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Designing Levels for Enhanced Player Experience

Mental tools for game worlds designers. Designing Levels for Enhanced Player Experience. Alessandro Canossa aca@dkds.dk alessandro.canossa@ioi.dk. Dangers of masturbative level design. Games where designers have most of the fun Players feel ”on rails”, constricted, claustrophobic

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Designing Levels for Enhanced Player Experience

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  1. Mental tools for game worlds designers Designing Levels for Enhanced Player Experience Alessandro Canossa aca@dkds.dk alessandro.canossa@ioi.dk

  2. Dangers of masturbative level design • Games where designers have most of the fun • Players feel ”on rails”, constricted, claustrophobic • Failure of players to buy into game worlds, either trying to escape or submissively tagging along • Players are used to a certain degree of freedom, even in linear games.

  3. What is level design? “Level designers create experiences by providing spaces for players to act.” And yet... “Talking about level design is like dancing about architecture” (paraphrasing Elvis Costello)

  4. Other formal approaches • LeBlanc / Hunicke / Zubek • Salen / Zimmerman • Church • Falstein / Barwood • Cousins • Crawford • Koster • Sutton-Smith • Caillois • Karse • Huizinga • Lindley

  5. Objections • There is no single type of game or gaming experience that appeals to all people • The truth expressed in a formal language would only be valid for a particular audience in relation to a specific conjunction of terms • The only people who could use a formal language to talk to each other would be the elite group who had invested sufficient time and money to learn the language • Good for ”descriptive” (analysis) purposes, useless as ”prescriptive” (production) tool • As artificial (and as useless) as Esperanto

  6. Importance of a linguistic approach

  7. Practical application In ”Pattern Language” Christopher Alexander defined a language to design forms and spaces according to given parameters. It spawned a whole new method for developing software.

  8. What is a language “Language is defined as a vocabulary of elements and a set of rules used to combine them into meaningful propositions.” Susanne Langer, 1951 • Dictionary and grammatical rules • Syntagmatic and paradigmatic operations • Denotative and connotative level

  9. Linguistic level design approach “Level designers create experiences by providing spaces for players to act.” • Spaces: Architecture, locations, story, sounds, light, textures... (Aesthetics) • Actions: Ludo-types, events, game mechanics, possible interactions... (Ludology) • Experiences: emot-emes, play-modes, play-personas (Phenomenology)

  10. Player, action, space, experience

  11. Player, action, space, experience

  12. Player, action, space, experience

  13. Player, action, space, experience

  14. Player, action, space, experience

  15. Player, action, space, experience

  16. Player, action, space, experience

  17. Player, action, space, experience

  18. Linguistic level design analysis

  19. Linguistic level design analysis

  20. A vintage year - introduction Aesthetic: • Background story • Spatial layout Ludic: • Mission targets and goals • Basic rules and tools Phenomenologic: • A catalogue of possible experiences, moods, play-modes and play-personas fostered by the game.

  21. A vintage year - introduction Aesthetic: • Background story • Spatial layout

  22. A vintage year - introduction Ludic: • Mission targets and goals • Basic rules and tools

  23. Aesthetical analysis • Histograms (luminosity, color dominance) • Symbolical reading • Architectural deconstruction (macro and micro circulation patterns, landmarks) • NPCs • Sound, music

  24. Aesthetical analysis: histograms

  25. Aesthetical analysis: histograms

  26. Aesthetical analysis: symbology

  27. Aesthetical analysis: symbology

  28. Aesthetical analysis: symbology

  29. Aesthetical analysis: symbology

  30. Aesthetical analysis: symbology

  31. Aesthetical analysis: symbology

  32. Aesthetical analysis: architecture Macro circulation patterns: accessing zones

  33. Aestethical analysis: architecture OUTDOOR OPEN (A) From outdoor open to outdoor party – ”The Mingler”: • A01- main door entrance in front • A02- service door (and then left) at the right

  34. Aestethical analysis: architecture OUTDOOR OPEN (A) From outdoor open to outdoor loading zone – ”Open Confrontation”: • A03- through truck entrance on the left • A04- through broken wall on the left (one way only) • A05- through crashed truck and hole in the roof at the right (”wow” moment) (one way only) • A06- through service door (and then straight over the boxes) at the right (one way only)

  35. Aestethical analysis: architecture OUTDOOR OPEN (A) From outdoor open to hangar – ”Rising from the bowels of Earth”: • A07- through path at the end of the cliff on the left

  36. Aestethical analysis: architecture Micro circulation patterns: moving within a zone

  37. Aestethical analysis: architecture Micro circulation patterns: moving within a zone

  38. Aestethical analysis: architecture Micro circulation patterns: moving within a zone

  39. Aestethical analysis: architecture Landmarks: • Outdoor open: perimeter walls • Outdoor party: cellar entrance • Outdoor loading: mansion • Wine cellar: barrels • Drug lab: refining tank • Hangar: waterplane • Hacienda: dark wood, windows filtering light, balcony

  40. Ludic analysis Summary of the ways Don Fernando Delgado can be killed

  41. Ludic analysis Summary of the ways Manuel Delgado can be killed

  42. Experiences: playing modes Navigation attitudes: • BRAWN, physical prowess, climbing, making use of force, on-the-move • BRAIN, observation skills, finding holes in the surveillance system, patterning behaviours, waiting • ROLE PLAYING dressing up like other characters and acting • HIDING/SNEAKING keeping the suit, walking in shadows (and closets)

  43. Experiences: Emot-emes 14 different theorists consolidated: • Acceptance • Anger (x7) • Anticipation • Aversion, • Anxiety (x2) • Contempt (x2) • Courage • Dejection • Desire (x2), • Despair • Disgust (x6) • Distress (x2) • Elation • Expectancy • Fear (x9) • Grief • Guilt • Happiness (x3) • Hate • Hope • Interest (x3) • Joy (x5) • Love (x3) • Pain • Panic • Pleasure • Rage (x4) • Sadness (x5) • Shame (x2) • Sorrow • Subjection, • Surprise (x5) • Tender-emotion • Terror • Wonder (x2) Source http://www.personalityresearch.org/basicemotions.html

  44. Experiences: play personas SILENT ASSASSIN The player hasn’t kill anyone other than the targets, and remembered the suit. For maximum cleanliness, all targets should die by "accident“. When using the bomb, it must be remembered that those killed by its blast radius will count as kills, rather than accidents. BUTCHER SNIPER DIRTY HARRY PARTY ANIMAL SHADOW UNABOMBER IN-AND-OUT SAM FISHER AESTHETE

  45. Good old Flow and EmSense (tm) application

  46. Reversing the approach and weaving playing personas

  47. Conclusions Linguistic tools (looking glasses, dictionaries): • Aesthetic (space) • Ludic (action) • Phenomenologic (experience) A priory: • Implemented early on these mental tools can be used to proficiently plan, orchestrate and map out player experience in the level. A posteriori: • Analysis to compare goals set by the designers with the actual experiences that players are having (bio-feedback)

  48. Questions? Alessandro Canossa aca@dkds.dk alessandro.canossa@ioi.dk

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