This week reading was to read Ed Bryne Building a Simple level. The task was to find out what the key lessons for level designs are.
There were four key subheadings in the reading that you need to follow in order to design a game level, they are:
- 1. Level Design Building Blocks
- 2. What About Story?
- 3. Putting It All Together
- 4. Summary
Level Design Building Blocks: The basic elements of a level are:
· Concept
· Environment to exist in
· Beginning
· Ending
· Goal
· Challenge to overcome
· Reward
· Way of handling failure
The writer gives an example of Tetris and how these building blocks are used:
· Concept: Find a place for the blocks or lose the level
· Environment to exist in : The active play area
· Beginning : An empty screen and the score of 0
· Ending : The level is over when the player either creates the correct number of vertical lines (success) or the blocks pile up to the top of the screen (failure)
· Goal : create line to overcome the level
· Challenge to overcome between the player and the goal : The speed of descent, the type of the blocks and the number of line needed
· Reward : the player moves to the next level or receives an animation
· Way of handling failure : the game must be started from the beginning
What About Story: The writer explains that not all games have the need for a story so it is not a fundamental element to have a story for a game for example many big games not have any kind of narrative elements fuck as Tetris.
Putting It Together: The writer used a simple level to demonstrate how the elements work together.
Concept- The game used is Clownhunt, it is a game where you control Crispy who is a clown desperately trying to escape a maniacal ringmaster. The Controls in the game are simple the player can move Crispy the clown left and right and make him also jump while he is moving to leap onto small obstacles and to avoid small enemies that can pass underneath.
Environment- Clownhunt is set in a circus so all elements should be thematic if possible. Colourful backdrops and cartoony graphics should be present in the environment. They become important as humorous elements to offset the grim theme of the game. In the game there is no HUD to interfere with the environment because the game doesn’t require the player to keep track of lives, energy or other game metrics.
Beginning- Clownhunt always begins with the player on the left edge of the screen.
Ending - We need the exit to be far enough away from the entrance to make sure the player can’t reach it without overcoming some kind of challenge or obstacle.
Goal – The goal of every level in Clownhunt is the game – reach the exit.
Challenge – This is key to the player actually having fun in the level. You need to make sure the challenge is thematic, that is doesn’t strike the player as being out of place or goofy for the kind of game they are playing:
· We need a way for the player to gain height to reach the exit
· It is immediately recognizable by most players
· How it works is apparent just by looking at it, so we don’t need to explain to the player how to use it
Determining the Challenge Mechanics - The best gameplay mechanics are those that need no explanation, allowing the player to simply work out to interact with them from his own observations that makes players feel clever and allows the designer to stay out of the picture while they play.
Reward – With this game the reward of it is that from completing the level you get access to the next level and the second reward will be a short victory animation.
Failure - The last critical part of the design is what to do when the player fails the challenge, luckily all of this is handled inherently. Don’t have heath so that it won’t end because of time. Don’t have a health bar so wont falling from height won’t end the level. You should only set the players back or force them to reload or transporting them in a neutral and safe position. This is the most important rules in level design.
