Level Design Journal

Inside (2016) - Feeling Of Being Small

Level Design can be meaningfully use to create feelings. Danish developers Playdead use spaces, forms and cameras, to make one feel small and insignificant in Inside.

In the world of Inside, the player is a small and vulnerable child. Everything can be a danger. Besides of mechanics, and gamefeel, the environment participates greatly to this feeling.

Tall buildings and structures, without any visible ceilings, make the spaces look infinite and powerful. The same technique is used in forests environments, with trees that never end. Fog is also used in open area, which creates depth and infiniteness in the environment.

Most of the built spaces are dark and blocky structures. The concrete they are made of helps the dystopian narrative, as this material, coupled with blocky forms, is now identified as such in popular culture.

Quake (1996) - Contrast and Vertigo 

Community map: I Don’t Mind If Your Hands Are Cold, by Skacky

Amid Evil (2018) - Storytelling Through Spaces

In order to be efficient, environmental storytelling doesn't need tons of detailed props or elaborate scene dressing. Amid Evil manages to tell stories with clear and simple spaces. Let's see how!

The game structure is divided in different worlds, and with each world comes unique atmosphere, enemies and stories. The very first contact players will have with these worlds, is made through environments. They help to convey the moods of these unique universes, and indirectly introduce players to their stories.

Amid Evil designers used basic means to achieve their goals: shapes, texture and lighting.

We Happy Few (2016) - Discovery

Dusk (2018) - Breadcrumbs

The term breadcrumb comes from Christopher Totten's book, An Architectural Approach to Level Design. It refers to pick-ups positioned in a way to pull players somewhere. The first Mario game, for instance, uses breadcrumbs (coins) to teach players to jump. Dusk uses this technique too.

On the first screenshot, we can observe a small tower, with a health pack inside. Naturally, players will reach the tower to get the extra health point needed. As soon as they get inside they tower, their view will be framed by a window (second screenshot). They will see a path that seems to lead to a secret!

Hitman 2 (2018) - Vantage Point

A vantage point is a position in the space, higher than another one, thus it gives a good vista on the lower position. Architecturally, it can be linked to prospect and refuge theory.

Hitman 2's first mission, Hawke’s Bay, features a gorgeous modern house, where the player will have to take down a target. Vantage points are quickly introduced by offering a perfect vista on the target, which makes the player feel in control of the situation. 

Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018) - Contrast in Open World 

Contrast is an important tool for the designers. It can help us differentiate elements, and thus easily convey the proper information to a user. Contrast can also bring variety and create interesting rhythm. 

In Red Dead Redemption 2, we can observe contrast at a very macro scale : its open world design. In Rockstar’s tiny United States, we can find plenty of very different environments. Following the Western fantasy, those natural spaces are differentiated by a lot of things, such as climate, geology, hydrology, vegetation, wild life and human life. 

This variety keeps the player engaged while its riding through the world. The landmarks, in addition to the contrast, will help him locate himself by providing enough information to the player's conceptual model. Thanks to that, players always know where they are.

Overwatch (2016) - Smooth Navigation

In 3D games where players are able to move through spaces, navigation is crucial because it's often inside the core gameplay loop. Thus, it's important for designers to maintain fluidity and clarity along the path of the player.

It's even more important in competitive multiplayer games, where any little friction can leads to a big frustration. Blizzard's Overwatch may be one of the best example when it comes to avoid friction to achieve fluidity.

First, there are patterns regarding the size of the space — 3, 6, 9, 12 meters — so it's easier for players to know if they are in a narrow or wide path. Then, environments are easily legible — thanks to lighting, shapes and color — which is extremly important in a game that can be very generous in feedback.

Ion Fury (2019) - Believable Environment

Achieving to create a believable environment is not an easy thing. Even worst, trying to do so can be really difficult and time consuming. But there is a psychology tool that we can use : conceptual models.

Conceptual models, or mental models, are how we represent things in our mind. We use these models to sum up things, so it is less complex and we can remember more.

If you tell me the word bathroom, I'll think about : toilet, shower, sink, towel, toilet paper et cetera, and this is enough. I do not need to know how the plumbery system is working, or of which materials my toilets are made.

Thus, to design a believable environment, we should aim at the conceptual model the player have of this environment. A game like Ion Fury does it extremely well.

The Talos Principle (2014) - Breaking Patterns

Patterns are recognizable situation that player will learn while playing the game. Basically, humans use patterns to better understand things by grouping them, so we know what to do next time we “meet” a pattern.

An interesting example is the doors in the "puzzle HUB" of The Talos Principle. Each door have the same entrance (shape), same electronic shader (color) and a big blue number. When you enter any of these doors, you know what will happen.

Of course we can use patterns in the opposite way. When we see something which is close to a pattern but with a slightly difference, our brain get stuck. "Wait, something is wrong with this".

In the first HUB of Talos, a door misses the electronic shader, seems completely blocked and acts as a wall. But why? Will we unlock it after? Is it an illusion? Is it just a joke? We don’t know, and it’s strange.

By breaking patterns, the designer can create uncertainty in the player mind, mystery that will maybe create engagement. In this specific case, the reason why this door is like that can easily be explained by the game story, so it's even better because it adds depth to narration.

Mordhau (2019) - Spacial Rhythm in Multiplayer

Dusk (2018) - Patterns and Surprise

Surprising the player (in the good way) is always a positive thing. Dusk does it pretty often by using a very simple tool: teaching.

By teaching pretty clear symbols to the player like a red door need a red key, the game puts the players in a routine of knowledge to help them better understand the game, which is very cool.

But sometimes the level tricks the players. The first time players encounter the Scarecrow players might think it’s an enemy, but it doesn’t move or react to shot, so it pure decoration, so no danger, players will be confident about it.

The Division (2016) - Environmental Threshold

In architecture, the threshold is a small step you have to climb to enter a building or a room. It is a physical representation of the separation of two different spaces, and it helps users to better understand the environment.

Return of the Obra Dinn (2018) - Environmental Enticement 

Naturally, the environment is very important in level design. We use it to immerse the players in our world, to add depth to the story or beauty in the game. But we can and we need to use it for gameplay too. 

Dishonored (2011) - Freedom Feeling

Sometimes it's necessary to have linear paths. One option to make the space more interesting for the players is to create a freedom/openness feeling. On Dishonored it's even more important since freedom is one of the main features of the game.

Tacoma (2017) - Environmental Characterization

Insurgency (2014) - Perceived Affordance

Here's a good example of perceived affordance. The building is in a middle of a battlefield and is a flag point, both teams need to defend/attack it.