2 Basic Level Design

• Introduction to level design.

In game development, level design and modular design are two distinct but closely linked aspects.

Level design involves creating the scenarios, challenges, and experiences that players will experience as they progress through a game. This includes the organization of obstacles, adversaries, interactive elements, and the overall structure of a level. The main purpose is to provide a gaming experience that is challenging, entertaining, and consistent with the narrative and game mechanics. Level designers are responsible for shaping the gameplay, pacing, and progression of a game.

On the other hand, modular design refers to the generation of reusable components that can be combined in various ways to form a complete level. A module can be a segment of a level, a set of interactive objects, a series of enemies, etc. The modular design allows level designers to build levels more quickly and efficiently, as they can reuse modules in different levels or even in different games.

Mientras que el diseño de niveles se enfoca en la experiencia del jugador dentro de un nivel específico, el diseño modular se centra en la generación de componentes reutilizables que se pueden emplear para construir dichos niveles. Ambos son aspectos fundamentales en la creación de videojuegos y trabajan conjuntamente para crear una experiencia de juego atractiva e inmersiva.

• Considerations for Level Design

The key considerations of level design in video games are summarized as:

1. Balance: A good level should have a balance between challenge and reward. It should be challenging enough to keep the player engaged, but not so difficult that they become frustrated.
2. Progression: Levels should be designed in such a way that the difficulty gradually increases. This helps players learn and master the game’s mechanics as they progress.
3. Variety: Levels should offer a variety of challenges and experiences to keep the player engaged. This can be achieved through different types of enemies, obstacles, puzzles, etc.
4. Rhythm: A good level has a rhythm that keeps the player engaged. This may involve alternating between times of high and low intensity, or between different types of challenges.
5. Orientation: Levels should be designed in such a way that the player intuitively knows where to go or what to do next. This can be achieved through visual cues, sounds, dialogue, etc.
6. Replayability: A good level offers enough depth and variety that players will want to play it again. This can be achieved through multiple routes, hidden secrets, optional challenges, etc.
7. Aesthetics: Levels should be visually appealing and consistent with the theme and style of the game. Aesthetics can influence the atmosphere of the level and the overall player experience.
8. Trial and Error: Levels should allow players to learn from their mistakes. This means that mistakes must be fair and that players must have the opportunity to understand and correct their mistakes.

• Basic principles for level design

The theoretical principles of level design are guides and concepts that guide the construction of maps and levels in video games. These principles are fundamental as they lay the foundation for designing gaming experiences that are entertaining, challenging, and consistent. Therefore, the theoretical principles of level design are essential to creating games that are playable and provide a rewarding experience for the player. These principles help designers structure and organize the game space in a way that is consistent with the game’s vision and game mechanics. The following premises must always be taken into account:

1. Gameplay: Theoretical principles ensure that the level design is in tune with the gameplay, meaning that the level is designed to maximize the character’s abilities and allow the player to interact with the environment in meaningful ways.
2. Player Training: A well-done level design can instruct the player on the mechanics of the game intuitively, without the need for extensive tutorials. This is achieved by presenting gradual challenges that force the player to learn and apply new skills.
3. Frustration prevention: Understanding theoretical principles allows the designer to create levels that avoid unnecessary frustration. This includes designing challenges that are fair and not dependent on chance, providing the player with enough reaction time and clear feedback on their actions.
4. Efficiency and performance: Theoretical principles also cover performance optimization, teaching techniques for designing levels that don’t overload system resources, such as reducing viewing distance and using techniques such as portals to simplify rendering.
5. Creativity and diversity: By understanding the principles, designers can create levels that are diverse and creative, but at the same time efficient in terms of development, reusing modular elements and designs to save time and resources.
6. Analysis and learning: Theoretical principles include analyzing designs from other games, allowing designers to learn from best practices and understand how levels work in different games.

To minimize randomness in level design and avoid player frustration, it is crucial to consider the following principles:

1. Build predictable levels: Players must have the ability to foresee challenges and understand how to overcome them. This means that the events and mechanics of the game must be consistent and not change unexpectedly.
2. Instruct the player: Through the design of the level, the player must be guided to learn the mechanics of the game and the rules of the level. This can be achieved by presenting simple challenges at the beginning and progressively increasing the difficulty.
3. Avoid “trial and error”: Players should be able to beat levels based on their skill and understanding of the game, not luck or randomness. This means that the levels should be designed in such a way that the player can learn from their mistakes and improve.
4. Offer clear feedback: The player must understand why they have lost or failed in a challenge. Clear feedback helps the player learn and avoids the frustration of not knowing what went wrong.
5. Build levels that respect the rules of the game: Levels must be built according to the established rules of the game. Any changes to the rules must be communicated to the player in a clear and fair manner.
6. Establish safe zones: In areas where the player must jump or take risks, it is important to establish safe zones that the player can identify before performing an action.
7. Build fair levels: Levels should be challenging but fair. Players should have the opportunity to react and avoid dangers, not be surprised by them.
8. Analyze player behavior: Use statistics and game data to understand how players interact with the level and adjust the design accordingly.

Level design: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dromfaret_levels.jpg

• Modular design.

The Modular Design technique is used in the creation of video game levels and consists of the generation of small components or modules that can be reused and rearranged to form a complete level. This method offers greater efficiency and versatility in the creation of levels.

Modules are recurring elements that can be combined to form complex structures with multiple variations in shape and size. This is the essence of modular constructions and their proper use in the field of video games is a crucial factor for agile level construction, bringing realism to the scenarios and limiting the processing effort required to reproduce them.

Modular Design can be a useful tool for optimizing and building gaming environments. Even the most sophisticated games like Battlefield 4 make extensive use of cloned module replay.

Some fundamental elements of Modular Design are:

1. Game flow and progression: This principle refers to how players advance and chart their path through the game. The goal is to provide them with a rewarding and fulfilling experience, where they feel immersed in the game.
2. Balance between challenge and reward: This balance ensures that players feel motivated during their progress, and gradually engage as the game progresses. This principle may vary depending on the target audience the game is aimed at.
3. Route creation and exploration: Routes are essential elements in all video game level design. Through these, players are allowed to navigate the environment, discover secrets and new opportunities, and experience different paths that change the course of the video game. Routes are the paths that players can follow in a video game level. These can be direct, taking the player from one point to another in the quickest and most efficient way, or they can be indirect, offering detours, shortcuts, or alternate paths that the player can choose to follow.

Image: Unity, allows modular design that allows elements to be assembled

• Route design

Exploration refers to the player’s action of moving through the game environment, discovering these routes and what lies along them. This can include finding useful items, uncovering secrets, facing enemies, solving puzzles, among others.

The relationship between routes and exploration is that routes provide the framework for exploration. Without routes, players would have no path to follow or a means to move around the game world. Without exploration, the routes would simply be a predefined path with no interest or challenge.

Good route design encourages exploration by providing multiple paths, hiding secrets outside the main path, and using the route layout to guide the player to areas of interest. At the same time, exploration enriches routes by allowing players to interact with the game environment in unique and personalized ways. In short, routes and exploration work together to create a dynamic and engaging gaming experience.

Designing interesting routes in video game levels can be challenging, but here are some tips that might help:

1. Variety of Paths: It offers multiple paths for players to choose from. This can include direct routes, detours, shortcuts, or hidden paths. Variety keeps players engaged and allows them to feel like they have control over their gaming experience.
2. Surprise Elements: Introduces unexpected or secret elements along routes. This could be a useful object, an unexpected enemy, or a secret area. Surprise elements keep players on their toes and add an element of discovery and excitement to exploration.
3. Challenges: Incorporate challenges into your routes. This could be a difficult enemy to defeat, a puzzle to solve, or an obstacle to overcome. Challenges keep players engaged and provide a sense of accomplishment when overcome.
4. Signage: Use level design and visual cues to guide players along routes. This could be a series of objects leading to a path, a light in the distance, or even the disposition of enemies. Signage helps players navigate the level and can direct them towards areas of interest.
5. Rewards: Offer rewards to players who explore and discover new routes. This could be a useful item, an interesting point of view, or even a bit of background information about the game’s story. Rewards motivate players to explore and discover new routes.

The relationship between game flow and routes is that routes are a key tool in guiding the flow of the game. Paths can direct players to certain challenges, rewards, or points of interest in the game. They can also influence how players interact with the game environment and how the game’s story unfolds.

For example, a linear route can create a more targeted and story-focused game flow, where players progress through a series of predefined events. On the other hand, non-linear routes can offer a more open and exploration-focused game flow, where players have the freedom to explore the game environment at their own pace and discover the story in their own way.

 

• The level designer.

The level designer is the professional in charge of maximizing the potential of a video game. Poorly placed elements or poorly placed control points will make the game experience not as expected. Therefore, level design is essential. The creation of the map on which the game is developed is part of the success of a video game.

There are specific tools for level design that we will explore in the following sections of this unit, as there are many options for free game editors and engines available on the market. Level designers can specialize, needing to have technical knowledge, artistic knowledge, and of course, knowledge about gameplay. We explain these three concepts:

Technical knowledge about level editors, as they are programs with hundreds of options and tool windows that you need to know if you want to make the most of their potential. For example, lights, which are very relevant in video games, since they allow you to illuminate relevant areas in the video game with more intensity, are an element with many options and positions, in addition to the fact that there are many combinations of color, intensity. In the same way, there are many types of shade that can be applied.

Artistic knowledge, necessary to make a composition according to the art style of the video game. Although a level designer does not model or make textures, since all this has been previously created by the artists, it is important to have this knowledge so that the levels are in line with the artistic style. 

Gameplay knowledge, especially in the knowledge of player psychology: it is necessary to understand how the player thinks in order to guide them through the map, decide when to excite them, when to reassure them and when to reward them. That is, the level designer is the one who decides the location of each element, those that are of help to the player (a door to save themselves or platform to jump to) and those that are challenge and risk for the player (an enemy that appears or an abyss that can fall and lose life).

For the video game to have quality, it requires a balance of the three knowledge. In addition, it is necessary to understand that the creation of levels is an iterative process that requires trying to improve the visual quality by distributing different objects on the map (houses, trees, rivers, stones, paths, etc.). An optimization process is needed, as it is not possible to include the elements with a high resolution. The compromise between visual quality and optimization is necessary, since many loaded and quality elements will make the hardware unable to support it and the video game will not work properly. On the other hand, a map that has not been optimized in terms of player experience will provide polygonal objects that will prove the depicted element to be unrealistic. 

It will take much longer to optimize the performance and visual quality of the game than in the design itself, since it is not the same to play on a device such as a mobile or tablet, as it is to do it on a powerful gaming computer with a state-of-the-art graphics card. The hardware forces the elements used to be optimized by reducing the number of polygons in order to be loaded, always preserving a visual quality. Therefore, optimization seeks a balance between visual quality and performance, ensuring that the game runs smoothly on different devices, while an unoptimized map can cause performance issues such as FPS (frames per second) drops and longer load times. 

Creating a map is not difficult or time-consuming; In fact, you can make maps in minutes with current tools, but polishing time is the most important thing, the secret is to play and replay with the maps to polish the details, improve the position of objects, quality, lights, etc., to achieve a perfect gaming experience. 

Image: map created with Inkarnate

 

• Level Design Skills

To be an effective level designer, several specific skills are required. We highlight the most relevant ones:

• Artistic aptitude: Essential to visualize and elaborate attractive and practical designs.
• Narrative Ability: Used in level design, it facilitates storytelling through the environment and evolution of the game.
• Methodology and attention to detail: Necessary to ensure that all components of the level function properly and provide the desired experience.
• Basic architectural knowledge: Beneficial for the layout of the levels.
• Observational skills: To evaluate what is effective and what is not in other video games.
• Creativity and innovation: To identify what attracts users.
• Strategic Thinking: To solve problems that may arise in the levels during the game.
• Technical skills: These include game mechanics and dynamics, rapid prototyping, programming, and development technologies.

To perfect your level design skills, we recommend the following steps:

1. Set the objectives of the level: It is crucial to define the objectives that are sought to be achieved before starting the design of a level.
2. Develop the design and structure of the level: With clear objectives, it is time to work on the design and structure of the level.
3. Develop the challenges and obstacles of the level: Challenges and obstacles are essential components to keep players engaged.
4. Integrate the gameplay and mechanics of the level: In this stage, the gameplay and mechanics of the level are implemented.
5. Evaluate and adjust the level: It is important to test the level once it has been implemented and make the necessary adjustments.

In addition, it is beneficial to follow these general principles:

• Practice consistently: Continuous improvement is essential for any skill.
• Learn from others: Study and learn from other video games to understand what works and what doesn’t.
• Accept constructive criticism: Feedback can offer valuable insights to improve your designs.
• Stay up to date: Trends and technologies in level design evolve over time, so it’s crucial to stay up to date.
• Experiment: Don’t be afraid to try new ideas and approaches.

Remember, level design is an iterative process, and it’s common to make changes and improvements during development.