How do Game Levels 'Communicate'?

[samjesalm]

Hello all! I'm a new member here and I thought I'd start off by asking the following question, hoping to stir um a discussion

Here it is: "How to Game Levels 'Communicate'"?

It's a question I've been looking into for some while now, but there's not much information on the subject. 'How do game levels communicate' with players? How do level designers send/share information with players; how do they transmit experiences?

Any game level designers/designers in general interested in sharing an opinion? A reference or two on the subject?

What are your thoughts?

Thanks!

[DevinSherry]

A great example of communicating with level design, as well as overall atmosphere, is the game BioShock. If you haven't played this game, it is a must play for the Xbox 360. The levels that were created was a great combination of story-telling, pacing, and the art that was involved to create a once Utopian society that went to hell. The environments have fantastic lighting and detail that makes the 1950's vibe come to life, and in a very creepy fashion. The levels in BioShock were able to communicate to the player that Rapture was once a great society and through the corruption of main story-line characters and the use of "Adam" caused the society to crumble. If you were to play those levels without any story being told to you, you can make pretty accurate assumptions about what events took place in the environment, and that is key to great story-telling / communication through level design. The scripted events that take place in the levels add to the overall story telling because there are sections in the game where you can overhear conversations between AI about the section you are in, what they are experiencing, and you can definitely notice how crazy these people have become. There is a lot that goes into creating levels that can effectively communicate emotions, story, and other things to the player, and BioShock, in my opinion, is a perfect example of this.

[White Paper Games]

Alex posted the GDC 2010 notes on WoLD quite a while ago now. There are 5 parts and I would digest as much information out of them as you can. All excellent stuff.

Also, theres material in there to back Devin's point about Bioshock being a feat of excellent level design, I totally agree.
http://www.worldofleveldesign.com/ca...vain-douce.php

[Alex Rodriguez]

Alex also mentions Left 4 Dead also being a great source of great Level Design. You can find this also under Alex G. posts in the site

[samjesalm]

Thanks everyone for your input - great ideas!
I'll be sure to look into the suggested links.
Feel free to continue the discussion. As soon as I've got some ideas, I'll be glad to share as well!

[ADruidDesigner]

Super Metroid (1994)
There are games that are developed so cleverly that they can teach the player how to do something without any spoken language. Take the game Super Metroid (1994) for SNES, which is really a treasure hunting game on steroids. There is a “run” move that when fully charged will crush through certain parts of the level. At some point, you’ll fall down a seemingly bottomless pit with no way back up.

At the bottom is an animal that passively runs toward open chasm of the the pit, begins to glow similar to the charge move, and then the animal launches itself up and out of the pit. But it keeps coming back and repeating the same animation. After seeing the animal do this a few times I considered that maybe I have the ability too, and gave it a shot. It was a very rewarding experience to do something on my own without having it explained to me. Learn by watching


Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (1991)
A little after halfway through the game Link is given the choice to temper his sword for saving one of the blacksmiths. This leaves him without his sword for some time. As soon as you exit the house there are spikes that can be flattened with the hammer weapon you receive earlier in the game. The game cleverly reveals an alternative item to use while your sword is being tempered. Breadcrumb method

Just a couple of methods to guide the player to do the right actions without God descending from heaven to explain it away. Anyone have any other good ones?

[WarrenM]

I think there are 2 things here ... teaching through seeing and visual story telling.

Teaching can be done like ADD said, through the player seeing something and trying it out. It was also done really well in the first Half-Life game where the scientists and guards were used to demonstrate what was dangerous about an area or what was coming up. The game didn't need to pop up a screen of text or show you a cut scene or anything jarring like that - it showed a scientist running into the room and getting pummeled in some way. Now you know ... don't run out there.

Visual story telling is another thing that I'm really trying to integrate into my work. For example, when you exit the vault in Fallout 3 and you look down you find a bunch of skeletal remains with picket signs. You piece it together - they wanted into the vault, were denied, and died out here while you lived your life inside in safety. It's simple, powerful and it only took a few meshes and textures to sell it.

[White Paper Games]

I agree with Warren on the Half-life (Keiths Legend of Zelda reference is a little too old for me ) , Half life, or more specifically Value do an excellent job teaching the players the rules of the game at the same time as not making the player aware that they are being lead along a linear path.

When games throw tutorial missions in there and you have a grunt telling you when to shoot, how to shoot, how to crawl under this area, it gets very patronising. And although Valve do have certain chokepoints where they have to tell a certain part of the story, you're not allowed to continue and be held in a room, free to run around but with no real choice but to stand and listen, I'd prefer a cinematic at least in those points.

Moving away from the only slight negativity of Valve, they also go a great job leading the player, not only like Warren said with the "teaching", which is actually a really good point and something I've not much considered, but also through geometry. There's loads of Valve design articles online about how they use buildings, always giving the player a focal point to aim for. Their design process is something I admire greatly and if you haven't done any research on the un-orthadox approach to design its definitely worth checking out!

My favourite game though = DOOM3. I was drawn into this world with loads of plot twists and environment changes and the pacing kept steadily rising with the intensity of the game keeping up with it. They draw you down linear corridors but its always like..I want to go search that bathroom..I don't know why, I just need to even though you know something bad is about the happen! I fell in love with that game and they did a great job of creating an experience for the player unlike no other for me. They used a lot of visual storytelling along with great sound design.

[Aldighieri]

It burns down to using the senses and player intuition. You can either outright tell them how to do things, or you can reinforce those things using visual and audio cues. I'm working on the idea that the games themselves can have emotion. For instance, L4d2 punishes you when you stay in one spot by sending hordes of zombies. The director gets "angry", in a way. The game doesn't want you to stand still, and you should keep going, lest you run out of ammo. It's still a young idea that I am fleshing out, but may become part of the essence of my design philosophy.

[megabilliam]

I been level designing for over a year now, and the question you are asking is a very valid question. Different level designer will always have their own way, and each of us are different. For me when I am designing a level, I always try not to think what I would like, but what would an average person with no knowledge would like to do. As a game/level designer I usually know what to look for. but somebody who don't understand game-play elements they may not look small details. Like why was the cover was place there, or why did this scripted event have to happen at this moment. There is a lot more to it, but I think this short paragraph will give you a small understanding on how I communicate with the players.

[netravelr]

I wrote a paper about that very concept back in the day... let me see if I can find it... yes. Here it is!

[White Paper Games]

Interesting, I'll bookmark the link and check it out netravelr, thanks! I'll let you know how it goes

[samjesalm]

I wrote a paper about that very concept back in the day... let me see if I can find it... yes. Here it is!

Thanks netravelr! Looks like it'll be a great help!

[Aldighieri]

I wrote a paper about that very concept back in the day... let me see if I can find it... yes. Here it is!

Bookmarked... I'll check it out after the 343 pages of terror(I jest.) that I am consuming ATM.