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Level Design Philosophy: There is no such thing as, “just another level.” Each and every level is the opportunity to create unique game play that will engage, challenge and entertain the player from beginning to end. It all started with the work we did while at LucasArts.
The first game that I worked on as an LD was Jedi Starfighter, an arcade action title for the PS2 and then ported to other platforms. I worked on 3 levels- Mysterious Informant, Mt. Meracan, and Hammer & Anvil. Mysterious Informant. It’s said that the two hardest levels to design are the first and the last. The first level eases the player into the game and gives him/her the first taste of the game outside of tutorials. It’s probably also the level that most reviewers will end up playing. So, with this knowledge we chose to make the intro level light-hearted. Comedy puts people at ease, and there would be plenty of time to get serious later on. All dialog was written with this in mind. The next challenge was to figure out how to make a fun level out of an empty cube (since we were in deep space). We didn’t want to fill it up too much as we wanted this to be fairly simple. So, a few asteroids were added and combat was eased in waves with fighter wings. Finally, the player got to feel good about destroying a large carrier that warps in last. Always good to end with a big bang! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myxfk_ZakK0&feature=related Next up was Mt. Meracan, which was roughly about six levels into the game. By now the player had been flying a variety of craft, and had combat experience under her/her belt. This level also had another unique challenge- the mountain itself was vast. It took up the lion’s share of the memory footprint in the level, leaving us with much less than we were used to. Fortunately, the mountain also provided game play by just being there; lots of ravines, cliff sides and rolling terrain that was really fun to fly around. Using rocket weapons whose projectiles tracked the player, we could make use of these elements as they shielded the player from attack. Conversely, if the player flew high, bombing runs could be launched from pretty long distances. To solve the memory issues, I used a smaller number of enemies and buildings, repeating them throughout the level. The size of the mountain allowed for this, with creative placement keeping the engagements from getting repetitive.
Last up was Hammer & Anvil. In this level we got to put the player between a rock and hard place by setting up an ambush; the Return of the Jedi line came to mind, “It’s a trap!” The level started out with a player’s capital ship receiving critical damage, and needing to be protected from incoming bomber wings. Once those were defeated, the player would advance to a certain point in the level and experience enemy defense stations that were too shielded to damage. At this point large craft would warp in behind the player (cutting them off from support) and launch fighter wings. Music and dialog were scripted to add tension to the scene. Once the player had fought his/her way out of the box, a scripted event triggered that caused the crippled capital ship to smash into the enemy station, disrupting the shields. This ushers in the last stage of the game where the player knocks out the remaining defense stations. The trick was to make the ambush close to beginning of the level. An extremely hard combat that happens at the end of long level can be very frustrating to a player if they have to repeat the level (several times) without being able to save progress. Ambushing the player is also a delicate task, as you want to catch them off guard, without making them feel like “we’re out to get them.” Challenging without being punishing. Lastly, you have to script the scene well, as the bang for your buck in an ambush comes from the first play through.
Review of my experience of Jedi Starfighter- My first shipped title and a strong learning experience. I had a great experience, as all the LDs got to work with the designer in telling the story in the levels, choosing which enemies to make, and what type of planets to fight on.
My next project was Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb for the Xbox, Ps2 and PC. I’ll describe several parts together as most were one level (at one time) that got divided up since it was too memory intensive. Peng Lai Lagoon Pts. 1-3 were light on combat and focused more on puzzle solving, with the exception of a couple of shooting galleries to liven things up… and avoiding sharks! Explore the map to get the pieces you need to solve each step. Later on, you’ll need to practice your motor skills for running, jumping, whipping to get into the German Sub base. Once in (Pts 3-5) the gameplay switches to more of a stealth mode; avoid the guards, or end combat without them pulling the alarm. Alternating the guards patrol routes provided the challenge in these levels, making Jones’ infiltration/information gathering quests difficult. One fun thing was to tempt the player: Will you throw the Nazi guard out the window? Fun but it will probably set off the alarm. Choices, choices… At the very end, we varied the theme up a bit by having Indy don an SS uniform, tricking the guards. Now the player could walk on by, or pick fights depending on his/her wishes.
Peng Lai Mountains continues the stealth mode a little while longer as Indy is still in uniform. It doesn’t fool the other officers but it fools the guards. Again, the player can choose different play styles. As with Lagoon, this level challenges the player with a few simple puzzles, light combat, and athletic skills. A deadly battle was scripted at the end of Pt. 1 where Indy dukes it out in the middle of a malfunctioning genatorium with lots of lightning arcs. Pt. 2, 4&5 changes all this, as by now we figured the player was a little tired of sneaking around. We wanted these to be a gun-heavy level with some grenades thrown in for extra effect. The engine was flexible enough to handle fighting just as easily as it could stealth and puzzles. This allowed a lot of freedom to speed up or slow down game play, and be creative design wise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qv6NBTAKIE&feature=related Nazi Emperor's Tomb Pt. 1 was all about solving the various puzzle traps and using both timing and your athletic (whipping, jumping) skills to get past them. Lots of triggered events and cinematics explained the problems nonverbally. Lastly, The Netherworld (Pt 1) was a very challenging mixture of combat and athletics. Being so close to the end of the game, the enemies were quick and numerous. The jumping puzzles had to be done exactly right as you were whipping from floating rocks! The player was really pushed here, as the action was meant to be fast paced from beginning to end.
My final project for LucasArts/Planet Moon was Armed & Dangerous. A really fun 3rd person run and gun comedic adventure. Game play in all levels fell into one of 3 different types:
Blow up all the enemy buildings. Pretty darned easy as they had bull’s-eyes on them. However the trick was to make it exciting, and non-repetitive. So, we set up fun weapons to obliterate them, used the enemies’ cannons on them, or squashed them with rocks! Collateral damage was to be kept to a minimum so putting non target houses near targets added more challenges to subsequent levels.
Rescue the peasants. These were really fun as it meant you had a jump/glider pack on. Not only did you have peasants complaining bitterly as they were bounced along behind you while you avoided enemy fire, you had enemies on a lot of different levels attacking. Anything from gun towers, to grunts on rooftops, scaffolding, building, ledges. It added a very fun 3d challenge to the enemies you would encounter. In these levels, the player was gliding/running pretty quickly or you were overwhelmed by enemies.
Next up: General Mayhem/ blow something up. Get from one side of the board and take down a large amount of the enemy who threw themselves in your way. The variety of the enemy, voice lines and fortifications made these levels a joy to create. There's never a "straight shot" plotted- as you can encourage creative game play by placing destructibles, weapons, and traps all over map. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHrSyL9h6II Lastly, we also had the first bonus level and it was a doozy. In this case, I was told to create an "arena of death" where the player must survive for 5 minutes. We got to throw everything under the sun at him/her, no holds barred. This is one of the few times that I've not held anything back, and that's for the best. Generally when you're designing levels, you're one of the best people there is at playing them. If YOU have a hard time with it, the average person will really be in for it, and that can put off the casual gamer (something to avoid). However, since this was a bonus mission, and in a combat-heavy game, we thought it would be acceptable to add this challenge. Next are the games that I've worked on outside of LucasArts. Sam Suede: Undercover Exposure. The project that brought me to Washington State, and the first opportunity to be a lead designer! This was a true challenge as I was the only designer on the project, the design document was just bare bones with the project was well underway! I had my work cut out for me.
First things first: focus the scope of the game. After taking a look at the engine we had, and what technology we were going to get, we had to start paring things down. No game can be everything, and if you try and push for too broad a reach, you will end up holding very little. We tried to focus game play down on collectibles, humor, and replayability; topics that were advertised the most in press briefings. I worked closely with Al Lowe (writer and co-owner of the company), to bring the fledgling document into a more cohesive state. Lots of meetings where held to help flesh out the missing aspects of the game: what worked and where, dialog, how much humor, how many physical challenges, etc. We were pressed by both technology limitations and art assets getting locked down before the doc was completed. During this time, we also began to layout the levels on pencil and paper, and refine the ones that had been brainstormed about a year ago. We were moving toward lock and key game play mechanics that promoted exploring the map, and creative use of the gadgets picked up along the way. Again, more paring down and refocusing to the new core game play elements. Unfortunately as things were beginning to come together, the project was put on hold due to lack of funds. Dark Void. Scheduled to release in 2009 from Airtight Games.
Every project is an opportunity to expand your level design skill, and Dark Void was no exception! To begin with, this was my first opportunity to work with the Unreal 3 Engine. I'll break this down into two separate experiences:
Sine Dark Void has yet to be released, I can't go into specifics on the exact nature of each level, so instead I will talk about its design challenges. Dark Void really helped us think “outside the box” when it came to level building due to the innovative way the player could move. Jet packing around the level, or hovering from one place to another really shook up the traditional linear nature of the maps. The trick was to provide a story-based level that kept the player to a localized area on the map. The biggest problem to avoid was too much freedom. When a person gets too many choices, they often freeze up and stop making them because they're afraid they'll make bad ones. Keeping the player rooted around objective always made sure they kept to their goal.
Another really important part of this project was to call out the various types of encounter areas. Encounters can become unwieldy when too much is thrown at the player, just for the sake of clutter or “intensity.” For us, there were horizontal combat, vertical combat, and aerial vehicle encounter areas, each with its own challenges. By getting a feel for the space (setting up geometry patterns, camera angles, or open spaces), the player could intrinsically start to tell what type of combat they would encounter. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_hkEK2pw9U Combat spaces should be laid out with several things in mind.
By thinking about these elements and the encounter as a whole, you help the AI look and feel more natural without writing any code! Thank you for your interest! - Quentin
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