I am a Senior level designer in the San Francisco Bay Area. I have shipped "Tomb Raider", “Transformers: War for Cybertron” and “The Bourne Conspiracy”. I have a Masters in Interactive Technology with a Level Design Specialization from The Guildhall at Southern Methodist University and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Saint Louis University.
Hallways are a necessary evil in video games and more specifically level design. However, if done correctly, hallways can go from being a bland part of your level to one of the highlights.
Pacing and sequencing is an art, based on science. The following explores how artistic decisions based on scientific process pave the way to making awesome combat encounters.
As a level designer I can feel when spawn animations in a combat encounter are an afterthought or have been rushed. Here is a process for creating a set of quality AI spawns that make the AI look smart before they interact with the player.
The spawn location factor is not just for fps, but can be for any game that lets you have camera control as you enter the combat space. The spawn location factor would apply to Uncharted or Dead space for example 3rd person . John, you are correct in the fact ...
