Template:=tmpName, NewTemplate:=False Selection.ParagraphFormat.TabStops.ClearAll With Selection .TypeText Text:=Trim("") _ & vbCrLf .TypeText Text:=Trim("Visuals: ") .TypeText Text:=Trim(NumVisuals) _ & vbCrLf
For j = 1 To NumVisuals .TypeText Text:=Trim(Str(FreqVisuals(j))) _ & vbTab & WordsVisuals(j) & vbCrLf Next j
.TypeText Text:=Trim("") _ & vbCrLf .TypeText Text:=Trim("Aural: ") .TypeText Text:=Trim(NumAural) _ & vbCrLf
For j = 1 To NumAural .TypeText Text:=Trim(Str(FreqAural(j))) _ & vbTab & WordsAural(j) & vbCrLf Next j
.TypeText Text:=Trim("") _ & vbCrLf .TypeText Text:=Trim("Setting: ") .TypeText Text:=Trim(NumSetting) _ & vbCrLf
For j = 1 To NumSetting .TypeText Text:=Trim(Str(FreqSetting(j))) _ & vbTab & WordsSetting(j) & vbCrLf Next j
.TypeText Text:=Trim("") _ & vbCrLf .TypeText Text:=Trim("Story: ") .TypeText Text:=Trim(NumStory) _ & vbCrLf
For j = 1 To NumStory .TypeText Text:=Trim(Str(FreqStory(j))) _ & vbTab & WordsStory(j) & vbCrLf Next j
78 .TypeText Text:=Trim("") _ & vbCrLf .TypeText Text:=Trim("Bugs: ") .TypeText Text:=Trim(NumBugs) _ & vbCrLf
For j = 1 To NumBugs .TypeText Text:=Trim(Str(FreqBugs(j))) _ & vbTab & WordsBugs(j) & vbCrLf Next j
.TypeText Text:=Trim("") _ & vbCrLf .TypeText Text:=Trim("Variation: ") .TypeText Text:=Trim(NumVariation) _ & vbCrLf
For j = 1 To NumVariation .TypeText Text:=Trim(Str(FreqVariation(j))) _ & vbTab & WordsVariation(j) & vbCrLf Next j
.TypeText Text:=Trim("") _ & vbCrLf .TypeText Text:=Trim("Gameplay: ") .TypeText Text:=Trim(NumGameplay) _ & vbCrLf
For j = 1 To NumGameplay .TypeText Text:=Trim(Str(FreqGameplay(j))) _ & vbTab & WordsGameplay(j) & vbCrLf Next j End With
System.Cursor = wdCursorNormal j = MsgBox("There were " & Trim(Str(WordNum)) & _ " different words ", vbOKOnly, "Finished") End Sub
79 9.5 Appendix E – Category frequencies
Gameplay: Σ 2662 Setting: Σ 2068 260 multiplayer 174 level 235 gameplay 158 little 206 action 136 levels 177 team 135 world 160 online 96 city 153 campaign 91 map 147 shooter 89 big 137 combat 89 open 121 mode 83 maps 108 war 64 environments 90 battle 57 setting 85 difficulty 47 sequences 82 modes 46 huge 64 options 44 machine 63 button 44 scenes 52 shooters 43 room 51 deathmatch 42 environment 46 battles 42 large 46 free 41 areas 40 version 41 metal 39 stealth 39 elements 38 challenge 37 wall 37 ratings 33 water 34 concept 33 air 33 genre 32 objects 25 skills 29 blood 25 speed 29 space 23 tactics 29 fortress 22 rpg 28 universe 21 limited 28 walls 21 linear 27 box 21 classes 27 battlefield 25 base Experience: Σ 225 25 planet 145 experience 22 building 45 moment 22 planets 35 love 21 machines 20 corner Time: Σ 808 299 time Enemies / Friendlies: Σ 965 112 long 258 enemies 100 hours 183 enemy 69 years 76 soldiers 54 short 65 alien 46 year 55 soldier 42 fast 48 sniper 30 longer 43 squad 30 hour 41 human 26 quick 38 aliens 38 boss 36 friends 36 teammates 25 friend 23 military
80 Mechanics / tools: Σ 1854 Aural: Σ 288 180 weapons 166 sound 155 cover 67 music 102 ai 31 soundtrack 93 gun 24 audio 90 weapon 81 power Performance / Bugs: Σ 157 59 powers 42 issues 57 life 39 problems 56 guns 27 broken 54 ability 27 bugs 52 health 22 fps 49 damage 47 features Variation: Σ 406 47 camera 141 different 45 grenades 57 variety 44 mechanics 44 unique 43 controls 37 original 42 vehicles 31 similar 41 bullets 26 mix 39 abilities 25 repetitive 35 grenade 25 generic 35 rifle 20 bland 33 vehicle 32 engine Story: Σ 1093 30 gravity 199 story 29 armor 156 character 29 tank 104 characters 28 shotgun 92 voice 25 bullet 81 mission 25 ammo 79 moments 24 turret 67 missions 23 mechanic 64 plot 23 rocket 50 dialogue 22 chainsaw 41 storyline 21 hammer 31 objectives 20 gunfire 29 chapter 20 physics 26 act 26 narrative Visuals: Σ 761 24 cutscenes 124 graphics 24 cinematic 97 effects 69 visuals 53 style 39 light 38 image 38 visual 37 details 36 effect 32 detail 31 textures 31 models 30 explosions 24 detailed 22 lighting 20 texture 20 smoke 20 art
81 9.6 Appendix F – HL2E2 analysis
Level name Chapter 1: To the White Forest - Part I Setting Countryside Length 5 Weather Clear skies Time of day Daytime Gameplay Story Intensity out of 10 1 Enemies Zombies X Fast zombies Crab-covered zombies Grenade Zombies Leg-less Zombies Head-crab Poison head-crab Barnacles Ant lions X Ant lion workers Acid lions Ant lion guards Combines Combine elites Snipers Turrets Striders Hunters Gunships
Inside/outside Outside Large/small size Very Large Player Reward Portal Storm Story Setup The combine portals are unstable Ambient soundscape Low frequency stormlike Music NA Color scheme
Image
82 Level name Chapter 1: To the White Forest - Part II Setting Mines Length 2 Weather NA Time of day NA Gameplay Gravity-gun Intensity out of 10 4 Enemies Zombies X Fast zombies Crab-covered zombies Grenade Zombies Leg-less Zombies Head-crab Poison head-crab Barnacles Ant lions X Ant lion workers Acid lions Ant lion guards Combines Combine elites Snipers Turrets Striders Hunters Gunships
Inside/outside Inside Large/small size Narrow Player Reward NA Story Setup NA Ambient soundscape Low frequency humming Music NA Color scheme
Image
83 Level name Chapter 1: To the White Forest - Part III Setting Countryside Length 4 Weather Clear skies Time of day Daytime Gameplay Story Intensity out of 10 1 Enemies Zombies Fast zombies Crab-covered zombies Grenade Zombies Leg-less Zombies Head-crab Poison head-crab Barnacles Ant lions Ant lion workers Acid lions Ant lion guards Combines Combine elites Snipers Turrets Striders Hunters Gunships
Inside/outside Inside Large/small size Small Player Reward NA Story Setup The player must deliver vital information Ambient soundscape Low frequency humming Music NA Color scheme
Image
84 Level name Chapter 1: To the White Forest - Part IV Setting Mines Length 1 Weather NA Time of day NA Gameplay Puzzle Intensity out of 10 2 Enemies Zombies Fast zombies Crab-covered zombies Grenade Zombies Leg-less Zombies Head-crab Poison head-crab X Barnacles Ant lions Ant lion workers Acid lions Ant lion guards Combines Combine elites Snipers Turrets Striders Hunters Gunships
Inside/outside Inside Large/small size Small Player Reward Animated event Story Setup NA Ambient soundscape Low frequency humming Music NA Color scheme
Image
85 Level name Chapter 1: To the White Forest - Part V Setting Countryside Length 6 Weather Clear skies Time of day Daytime Gameplay Story Intensity out of 10 1 Enemies Zombies Fast zombies Crab-covered zombies Grenade Zombies Leg-less Zombies Head-crab Poison head-crab Barnacles Ant lions Ant lion workers Acid lions Ant lion guards Combines Combine elites Snipers Turrets Striders Hunters Gunships
Inside/outside Outside Large/small size Medium/large Player Reward NA Story Setup Learn about Hunters + Must save Alyx Ambient soundscape Sounds of Hunters nearby Music NA Color scheme
Image
86 Level name Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part I Setting Mines Length 2 Weather NA Time of day NA Gameplay Puzzle Intensity out of 10 3 Enemies Zombies Fast zombies Crab-covered zombies Grenade Zombies Leg-less Zombies Head-crab Poison head-crab X Barnacles Ant lions Ant lion workers Acid lions Ant lion guards Combines Combine elites Snipers Turrets Striders Hunters Gunships
Inside/outside Inside Large/small size Small Player Reward NA Story Setup Regroup with the vortigaun Ambient soundscape Low frequency machines Music NA Color scheme
Image
87 Level name Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part II Setting Underground Length 1 Weather NA Time of day NA Gameplay Explore Intensity out of 10 1 Enemies Zombies Fast zombies Crab-covered zombies Grenade Zombies Leg-less Zombies Head-crab Poison head-crab Barnacles Ant lions Ant lion workers Acid lions Ant lion guards Combines Combine elites Snipers Turrets Striders Hunters Gunships
Inside/outside Inside Large/small size Small Player Reward NA Story Setup NA Ambient soundscape High frequency animal sounds Music NA Color scheme
Image
88 Level name Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part III Setting Mines Length 1 Weather NA Time of day NA Gameplay Fight Intensity out of 10 5 Enemies Zombies Fast zombies Crab-covered zombies Grenade Zombies Leg-less Zombies Head-crab Poison head-crab Barnacles Ant lions Ant lion workers Acid lions X Ant lion guards Combines Combine elites Snipers Turrets Striders Hunters Gunships
Inside/outside Inside Large/small size Small Player Reward NA Story Setup Ambient soundscape Sounds of ant lions Music NA Color scheme
Image
89 Level name Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part IV Setting Underground Length 6 Weather NA Time of day NA Gameplay Fight Intensity out of 10 6 Enemies Zombies Fast zombies Crab-covered zombies Grenade Zombies Leg-less Zombies Head-crab Poison head-crab Barnacles X Ant lions X Ant lion workers Acid lions X Ant lion guards Combines Combine elites Snipers Turrets Striders Hunters Gunships
Inside/outside Inside Large/small size Medium Player Reward NA Story Setup NA Ambient soundscape Sounds of ant lions Music NA Color scheme
Image
90 Level name Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part V Setting Mines Length 12 Weather NA Time of day NA Gameplay Hold ground Intensity out of 10 7 Enemies Zombies Fast zombies Crab-covered zombies Grenade Zombies Leg-less Zombies Head-crab Poison head-crab Barnacles Ant lions X Ant lion workers Acid lions Ant lion guards Combines Combine elites Snipers Turrets Striders Hunters Gunships
Inside/outside Inside Large/small size medium Player Reward NA Story Setup NA Ambient soundscape Ant lions + sounds of antlion radar warnings. Music NA Color scheme
Image
91 Level name Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part VI Setting Mines Length 3 Weather NA Time of day NA Gameplay Hold ground Intensity out of 10 8 Enemies Zombies Fast zombies Crab-covered zombies Grenade Zombies Leg-less Zombies Head-crab Poison head-crab Barnacles Ant lions X Ant lion workers X Acid lions Ant lion guards Combines Combine elites Snipers Turrets Striders Hunters Gunships
Inside/outside Inside Large/small size medium Player Reward NA Story Setup NA Ambient soundscape Ant lions + sounds of antlion radar warnings. Music Yes Color scheme
Image
92 Level name Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part VII Setting Mines Length 6 Weather NA Time of day NA Gameplay Fight Intensity out of 10 6 Enemies Zombies X Fast zombies X Crab-covered zombies Grenade Zombies X Leg-less Zombies Head-crab X Poison head-crab Barnacles Ant lions X Ant lion workers X Acid lions X Ant lion guards Combines Combine elites Snipers Turrets Striders Hunters Gunships
Inside/outside Inside Large/small size Medium/large Player Reward NA Story Setup Need Ant lion essence to save Alyx Ambient soundscape Sounds of ant lions Music NA Color scheme
Image
93 Level name Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part VIII Setting Underground Length 6 Weather NA Time of day NA Gameplay Fight Intensity out of 10 7 Enemies Zombies X Fast zombies Crab-covered zombies X Grenade Zombies X Leg-less Zombies Head-crab Poison head-crab Barnacles Ant lions X Ant lion workers X Acid lions X Ant lion guards Combines Combine elites Snipers Turrets Striders Hunters Gunships
Inside/outside Inside Large/small size Medium/large Player Reward NA Story Setup NA Ambient soundscape Sounds of ant lions Music NA Color scheme
Image
94 Level name Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part IX Setting Mines Length 4 Weather NA Time of day NA Gameplay Puzzle Intensity out of 10 2 Enemies Zombies Fast zombies Crab-covered zombies Grenade Zombies Leg-less Zombies Head-crab Poison head-crab Barnacles Ant lions Ant lion workers Acid lions Ant lion guards Combines Combine elites Snipers Turrets Striders Hunters Gunships
Inside/outside Inside Large/small size Medium/large Player Reward NA Story Setup NA Ambient soundscape Low frequency hum Music NA Color scheme
Image
95 Level name Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part X Setting Underground Length 10 Weather NA Time of day NA Gameplay Escape Intensity out of 10 9 Enemies Zombies Fast zombies Crab-covered zombies Grenade Zombies Leg-less Zombies Head-crab Poison head-crab Barnacles Ant lions Ant lion workers Acid lions Ant lion guards X Combines Combine elites Snipers Turrets Striders Hunters Gunships
Inside/outside Inside Large/small size Small/Medium Player Reward NA Story Setup NA Ambient soundscape Low frequency hum Music NA Color scheme
Image
96 Level name Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part XI Setting Mines Length 7 Weather NA Time of day NA Gameplay Story Intensity out of 10 2 Enemies Zombies Fast zombies Crab-covered zombies Grenade Zombies Leg-less Zombies Head-crab Poison head-crab Barnacles Ant lions Ant lion workers Acid lions Ant lion guards Combines Combine elites Snipers Turrets Striders Hunters Gunships
Inside/outside Inside Large/small size Medium Player Reward NA Story Setup Main storyline info about G-man Ambient soundscape Low frequency hum Music NA Color scheme
Image
97 Level name Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part I Setting Countryside Length 3 Weather Clear skies Time of day Daytime Gameplay Story Intensity out of 10 2 Enemies Zombies Fast zombies Crab-covered zombies Grenade Zombies Leg-less Zombies Head-crab Poison head-crab Barnacles Ant lions Ant lion workers Acid lions Ant lion guards Combines Combine elites Snipers Turrets Striders Hunters Gunships
Inside/outside Outside Large/small size Very large Player Reward NA Story Setup Alert the rebellion of the combine attack Ambient soundscape Sounds of Gunships in the distance Music NA Color scheme
Image
98 Level name Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part II Setting Countryside Length 5 Weather Clear skies Time of day Daytime Gameplay Boss Intensity out of 10 8 Enemies Zombies Fast zombies Crab-covered zombies Grenade Zombies Leg-less Zombies Head-crab Poison head-crab Barnacles Ant lions X Ant lion workers Acid lions X Ant lion guards X Combines Combine elites Snipers Turrets Striders Hunters Gunships
Inside/outside Outside Large/small size large Player Reward NA Story Setup NA Ambient soundscape Thumping of big hammers , low frequency Music NA Color scheme
Image
99 Level name Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part III Setting Countryside Length 2 Weather Clear skies Time of day Late afternoon Gameplay Puzzle Intensity out of 10 2 Enemies Zombies Fast zombies Crab-covered zombies Grenade Zombies Leg-less Zombies Head-crab Poison head-crab X Barnacles Ant lions Ant lion workers Acid lions Ant lion guards Combines Combine elites Snipers Turrets Striders Hunters Gunships
Inside/outside Outside Large/small size small Player Reward NA Story Setup NA Ambient soundscape Wind Music NA Color scheme
Image
100 Level name Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part IV Setting Factory Length 2 Weather Clear skies Time of day Late afternoon Gameplay Story Intensity out of 10 1 Enemies Zombies Fast zombies Crab-covered zombies Grenade Zombies Leg-less Zombies Head-crab Poison head-crab Barnacles Ant lions Ant lion workers Acid lions Ant lion guards Combines Combine elites Snipers Turrets Striders Hunters Gunships
Inside/outside Outside Large/small size Large Player Reward NA Story Setup NA Ambient soundscape Wind Music NA Color scheme
Image
101 Level name Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part V Setting Factory Length 2 Weather Clear skies Time of day Late afternoon Gameplay Explore Intensity out of 10 3 Enemies Zombies Fast zombies Crab-covered zombies X Grenade Zombies Leg-less Zombies Head-crab Poison head-crab Barnacles Ant lions Ant lion workers Acid lions Ant lion guards Combines Combine elites Snipers Turrets Striders Hunters Gunships
Inside/outside Primarily inside Large/small size small Player Reward NA Story Setup NA Ambient soundscape Zombie screams Music NA Color scheme
Image
102 Level name Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part VI Setting Factory Length 4 Weather Clear skies Time of day Late afternoon Gameplay Fight Intensity out of 10 6 Enemies Zombies X Fast zombies Crab-covered zombies Grenade Zombies X Leg-less Zombies X Head-crab X Poison head-crab Barnacles X Ant lions Ant lion workers Acid lions Ant lion guards Combines Combine elites Snipers Turrets Striders Hunters Gunships
Inside/outside Inside Large/small size small Player Reward NA Story Setup NA Ambient soundscape Zombie screams Music NA Color scheme
Image
103 Level name Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part VII Setting Factory Length 6 Weather Clear skies Time of day Late afternoon Gameplay Fight Intensity out of 10 7 Enemies Zombies X Fast zombies X Crab-covered zombies X Grenade Zombies X Leg-less Zombies Head-crab X Poison head-crab X Barnacles X Ant lions Ant lion workers Acid lions Ant lion guards Combines Combine elites Snipers Turrets Striders Hunters Gunships
Inside/outside Outside Large/small size Medium Player Reward NA Story Setup NA Ambient soundscape Zombies Music NA Color scheme
Image
104 Level name Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part VIII Setting Factory Length 3 Weather Clear skies Time of day Late afternoon Gameplay Fight Intensity out of 10 4 Enemies Zombies Fast zombies Crab-covered zombies Grenade Zombies Leg-less Zombies X Head-crab Poison head-crab Barnacles X Ant lions Ant lion workers Acid lions Ant lion guards Combines Combine elites Snipers Turrets Striders Hunters Gunships
Inside/outside Inside Large/small size small Player Reward NA Story Setup NA Ambient soundscape Low freq humming Music NA Color scheme
Image
105 Level name Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part IX Setting Factory Length 6 Weather Clear skies Time of day Late afternoon Gameplay Confined-fight Intensity out of 10 8 Enemies Zombies X Fast zombies Crab-covered zombies X Grenade Zombies X Leg-less Zombies Head-crab X Poison head-crab X Barnacles Ant lions Ant lion workers Acid lions Ant lion guards Combines Combine elites Snipers Turrets Striders Hunters Gunships
Inside/outside Outside Large/small size Medium Player Reward NA Story Setup NA Ambient soundscape Sounds of the Geiger counter Music Electronic Color scheme
Image
106 Level name Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part X Setting Countryside Length 4 Weather Clear skies Time of day Late afternoon Gameplay Puzzle Intensity out of 10 2 Enemies Zombies Fast zombies Crab-covered zombies Grenade Zombies Leg-less Zombies Head-crab Poison head-crab Barnacles Ant lions Ant lion workers Acid lions Ant lion guards Combines Combine elites Snipers Turrets Striders Hunters Gunships
Inside/outside Outside Large/small size Large Player Reward Portal blast + bridge collapse Story Setup Get Car to proceed Ambient soundscape Squeaking bridge Music NA Color scheme
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