Y2 - S1 - T16 - Elements Of Game Design - Part 7 - Level Design

When it comes to level design you need to consider all the key aspects of what the level needs and has. Previously I think I explained about how sometimes the script and story of a game or even a film has an effect on what may be needed for a scene. For example what is written down will need to be considered as it is all a part of the actual story. For one thing you’ll have to take what is needed, I talked earlier in my blog about the original Pac-Man and how it’s simple and effective but needs to be worked out. For example in all 4 corners of the maze are special pellets that allow Pac-Man to eat the enemy, so they are specifically placed in the furthest out of the way places to reach. If I were to compare this to another such as Grand Theft Auto there may be in a certain place you need to get to in the game to retrieve a special kind of weapon for example that is then specifically used to destroy or kill someone (as an example!). So planning out where these are going to placed is vital but then you would have to think about where you specifically start the level, where the level ends, what you must do to get to that certain point, what happens in the level, what if you fail the level? Etc.

 

Grand Theft Auto : San Andreas

In both games the outcome can be random, but the thing you have to think about what are you trying to achieve with this? , what do you want the player to do? , how am I going to layout the level in order for these events to happen and take place? Maybe there’s a cut scene that takes places at a certain point but how am I going to get the player to that location to see it? I think a lot of people do tend to forget about the planning of a game level, the Artists will make the required assets for the game but it’s also good for them to have an understanding about what is going on in the game for example there maybe something specifically important for them to build which is a vital part of the story, background or characters etc. or maybe it is something that adds to a part of the script for later. In a game like Grand Theft Auto you have to consider everything you need because it’s just ONE entire country you play through with different various missions, whereas when you take a like possibly like the original Sonic the Hedgehog it’s not just one world all the way through, it’s a different level all the time from one to the next, the objective is the same but the level changes and you get different worlds etc.

The ONE and ONLY map of GTA San Andreas. The arrangement of assets is very important, it’s all just one design with missions to complete scattered around.

 

The many various levels of 16bit Sonic the Hedgehog, different worlds different stages different designs!

Even though I am comparing a 2D side scroller and a 3D game it doesn’t matter because you can see what I’m saying is that it depends on the game design which then affects level designs. The look and feel of the game is all dependent on the game design. Not only this but you have to think about the mechanics of the game itself for example, the character you are controlling, the way they move, the feel of the gameplay, are you just one character all the way through or can you be many different characters?

When your planning and concepting, white boxing can help get a feel for what you want, taking what you’ve drawn down and putting into actions to get a better feels of the game itself, from there you can take out or add bits in that do or don’t work. As an Artist when your given a brief you want to think about what you are making, what its used for and how is this going to work in the game? Not just in 3D but even in the days of 2D, 8 and 16 bit graphics game designers and Artists have to work together to work out what works and what doesn’t. They can make huge levels and scrap them completely because there was one flaw that just didn’t work and would have had to redo the entire thing. Planning processing is critical, it is better to white box and test a game first before going on to texture and make the completed final asset else all the work done can be done for nothing and must be done all over again.

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_2_(16-bit)#Prototypes

Talks about prototyping in the Sonic 2 (16bit), how quite a lot of things were cut out and dropped from the final game, levels and worlds especially. Talks about how some concepts were made but didn’t follow them all the way through, and also says how some worlds and levels didn’t even make it past the concept stage. It even says how they had a ‘time travel’ concept for the game and were going to introduce other levels related to that concept but then dropped it when the ‘time travel’ concept was abandoned.