UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ THE SCIENCE OF LEVEL DESIGN: DESIGN PATTERNS AND ANALYSIS OF PLAYER BEHAVIOR IN FIRST-PERSON SHOOTER LEVELS A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in COMPUTER SCIENCE by Kenneth M. Hullett September 2012 The Dissertation of Kenneth M. Hullett is approved: _______________________________ Professor E. James Whitehead, Chair _______________________________ Associate Professor Travis Seymour _______________________________ Assistant Professor Arnav Jhala _____________________________ Tyrus Miller Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Copyright © by Kenneth M. Hullett 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents ......................................................................................................... iii List of Figures ............................................................................................................ xiii List of Tables ............................................................................................................ xvii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ xx Dedication .................................................................................................................. xxi Acknowledgments..................................................................................................... xxii Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................ 1 1 The First-Person Shooter Genre ......................................................................... 3 2 Level Design ....................................................................................................... 5 3 Design Patterns ................................................................................................... 7 4 Research Questions .......................................................................................... 10 Chapter 2: Related Work ............................................................................................ 14 1 Design Patterns ................................................................................................. 14 2 Level Design ..................................................................................................... 16 2.1 Pacing ............................................................................................................... 17 2.2 Tension ............................................................................................................. 17 2.3 Challenge .......................................................................................................... 18 iii 2.4 Segmentation .................................................................................................... 18 2.5 Spatial Configurations ...................................................................................... 19 2.6 Navigation ........................................................................................................ 20 3 Player Behavior ................................................................................................ 21 Chapter 3: Design Patterns ......................................................................................... 24 1 Single Player First-Person Shooter Levels ....................................................... 24 1.1 Patterns for Positional Advantage .................................................................... 27 1.1.1 Sniper Location......................................................................................... 27 1.1.2 Gallery ...................................................................................................... 30 1.1.3 Choke Point .............................................................................................. 31 1.2 Patterns for Large-scale Combat ...................................................................... 33 1.2.1 Arena ........................................................................................................ 33 1.2.2 Stronghold ................................................................................................ 35 1.3 Patterns for Alternate Gameplay ...................................................................... 37 1.3.1 Turret ........................................................................................................ 37 1.3.2 Vehicle Section ......................................................................................... 39 1.4 Patterns for Alternate Routes ........................................................................... 40 1.4.1 Split Level................................................................................................. 40 iv 1.4.2 Hidden Area .............................................................................................. 42 1.4.3 Flanking Route ......................................................................................... 44 1.5 Level Analysis Example ................................................................................... 45 1.5.1 Discussion ................................................................................................. 48 2 Combat Non-Player Characters in First-Person Shooter Games ...................... 49 2.1 Elements of a Non-Player Character ................................................................ 50 2.2 Pattern Collection ............................................................................................. 52 2.2.1 Soldier ....................................................................................................... 54 2.2.2 Aggressor .................................................................................................. 60 2.2.3 Carrier ....................................................................................................... 63 2.2.4 Tank .......................................................................................................... 66 2.3 Example Analysis ............................................................................................. 72 3 Weapons in First-Person Shooter Games ......................................................... 74 3.1 Aspects of Weapon Patterns ............................................................................. 75 3.2 Pattern Collection ............................................................................................. 77 3.2.1 Sniping Weapon ....................................................................................... 77 3.2.2 Close Blast ................................................................................................ 80 3.2.3 Assault Weapon ........................................................................................ 82 v 3.2.4 Projectile ................................................................................................... 86 3.2.5 Power Weapon .......................................................................................... 91 3.2.6 Melee Weapon .......................................................................................... 93 3.2.7 Placed Weapon ......................................................................................... 96 3.3 Effects of Weapon Patterns on Level Design ................................................... 98 Chapter 4: Understanding Player Behavior .............................................................. 101 1 Sources of Data .............................................................................................. 101 1.1 Internal Testing ............................................................................................... 101 1.1.1 Developers .............................................................................................. 101 1.1.2 Quality Assurance................................................................................... 102 1.2 External Testing ............................................................................................. 103 1.2.1 Usability Testing..................................................................................... 103 1.2.2 Beta Tests ............................................................................................... 104 1.2.3 Long-term Play Data .............................................................................. 104 1.3 Subjective Evaluations ................................................................................... 106 1.3.1 Surveys ................................................................................................... 106 1.3.2 Reviews .................................................................................................. 106 1.3.3 Online Communities ............................................................................... 106 vi 1.3.4 Post Mortems .......................................................................................... 107 Chapter 5: User Tests ............................................................................................... 108 1 Levels ............................................................................................................. 108 1.1 Elements of Test Levels ................................................................................. 112 1.1.1 Enemy NPCs........................................................................................... 112 1.1.2 Weapons ................................................................................................